Understanding and Negotiating the Telephone Interview
Alain-Philippe Durand
ADFL Bulletin Vol. 34, No. 1 (Fall 2002), pp. 47–50
ISSN: 0148-7639
CrossRef DOI: 10.1632/adfl.34.1.47
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Understanding and Negotiating
the Telephone Interview
Alain-Philippe Durand
AS A graduate student finishing the writing of my dissertation, I tried to follow as closely as I could all the steps
involved in preparing my entrance into the next level.
This meant understanding, facing, and working through
the numerous stages that make up the nine-month-long
(and stressful) academic job search. Although I did read
everything I found on the topic, my actual experience on
the market had a component that I had not expected.
Whereas half the institutions following up on my applications requested a phone interview, I could not locate
much literature on the subject. Several works such as The
MLA Guide to the Job Search (Showalter et al.) and The
Academic’s Handbook (Deneef and Goodwin), as well as
articles like Ann Bugliani’s “The MLA Job Interview:
What Candidates Should Know” and Lee Skinner’s
“MLA Interviews from the Candidate’s Point of View,”
provide the candidate with valuable interview advice.
However, they do not deal with the specifics of the telephone interview. In fact, the only texts I could find on
the subject are The Academic Job Search Handbook and Job
Search in Academe: Strategic Rhetorics for Faculty Job Candidates, which respectively devote two and three pages to
the challenges of the academic telephone interview
(Heiberger and Vick 132–34; Formo, Reed, and Winterowd 60–63).1 Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to present a survey I conducted and to share my
personal experiences and advice with candidates participating in telephone interviews.2
As early as August 1998, I kicked off my official entrance into the job market by subscribing to the MLA Job
Information List online. It was then that the marathon
began. I conscientiously organized a dossier and teaching
portfolio, waited anxiously every Thursday to read the
new job postings, wrote (and rewrote) cover letters and
my c.v., participated in the workshop organized by my
university, and completed mock interviews with colleagues and professors, all while teaching and writing my
dissertation. And then there were the waits by the phone
and the time spent looking up in the road atlas those
states where there were jobs. Finally came a mix of deceptions, rejections, and the excitement of invitations to
continue the adventure. My biggest surprise, however,
was to find out that several schools would interview me
by phone, sometimes without a meeting at the MLA
convention. The preparation I described did not include
anything dealing specifically with phone interviews. Although I had practiced having regular mock interviews, I
gave little thought to doing them by phone.
A year later, after securing a tenure-track position, I decided to research the causes and consequences of the telephone interview and to think about my experiences in
order to establish a series of guidelines useful to candidates in the future. I started my research by following very
closely the announcements posted on the online MLA
Job Information List from October 1999 through May 2000
and from October 2000 through March 2001.3 I soon
decided to make things more feasible and focused by concentrating only on definite, approved tenure-track positions in French. I then sent an e-mail message to the
heads of search committees for all the French positions
announced that matched my criteria of selection. The
mailing included the following questions:
Do you plan to interview at the MLA convention and
then invite finalists for campus interviews?
Do you plan to conduct phone interviews and then invite finalists for campus interviews (no attendance at
the MLA)?
Do you plan to directly invite finalists on campus basing
your selection only on the dossiers?
Do you plan to conduct only phone interviews and then
make a decision?
Do you plan to interview only at the MLA convention
and make a decision?
Do you have another plan not described above (please
explain)?
The author is Assistant Professor of French and Film Studies in the
Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at
the University of Rhode Island.
ADFL Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 1, Fall 2002
© 2002 by the association of departments of foreign languages
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Understanding and Negotiating the Telephone Interview
I concluded the message by asking, “If you do plan to
conduct phone interviews, would you be kind enough to
briefly explain why?”
I was pleased to receive a total of seventy-seven responses for eighty-eight postings (87.5%) the first year
and sixty-eight responses for ninety-three announcements (73%) for the academic year 2000–01. The results
of the survey show that fifty-two (67.5% in 1999–2000)
and forty-eight (71% in 2000–01) institutions conducted MLA and campus interviews; fifteen (19.5% in
1999–2000) and nine (13% in 2000–01) universities conducted phone and campus interviews. The responses also
show that several colleges had other plans not covered in
my e-mail survey. Eight (10% in 1999–2000) and eleven
(16% in 2000–01) universities conducted an initial
phone interview followed by meetings at the MLA convention and on campus. In all, a total of eighteen (29.9%
in 1999–2000) and twenty (29% in 2000–01) institutions used a form of telephone interview at some point.
The results of the questionnaire show the diversity and
complexity of the hiring process. It is possible that candidates will face a different interviewing itinerary in every
position for which they apply. The elaborated responses
disproved the common belief that two- and four-year
colleges are most likely to conduct telephone interviews
and not attend the MLA convention. Indeed, there are
many smaller colleges who interview at the MLA convention, just as there are research institutions that use
telephone interviews.
