Hiring the Right Instructor
What kind of skills and qualities define the basis for which you hire your faculty?
Knowledge of the content or subject matter is a critical skill that I believe all potential instructors should posses... As the information indicated, this is given.
I strongly believe that effective instructors are
1. Aware of trends, skills, job requirements, and knowlegeable of many facets of the area in which they teach.
2. The ability of a candidate to effectively communicate their thoughts and ideas to a group and their comfort level or ease in communicating--self confidence should be apparent.
3. Demonstrated leadership ability and
4. Organizational skills (punctuality, follow-up)
Lack of organizational skills can be a deal breaker for me when comparing abilities of equally qualified candidates.
In a recent Faculty Focus article on strategies for preventing and correcting poor performance evaluations a few of the KSAO listed were:
Faculty most likely to succeed display an "eagerness to learn and acquire new skills, knowledgeable about the subject matter and learning platform, able to use technology creatively and effective communication skills."
Faculty Focus, July 22, 2009
All these things that Tammy lists are certainly major preferences in selecting a candidate. One other attibute that I look for is the ability to work in a team environment. We are such a close knit group at this campus that it is extremely important that the person applying for an instructor position have the ability and the personality to be a team player.
We are having a faculty meeting this Friday going over students who are in danger of being dropped for retention purposes. If our faculty work together and realize, for example, that a student may be attending one specific day section, but not attending the next period action can be taken to get the student on track. But the faculty have to work as a team to make this happen.
I agree Dave. Cultivating the team takes great skill as well. As academic leaders, we have the responsbility of creating an environment where teamwork is encouraged, preferred, and recognized. The need to "keep others in the loop" is what we preach and practice on our campus. Instructors who have the ability to see the trickle down effect of a student's actions or the impact a particular behavior may have on other things is a desired trait. Things really don't happen in isolation.
Following the KSAO attributes for an instructor I would look for these qualificatons:
1. Knowledge - A graduate degree and at least three years of experience in a related field with 18 semester credit hours in the specialty they are teaching. Otherwise it's a deal-breaker! There are some exceptions, but generally this is what I'm looking for in a candidate.
2. Skills - If they are teaching medical assisting classes, for example, they would need the hands-on skills associated with that career.
Experience in the field usually gives them the skills needed. This would apply to other programs of study as well.
3. Abilities - To use computers with a good working knowledege of Microsoft Office. The ability to speak English effectively so that students will understand the material. The ability to work in teams efficiently.
4. Other characteristics - I would look for are generally personality issues such as patience, humor, caring, empathy, etc.
Tammy,
Thank you for this post. You show a lot of insight. How do you measure organizational skills and/or leadership ability when considering an applicant?
Dave,
Thank you for your insight. I agree that a team approach is the best way to serve our student customers.
What do you do in the interviewing and hiring process to measure how much of a team player a candidate is?
Tammy,
Thanks for recommending Faculty Forum. It has a lot of great strategies and recommendations for both resident and online instruction.
Communication skills are vital to an instructor's success. What types of things do you look for during the hiring process to identify the candidates with the best communication kills?
Jeff, I look for evidence of systematic planning , time management skills, listening for evidence of how they deal with deadlines and prioritizing. Organized folks usually show signs of this in their interview sessions (calendars, making notes, overall demeanor, etc.) Many times I will use scenarios to get to a specific trait that I am looking for.
For example responses to the following scenario below gives clear insight into the importance of organizational skills in a candidate's work:
Scenario: A routine investigation of a local pharmacy resulted in issuing the store pharmacist a warning concerning the condition of the pharmacy. The pharmacy was not in compliance with board rules. The pharmacy was found to
be dirty and unorganized. The pharmacist’s workspace was cluttered, the shelves were packed with empty containers and expired drugs, and the aisles were blocked with boxes and various other items. Filled prescriptions were
stacked on one of the pharmacy counters along with patient profiles. The pharmacy was found to be in a constant state of disarray.
What do you think can be done to satisfy corrections required to bring the
pharmacy into compliance with board rules?
I begin to access communication skills at the start of my interaction with potential instructors when I review resumes and cover letters, initial phone conversation to set up an interview time, email responses (proper grammer, etc). Good written and oral communication skills are essential. I note eye contact, non verbal cues, listening abilities, and the ease or lack of that a person has in the face to face interview session.
