What kind of questions will a community college ask during an interview?
I’ve been going through this process for the past few weeks (and still am) for a position as a psychology instructor. I’ve been asked questions about my knowledge of topics in psychology, my educational background, why I would want to work for their college, why I’m the best candidate, how I have worked with/dealt with diversity in my classroom, how I assess progress in my students’ learning, and many more questions that I can’t remember at the moment. If I remember more, I’ll come back and post them. Make sure you have questions of your own to ask because it shows your interest in the position and the school. This isn’t usually very hard to do because you really are interested. Good luck!
I was asked (in-person, not on phone) what classes I liked the most in college, which ones I felt most qualified to teach and why, which specific courses in their curriculum I was interested in teaching and why. The interviewer knew I had no teaching experience going in to the interview, so I wasn’t asked specifically about my teaching experience. I was asked some general questions about how I would handle certain situations, like what would I do with a disruptive student, or if a student was cheating, or if a student wasn’t getting what I was teaching. Also, community colleges strive for strong contacts within the community, so be sure to mention if you have those kinds of contacts or resources. For example, if you are best friends with someone who is in charge of internships at some local company that the college might be interested in working with, be sure to work that into the conversation somehow. (I honestly do not know how to do something like that gracefully – maybe you do.) If
You’ll want to emphasize your teaching ability, not your publications or research interests. Most community colleges don’t care if you publish or not, but you need to show the committee that you are willing and able to teach a heavy courseload (it’s 5/5 at my cc). You’ll also want to demonstrate your knowledge of teaching methods. I remember reading a CHE article in which a cc instructor claimed that university students tend already know how to learn when they come to school; many community college students don’t. Often, just lecturing is not going to be effective. You might want to think about specific ways you can teach your subject to different types of learners – those who learn better by seeing or doing rather than just listening. Your interviewers may ask you about your experience teaching to diverse learners. This doesn’t just mean racial diversity. Depending on the student population, they might be looking for people who’ve taught adults (both returning students and “lifelong l