The additional comments sent back along with the survey offer a better understanding of the reasons that push
selection committees to conduct telephone interviews.
One common one is a result of the nature and time frame
of the decisions made by the administrations of the hiring
institutions. In some cases, the position is approved by
the administration in December or later, which timing
makes it impossible for the selection committee to interview at the MLA convention. In other cases, universities
have special requirements that forbid selection committees from interviewing at the MLA convention. Several
heads of committees indicated that the Office of Affirmative Action at their institution has set guidelines that
make it extremely difficult for them to interview candidates at the convention. For instance, at one institution,
interviewing at the convention, if done by following all
the requirements of the affirmative action office, would
make it necessary that all candidates be interviewed at
the convention. With an average of one hundred applicants for each academic French position, it is simply
impossible to interview all of them. Furthermore, affirmative action often requires that all committee members interview all candidates. Not all faculty members on the
selection committee are able to attend the MLA convention (often because of lack of financial support), especially when the committee is composed of several
professors from different languages. In general, the main
explanation for telephone interviews is that they allow universities to interview more candidates in a costeffective manner. Finally, some administrations note that
not all candidates have the financial resources to attend
the MLA convention. For these reasons, initial telephone
interviews are a good alternative that, along with the
campus interview, does not cost the candidates anything.
Other institutions emphasized that they looked at the
telephone interview sometimes as an alternative and
sometimes as an addition to the MLA convention. The
main advantage of the telephone interview mentioned
several times is that it gives search committees another
intermediate step in the elimination process. Instead of
having to select ten or twelve candidates from one hundred or more for interviews at the convention, committees are able to consider an initial pool of twenty. In
other cases, search committees prefer to select about a
dozen candidates for personal interviews, and then interview again on the phone before finally inviting three on
campus. One reason respondents give for this multilayered interviewing process is the desire to see how the
candidates react in different settings (and in particular
the language ability of nonnative speakers). Another reason is that the process offers the opportunity for all members of the department to hear and talk to the candidates
through teleconferencing. Finally, a few respondents declared that they had experimented with telephone interviews but found them ineffective. One indicated that it is
assumed that serious candidates go to the MLA convention. It is this respondent’s opinion that not going to the
meetings makes a statement that should be viewed negatively by the department.
I now turn to the telephone interview itself. I give a
summary of my own experiences and advice, which I
hope will be useful to other candidates. There are two
types of telephone interviews. Some committees favor
teleconferencing, a technological innovation that allows
several people to speak and hear each other at the same
time.4 Teleconferencing can include an unlimited number of people with different backgrounds. For example,
with this method it is very common to be interviewed for
a French position when a majority of the interviewers do
not teach or speak French. Another type of telephone interview is conducted by a single member of the search
committee who asks the candidate an established set of
questions. The interviewer then reports the candidate’s
responses to the full committee.
Your first step in preparing for the challenges of the
phone interview is to find as much information as you
can about this interview. When you receive the initial
call from the chair of the search committee informing
you that you will be interviewed by phone, make sure you
ask how many people will participate in the interview
and if you can have their names. Find out how long the
interview will last and ask if there is any other information you should know (Heiberger and Vick 133). You will
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Alain-Philippe Durand
also have to set a date and time for the interview. At this
point, it is important to have already considered the days
of the week on which you prefer to be interviewed. During the job search period, keep your agenda by the
phone. This will avoid your having to put the caller on
hold while you look for your agenda. Avoid telling the
chair you will call back with a date. When you are asked
about a date, you need to give several possibilities right
away. When selecting a date, try to give yourself at least a
week to prepare for the phone interview. Put all the advantages on your side: if you teach, schedule the interview on a nonteaching day, try to schedule on a day you
are alone, and whenever possible, schedule the interview
at home to be where you will be most comfortable.
The publications I mentioned give extremely useful
guidelines that you can follow to prepare for any interview. Nevertheless, you need to rethink everything in the
context of the telephone interview. For example, Lee
Skinner points out that giving a brief summary of her dissertation “turned out to be one of the most difficult steps
in my preparation” (15). In my opinion, giving such a
summary over the phone is even harder, and I strongly
recommend that any candidate practice doing it before
the real event. The main problem with talking about
your dissertation over the phone is that you never know
if you have said enough or too much. At an MLA convention, you can see the faces of your interlocutors and
you can usually tell if you should stop speaking or if you
should go on. This is a problem with any question you
will face during a telephone interview.
Mary Heiberger and Julia Vick give additional useful
advice concerning the telephone interview. They suggest
that “it will be particularly important to be animated and
expressive in your conversation, since the interviewers
will know you only by your voice” (132). I suggest you
speak at a calm pace and make short pauses that committee members can use should they wish to move to another question. And last, do not underestimate the
logistics of the phone interview.
Make sure you won’t be interrupted during your interview, by
your call-waiting, your children, or anything else. Collect and
have near the phone copies of all the material you may wish to
refer to during the interview: your vita, your dissertation abstract and statement of research plans, and any additional materials you have mailed to the department.