As I look over resumes of candidates to teach a particular course I look for the usual KSAO attributes that we have been discussing. When it comes to an ability like teamwork I check their resume to see if it mentions any team work or team development. If it doesn't it's not a deal-breaker, but I do look for something about team on the resume. It could be training in team development or teaching team development. The candidate might mention the successes of some team endeavor. Then when the candidates are narrowed down and we start the interview process I would use situation type questions to draw out their team experience. For example:
Give me an example of a time when you were part of a team. What was the purpose of the team, it's size, your role and the outcomes? Depending on their answer I might ask further questions about their experiences with the different stages of team development (forming, storming, norming, performing). How did they handle the pit falls? Depending on the time limits of the interview that would be a couple ways to measure their potential team involvement.
Wow! I'd say burn the pharmacy down! Just joking! :-) I could see how that situation could bring out useful information about a person's organizational abilitites during an interview. Just about everything is wrong, but I assume correctable. However, Leadership abilities, I think, are a little different for our faculty. I'm not sure leadership traits are that important in this case. It certainly wouldn't be a deal-breaker if the candidate was not a leader to be hired as an adjunct teaching some business course. Sure if they are teaching Leadership obviously they need that knowledge and those skills. If the faculty member wants to move into Academic Leadership, eventually, then leadership abilities will play a role. Does everyone have to have the potential of being a leader to be hired as faculty? I would think not.
Thank for the reply Dave. Your approach will help you identify the type of instructors you are seeking! Keep up the good work.
Tammy,
Thanks again for taking the time to post such a detailed and helpful response. Your questions will definitely make the candidate think.
One of the best ways to predict future behavior is to look at past behavior. The theory here is that a person will generally react to a new situation in a similiar manner to how he or she reacted previously.
"Behavior-based interviewing" focuses questions on what people have done in the past instead of asking them to respond to hypothetical scenarios. Most of the questions start with "Tell me about a time when you ...."
My thoughts with leadership traits is that, I view the instructor as a classroom manager. The employees that are being managed in our cases are "students". Effective managers all display unique leadership characteristics.Many of the aspects that I consider is their ability to communicate, manage behaviors, organize space, time and resources, assessment and good record- keeping. Leadership skills are definitely needed if one has a goal of creating a positive, cooperative classroom experience, and achieving goals. In an article that I shared with my faculty some time ago, "Use of managerial interpersonal skills to improve teaching performance" by David Fallon suggests the skills required to be a successful manager are precisely the same skills required to be a successful teacher. Using the three major manager activities planning, directing, and controlling is illustrated in the article.
Planning: the process of developing a detailed program of action. In teaching planning begins with the syllabus which clearly identifies the overall objectives. Directing from a managers point of view is the implementing and carrying out of the plan through employees to achieve or possibly exceed the stated objectives. This process occurs through training, supervising, motivating, and counseling. Controlling: The measure of progress towards the objective, evaluating what needs to be done, and taking corrective action to ensure the goals are achieved. For instructors, controlling is a continuous process to ensure that students stay focus on course goals, taking corrective action before serious problems occur.
A closing quote from the article states, "educators are managers. They manage the countries most precious resource: the minds of it's people.
Thanks, Tammy! Well said!
Instructors are indeed managers. Faculty have to have excellent classroom management skills in order to be successful.
Many members of career college faculties do not have extensive teaching backgrounds, though many have management backgrounds. The trick for academic leaders is to help them transfer their management skills to the classroom.
And I agree that "educators are managers". But I tend to differentiate between what is a manager and what is a leader. As Warren Bennis wrote, "The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it". I agree that managers control, direct and plan. Our instructors should certainly have those abilities. However a leader is a different animal. It's not to say that one can't be both a good manager and also a good leader. In fact many people are elevated to leadership positions only after successful managerial careers. But the tasks and roles of leaders are different from those of managers, as are their perspectives and skills, their measures of success, and their functions in an organization. They are not one in the same. Just as instructors should be managers, by the same token they are not leaders.
With HLC, one of the first things I look for are degree levels, hours taken. That amy fall under knowledge. I saw in on of Dave's comments about team. We feel if they would'nt fit in our team, we don't consider them for a position. We also look for strong reporting skills, ie: attendance, grading, student forms. Have the abilities to speak in front of a room of adult learners, classroom management, being prepared for class.
