Interview

The type of interview you may face will depend on the job market you are in. If you are in the Academic Job Market, here are some useful tips for the interview.

The interviews are made by some professors of the department in question. It is usually a half-an-hour interview in a hotel room. You should expect between one and ten people interviewing you. The language used in the interview will depend on the institution, so you should be ready to have it either in Spanish or in English.

First, they talk about the department they belong to, what they are looking for, what type of department it is, ... Then, you will be asked to talk about your job market paper. This should last more or less five minutes, and must be directed to people who are not in your field, so lots of motivation is good. Next, you must be ready to answer some questions about your paper. They may also ask you more general things. Prepare some possible questions. For example, when you think you will finish your dissertation, what are your future research plans, which are your teaching preferences, and so on.

The interviewers might be interested in what type of job you are looking for, why you choose that Department. At this point you should be able to tell them why you think you are a good match for that department. To this purpose, it is preferable if you learn all you can about the interviewer department!

At the end of the interview, you may be requested to ask some questions about the University and Department that is interviewing you. A useful site where to find Economic departments is here. Monetary issues are not discussed now, but during the job visit.

Don't forget that the objective of the interview from the point of view of the department is to find out whether you join some characteristics, for example if you are a good communicator, a colleague to talk about economics, sincere, ... Therefore, be natural, and do not force the situations!

You will find some other useful tips in David Levine's Cheap Advice website.