(Heiberger and Vick 133)
There are other techniques that I developed from reading Heiberger and Vick’s initial guidelines. One of the
biggest advantages a candidate has during a telephone interview is the availability of all materials. After my second
phone interview, I implemented a rigorous organization
that I followed successfully in later ones. First, I added a
second telephone line that I used only for the connection
of the fax modem. I also invested in a phone equipped
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with a speaker, making it possible to hear and to speak
while keeping my hands (and shoulder) free. The two
lines allowed me to speak on the phone and connect to
the World Wide Web simultaneously.
All universities and most departments now have Web
pages accessible to everyone. These pages, although of unequal accuracy and quality, can provide candidates with
extremely useful information on the schools and the departments. They usually include a complete description of
the program, major requirements, courses taught, enrollments, and, most important, a list of the faculty members
that includes professional information (teaching interests,
etc.) and—possibly—links to their personal Web pages.
In the days preceding a telephone interview, I visited the
college’s and department’s Web page and I read everything I could find. If I knew ahead of time the names of
the persons who would interview me, I concentrated on
them, memorizing their presentation and rapidly reading
excerpts of some of the publications found on their c.v.s
or through an MLA search. If I did not know the names, I
applied my approach to all listed faculty members in the
French department. Next, I spent a good amount of time
surfing back and forth on the department’s Web page to
the point of knowing where everything was in a second.
On the day of the interview, I reviewed all my notes an
hour before the time set. Twenty minutes before the expected call, I placed copies of my c.v., letter of application, job announcement, syllabi samples specific to that
school (which I created that week), answers to common
questions, personal off-prints of publications, and my dissertation synopsis on my desk. All materials were lined
up in a preset order, easy to reach, close to the phone and
computer. Within ten minutes of the call, I connected to
the department’s Web page.
By the time the interview started, I was ready to browse
on the Web while speaking, clicking on the names of faculty members who were speaking to me on the other side
of the line. This arrangement not only enabled me to give
precise and constructive answers; it also permitted me to
show my knowledge of language-specific and interdisciplinary programs offered at a particular university. For example, one school mentioned in its job announcement
that it was looking for candidates with an interest in interdisciplinary studies. Nevertheless, the announcement
had not said anything about the school’s international
studies program. During the phone interview, I was able
to mention my interest and to speak in very specific terms
about that program because I had found its Web page and
had it right before my eyes. What happens in the event of
technological problems (such as an online disconnection) or if one does not have a computer or access to the
Internet at home? A good alternative to Internet disconnection is to print ahead the most important categories of
the Web page. Computer labs can also be used to access
the appropriate Web page and print the information that
might be needed at home during the phone interview.
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Understanding and Negotiating the Telephone Interview
Telephone interviews appear as a growing alternative or
additional step in the academic job search. Consequently,
candidates should seriously consider the telephone interview when preparing themselves for the job search. Graduate programs and the MLA should also address this
component in their workshops and mock interviews. Ultimately, the candidates need to create for themselves an
approach and organization that will make them feel, regardless of the outcome, that they have done everything
they could and that they have nothing to regret.
Notes
1
Although it deals with the business world, Martin Yates’s Knock
’Em Dead includes one chapter on how to handle telephone interviews (81–84). Yates’s and all other texts cited are essential to anyone going on the academic job market. I highly recommend them.
2
I thank all the chairs, administrators, and colleagues who kindly
gave some of their time to respond to my questions. I greatly appreciate their valuable input.
3
I had to submit the final version of this article by 15 March 2001.
4
I did not experience video conferencing and no examples of this
technology’s application in the academic job market were brought
to my attention, but it is reasonable to think that this technique of
interviewing will be used in the near future.
Works Cited
Bugliani, Ann. “The MLA Job Interview: What Candidates Should
Know.” ADFL Bulletin 24.1 (1992): 38–39.
Deneef, A. Leigh, and Craufurd D. Goodwin, eds. The Academic’s
Handbook. 2nd ed. Durham: Duke UP, 1995.
Formo, Dawn M., Cheryl Reed, and Ross Winterowd. Job Search in
Academe: Strategic Rhetorics for Faculty Job Candidates. Sterling:
Stylus, 1999.
Heiberger, Mary Morris, and Julia Miller Vick. The Academic Job
Search Handbook. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P,
1996.
Showalter, English, et al. The MLA Guide to the Job Search. New
York: MLA, 1996.
Skinner, Lee. “MLA Interviews from the Candidate’s Point of
View.” ADFL Bulletin 31.1 (1999): 15–18.
Yate, Martin. Knock ’Em Dead. Holbrook: Adams Media, 2000.
T2–Documents–ADFL Folder (Fall 2002)
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Goudy (all cd 5%): Text: 9.5/11; Extracts: 8/10; Running Heads: 9 IT; Notes, Works Cited Heads: 12 BD, Text: 8/10
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