Dublin City University Interview Questions
& Process

It was just one round, a panel interview with four people. I had to do a presentation I prepared beforehand. The panel and other staff I met were nice and friendly, but many of the interview questions were so structured and not really open-ended, leaving little space to talk about my fit or the skills needed for the job. This is typical for the public sector, which feels a bit old-fashioned. I got the impression the job was already promised to someone internally.

The interview process involved a single session with the hiring manager, department manager, an HR representative, and an external interviewer from another university's careers team. This interview lasted about 40 minutes. Each interviewer asked 3-5 questions. HR's questions were competency-based, the Team Manager's focused on the role and skills, the Department Manager's looked at the wider student population and support, and the external examiner's were about best practice and industry trends.

It was a panel interview with six people. One external person asked scholarly questions, although they didn't seem very well-informed. Another interviewer acted like the 'bad cop' in a 'good cop bad cop' routine. She was unpleasant and manic, and didn't really know what she was talking about. The other questions were a bit odd, and I got the impression they might have already decided on a candidate. I was a bit surprised to be interviewed at all, given that the university (which calls itself the 'entrepreneurial university of Ireland') had hired my business partner on a temporary contract and then made an arrangement for him to go independent and work with them directly.

The interview itself was fine, and professionally conducted. However, the overall process was very poor and they did not keep to their own timelines around communications at any point in the process. There was a 2 month gap between the job application deadline and a phone call from HR to inform me I was shortlisted for an interview. At the end of the interview, I was told by the HR panelist that they would make a decision within two weeks, and asked me twice to confirm my referees' availability. I was told they wanted someone to start straight away, which I could. But they never reached out to my referees, nor did they have the courtesy to let me know if they made a decision or not. It has been two months since my interview for this senior level role within the university network, so this lack of communication is a serious flag. It is quite disappointing, as the project was very interesting and I supported it's social objective. I'd suggest Glassdoor widens their options for the 'Did you get an offer' question. Not getting an offer could mean you were formally rejected, or just got ghosted and never heard back. I think this is an important metric for candidates.