University of Tennessee Knoxville Interview Questions
& Process

It was a long search, but everyone was really nice. Each interview had its own search committee. Most of the interviews were panels, and you did have to do a presentation, the topic of which depended on the job you were applying for. The committee was very welcoming.

I had an interview with a group in the department who were working on a grant funded project, and also the Admin Lead of the department. It was a typical interview, but they did mention that there would be extra classes/courses to take and that I would need to attend these sometimes during work hours. The job was a standard "9-5", but there would be times during the year where I might have to work on the weekend, or travel to work with the group. The interviewers wanted to ensure they hired someone who could learn the general process and be open to feedback like publication edits or weekly note taking.

The interview was about an hour long, and went over by 20 minutes. I met with a panel of three faculty members, including the PI. They asked me behavioral questions. The process itself was straightforward, but the interviewers were asking some pretty out-there questions and really nitpicking tiny details that didn't seem relevant. They didn't seem to put much thought into their questions or feedback. They also seemed reluctant to be there themselves and even mentioned they weren't actively seeking candidates, which felt like a waste of my time given their lack of clarity. It gave me a really poor first impression of the University of Tennessee and whether they even take their clinical research seriously.

Before applying, I had a casual online chat with the professors I hoped to work with. For the official interview, it was a two-day in-person visit. The first evening involved a social gathering with faculty and current grad students, and the second evening had a social with only grad students. The interview day included presentations about the department, funding, and teaching assistant roles. Then, I met the department faculty and had 3-4 interviews with professors, including two from the department I wasn't planning to work with. We also toured all the labs. The final two hours were spent discussing with the grad students and faculty in the lab I was interested in. Everyone was really friendly. The faculty interviews were laid-back. The interviews with faculty I wouldn't be working with were mainly for me to ask questions about the program and the city. It felt like the interview day was more for prospective students to ask questions rather than for them to be interviewed. I understood that the professors I wanted to work with might not be able to offer me a spot due to their admission system (some professors get priority for admitting students each year, and the lower their priority, the less likely they are to admit someone).