Higher Education Leadership: Job Talk Guide
Higher Education Leadership: Job Talk Guide
A job talk is a presentation given by an applicant in the finalist stage. It is common for tenure-track and tenured faculty positions, as well as higher education leadership positions. A job talk helps the employer gage the knowledge, research, teaching, service, and leadership of the applicant in regards to the field. This guide will detail standard components of job talks for faculty and higher education leadership positions.
Job Talk Components
Audience
The audience at a job talk will depend on the position. For faculty, the audience will consist of the departmental faculty, staff, and students. For higher education leadership positions, the audience will range from departmental staff and faculty to other executive leaders across campus. Regardless of the position type, the audience will be constituents and stakeholders you would be working closely with.
Job Talk Structure
The structure of a job talk will typically include the following components:
- In-person during finalist campus visit
- Presentation, typically with a visual (e.g., Canva, PowerPoint)
- Approximate 45 minute allotment for the presentation
- Approximate 15 minute allotment for questions and answers (Q&A)
Information Presented
Faculty Positions:
The job talk will consist of presenting your research. While this may include publications, manuscripts in review, and manuscripts in-progress, for graduating doctoral students with little to no published research, it could be findings from your dissertation. In addition, you will typically be asked to explain your research agenda for the next 3-5 years. This helps employers see your knowledge of the field,
current or potential contributions to the field, academic fit for the department, and strengths and limitations of your research.
Higher Education Leadership Positions:
You will typically be provided with a prompt to showcase your knowledge, experiences, skills, and strategies on a topic, event, or situation that is relevant to your area of expertise. This helps employers see your leadership style and how you would address pressing issues.
Tips for Preparing
Remember to contact the School of Education’s Career Center to schedule a practice job talk or discuss any of the information on this page.
Research the areas of expertise for departmental faculty at institutions of interest.
Look into research news at institutions and departments of interest to gage what type of research is being produced and if it aligns with your interests and goals.
Consider which research projects of yours would be an academic fit and show promise for institutions and departments of interest.
Stay updated on current topics, events, and situations in your field or sector, should you
be given a prompt to present on it. Research frequently asked questions that can be posed during a job talk.
Consider giving your practice job talk to different audience members (e.g., faculty, staff, fellow students).
Time yourself to make sure you stay within the allotted time for the presentation.