Getting your first teaching assistant post at a good university is hard. Here are some picks and tips on stock questions from academic interview panels to help candidates prepare to win that important first step in an academic career.
The Interview Panel
The Academic Faculty want to appoint one or more teaching assistants for the coming teaching semester or university term. Gather intelligence on who is likely to be on the Academic Panel – perhaps an undergraduate student representative, a postgraduate research student, teaching division head, school manager, head of school and so on.
Imagine being on the other side of the table. Making good in your preparations needs to include what to wear, where the interview is being held, and arriving ready to enter the interview room when the panel is ready. Take a comfort break well in advance of the interview time.
All candidates who have made the short-list could be appointed on the day. Try not to be distracted by meeting the other candidates entering and exiting the room. Only one person’s efforts in the interview can be prepared for.
Expect the interview to be 30 to 45 minutes long and candidates may be asked to do a short presentation of 5 to 10 minutes within the interview. In a few posts, a seminar paper is requested to be presented to the teaching staff group and student representatives before interview. If you are unsure of the expectations of the presentation, be sure to ask immediately after the interview date and time is announced.
The panel members will introduce themselves at the start of the interview and in the absence of nameplates for each of the interview panel members, candidates can pen or type a note of who’s who for their reference.
Interview Questions
The Chair of the academic panel will start the interview with a general question such as “Can you tell us what it is that attracts you to this post?” which allows candidates to settle nerves and find their voice in the room, set out how their education, experience and skills match the teaching assistant posts selection criteria and start to connect with the appointment panel.
Each panel member will have 2-3 questions to ask all candidates about teaching administration, preparation, teaching practice and course marketing. Example questions are summarised below:
Teaching Administration
- What units/ modules/ courses would you offer for the undergraduate programme?
- When do you foresee that you would offer them?
- What teaching could you offer at postgraduate level at the University?
Teaching Preparation
- How would you go about planning a lecture?
- Describe a time plan for a tutorial/workshop
Teaching Practice
- How would you describe your philosophy of teaching?
- How do you encourage and motivate students to complete coursework?
- Outline what challenges there are, if any, when teaching international students.
- What are the best moments of teaching for you?
Course Marketing
- In your opinion what are the most popular in [the discipline] for teaching?
- In what ways do you think that the University can increase the numbers of undergraduate / postgraduate students that study here?
- What role could you play in increasing student numbers?
Short-listed candidates for university teaching assistantships should prepare interesting and original answers to these stock interview questions asked by academic appointment panels. There are no right or wrong answers, just credible responses grounded in the experience of the candidates. Silence is one way of interviewing so candidates should prepare for a lack of conversation during the interview. Quality preparation can ensure that every minute of an interview time slot is helping candidates to get that job.
