Job Discussion Forums

[summerheaven]

I have my first job interview for a university in China and it just so happens that this is one of the better universities in the city I am moving to so I'd like to get it!

I sent my resume and a small portfolio of some teaching videos I did (they're from my current job) but I'm not sure she had the time to watch them yet.

We basically have about 30 minutes because our schedules don't match up (we had been emailing for 2 weeks now because of scheduling difficulties).

I kept asking if there's anything I need to prepare but she avoids the question... I'm not sure how intentional that is.

The interview is through Skype but only audio so I don't think she cares to check out what I look like.

I assume I won't be doing a teaching demo, at least not during this Skype meeting.

I'm super worried and not sure what to expect. I used the search feature and surprisingly didn't find many threads on job interview experiences.

Can anyone share how their university job interviews went? What questions they asked?

One thing I'm worried about is that it's a trade (business) school and I know NOTHING about trading/business. The class itself will simply be conversational English but I'm not sure if it's actual, real life, talk with friends conversational English or building up connections for work conversational English.

If I get the job, I'm thinking about getting one of those online 50 hour business English certificates just to throw something extra on my resume / learn a bit more about business English.

[doogsville]

The first thing I tell students when I teach business English is that probably 90% of the English we use in business is just English. Business English is really just teaching the jargon that is specific to doing business, so any half decent textbook will give you enough material, and the rest is just what you would teach in a conversational class anyway. I've never run my own business, but I've never felt I lacked anything when it comes to teaching business English, and I've taught it a lot.

As to the interview, my own uni interview involved giving a demo lesson to a panel of eight teachers and administrators, with no students. I didn't know there would be no students until I turned up. I basically ran through a fifty minute lesson in ten minutes saying things like 'at this point I would have the students work in pairs to practice the dialogue' and 'now I would put them into groups and have them put together a presentation'. It was a very strange and stressful situation, but I got the job, as did the other two candidates who both Skyped in from different cities. If you have not been asked to provide a demo however then they probably just want to make sure you speak slowly and clearly enough to be understood. Don't worry too much.

[Non Sequitur]

Like doogsville I also have issues about this English for Special Purposes thing.
Sure Aviation English for example will have its own vocab it means nothing if the student can't produce basic English with a fair amount of automaticity.
'Bring me the flight manual/latest accounts/menu/marketing budget'.
The small difference is vocab. The main part is general English.
That said one of the big international publishers has 8-10 titles of different 'English for..' resources.
I feel it's largely marketing.

[nomad soul]

[summerheaven]

Thanks all for the advice.

[Timer]

[Non Sequitur]

My one interview seemed to be just to verify that my accent wasn't too extreme.
So try to speak clearly and slowly.
Above all sound the ends of words.

[Shanghai Noon]

Every interview I have ever had was about five questions from the interviewer, and about twenty to thirty from me.

[donkeydonkey]

My Uni interview experiences: Each of my Uni job interviews ended about the time that I was wondering when the interview would start. I would get on skype having prepared teaching demos and answers for different interview questions. I would have prepared questions that I had for the university as well as questions that were designed to demonstrate that I was familiar with the university and was interested in the job. The interviewers would start with general chit chat and friendly questions that seemed like a warm up, but the interviews did not go any further.The interviewer would say something along the lines of " Well, If there isn't anything else, I have x,y,z to go do." and that is how the interviews ended. I have been offered the job at every teaching interview that I have ever done.
My Advice: Be friendly and outgoing, answer their questions, and try not to wince when they tell you that you are Handsome/pretty or that you have pretty eyes.
Good Luck!

[Non Sequitur]

Try being told by a taxi driver that you have big ears.
But apparently in China big ears means luck, as Mao had big ears.
Not sure that it will be mentioned in interview, but the take away message is that your interview is also cross cultural communication which is basically what you're being hired to do.

[summerheaven]

Thanks everyone. The interview went well. I got a lot of questions answered. I kind of felt like I was the one doing the interviewing, ha.

[Shanghai Noon]

That's usually how it goes. There is always much more for the applicant to find out.