Far too many graduate students earnestly prepare for their job talk as if the talk itself is what matters most.
I did, back when I was a graduate student in sociology. I spent considerable time on how to expertly present my dissertation research in 45 precious minutes to people who had never met me and had no idea how excited I was about my work. I rehearsed the talk in my apartment, timed it, then gave a practice version to professors and graduate students in my department.
But it was not until a casual meeting with a member of my dissertation committee in her cozy office that I learned the secret to delivering a great job talk: Nothing matters more than how you manage the Q&A portion of the talk.
The Q&A provides insight into how you perform under pressure. It is a measure of your temperament, of the kind of citizen you would be should the faculty members listening attentively invite you to join them. Do you look overwhelmed? Are you snapping at people who pose difficult questions or challenge your argument? Do you only take questions from traditionally privileged members of the audience — i.e., men — or people who look mature enough to be professors as opposed to graduate students?
Demonstrating respect for your audience is crucial, and the Q&A reveals that aspect of your character. It also reflects how well you have been trained to “think on your feet,” something academics care enormously about. They see that abstract quality — and not the way you deliver the rehearsed portion of your talk — as an indication of how smart you really are. The Q&A also signals how effectively you would teach students who pose unsolicited questions to you.
Put simply, the Q&A is your audition for the role of colleague. Your goal is to persuade the department’s faculty to want you around on a permanent basis. The Q&A is the place where you begin to seal the deal.
But when do graduate students learn how to negotiate the Q&A?
As dissertation advisers, we are adept at teaching the structured portion of the job talk. We drill into our advisees the need for:
n A clear research question.n Attention to the existing literature.n Demonstration of the novel aspects of their findings.n Plausible implications of their research.
Most graduate programs in my field (sociology) offer workshops that seek to underscore what advisers are preaching and help students develop their skills. But graduate students are not supremely confident following exposure to these tricks of the trade — in part because the skills they need most to ace the Q&A are less formulaic and therefore harder to teach.
The Q&A involves engagement with unanticipated questions. That’s why many academics value the ritual so highly. It is presumably something for which you cannot prepare in advance — something only very smart people can do well. But, truth be told, the Q&A can be mastered, too. And if graduate students are to be successful, especially given a hyper-competitive job market, professors have to do a better job of teaching their advisees all that they need to know for their job talk.
What, exactly, do graduate students need to know about the Q&A?
The first step is to reread your dissertation. Yes, even though your talk covers a single chapter, give every chapter a close read. Undoubtedly, there will be questions about the chapters you don’t mention in your talk.
I learned that lesson the hard way not long after my first book was published. During my job talk, I focused on a single chapter, but the audience had read the entire book and they were interested in talking about all of it. Rereading a published book may be even more important than rereading your dissertation. It takes about a year for a book to be published by a university press. By then, you’ve moved on to another research project, and the finer details of the book will not be as salient for you. Rereading refreshes your memory, giving you a leg-up when it comes time for the Q&A.
Knowing all the dimensions of your argument cold allows you to make seamless connections between your work and other subfields. Academics tend to want to know how your work compares to their own research. You might believe that kind of contrast is unfair, and maybe it is. But you will get such questions, so be prepared.
Prior to your talk, think also about connections between your work and current events, especially if your research has policy implications.
Finally, devote some of your prep time to considering the weaknesses of your work — specifically, to the facts and theories that run counter to your argument. It is unnecessary to include them on your PowerPoint slides. Instead, during the Q&A, demonstrate that you are aware of the counterarguments, and explain how you have ruled them out. Doing so will not only strengthen your findings, it will suggest to your audience that you are a meticulous scholar.
The goal is to present yourself as someone who is at ease during the job talk, who is having fun presenting your research to colleagues. After all, that is what the members of your audience could be in a few months, if all goes well.
Performing well during the Q&A does not come naturally to most people. It is a skill, but with the right preparation, it is one that can be mastered.
Karyn Lacy is an associate professor of sociology and Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan.
