Teaching & Learning

Instructor Recruitment

Download article as PDF

Instructor Recruitment

 

 

About
If you are about to recruit instructors it is important to assure a certain level of quality from the candidates who are put in the instructor role. Below you will find guidelines to provide a structured and effective recruitment proces.

 

four steps when recruiting an instructor

 

There are different areas and aspects when it comes to the recruitment of Instructors – 1. attracting candidates, 2. what to attract candidates with, 3. job interviews and 4. the onboarding of new Instructors. In this section, we will briefly touch upon practices and recommendations within each of these areas.

 
Attracting candidates
Attraction elements
Job interviews
Onboarding

 

 

Unfold and discover each step below

.

Attracting candidates

 

When attracting instructor-candidates, consider one of the two strategies:

Informal

Procedure

Finding potential students candidates from classes and tapping them on the shoulder. Getting them to post job ad on internal Facebook group.

Advantages

Pre-exisiting evaluation basis, high quality of candidates, candidates who are familiar with the courses and the programmes and the derived pegagocial advantages.

Disadvantages

Low quantity of candidates
Formal

Procedure

Creating job ad, establishing hiring committee, screening applications, interviewing candidates.

Advantages

Broad reach, high quantity of candidates, quality of talent pool, reaching other programmes, reaching other universities.

Disadvantages

Time - and ressource-demanding, no guarantees for quality of candidates.

Attraction elements

 

 

When attracting candidates for the instructor jobs, there are multiple aspects including learning, benefiting and attracting of the job to emphasise to students. In the following these will be highlighted and elaborated.

 

 

Rewarding

It is a rewarding job, because the instructor are able to create value and facilitate learning for other students.

Responsibility

An Instructor are given responsiblity for representing the course, the programme and ultimately CBS.

Motivation and leadership

As an Instructor, motivation of students is similarly a big part of the job which enables the instructor to train leadership abilities.

Fun

For the instructor studying can be more energetic, fun and exciting based upon the pedagogical approach he/she chooses to apply.

Creative

The instructor will train his/hers creativity by getting the opportunity to design a class content and deciding on an effective pedagogical approach.

Own learning

One of the greatest sources of learning is by teaching others. Thus, being an Instructor can be very valuable for the instructors own studies and learning.

Communication

In the instructorrole communication skills are trained. The instructor have to communicate the curriculum and answer questions about complex subjects and concepts from the students.

CV

It is a great activity to have at a CV, as it is a testimony to multiple competences in the eyes of employers – including the ones listed above. It also shows, that not only the instructor are a great student, but have a level of mastery that enables him/her to teach others.

Challenging

The Instructor are potentially put infront of his/hers fellow students but with a teachers authority. The instructorrole is about utilizing the empathy and understanding which is shared with students, but stimultaneously establishing and maintaining a respect from them - which can be intimidating.

Job interview

The job interview with candidates for the instructor job is an important opportunity to assess whether the person are capable of performing the job and possess the required abilities. In the following there have been gathered some best practice experience and recommandations about how to design job interviews and what to ask the candidates about.

PERCEIVED CHALLENGES

It can be a good idea to ask the candidate about specific challenges they think might occur in the job, and how they would solve them. To guide their reflection, they can use examples from their own experiences. It is important to explicitly give room and time for reflection on this question.

THE IDEAL INSTRUCTOR

To get the candidate’s reflections upon important qualities in the role, ask them to describe the ideal instructor/teacher and their competences. As an inspiration, it can be suggested that they draw on own examples of good and bad teaching/teachers.

SIMULATION OF INSTRUCTION

To get a sense of the candidate’s abilities, it can be a good idea to let them instruct/teach in course material – and simulate actual instruction. This can be done by giving them material prior to the interview, which they have to prepare a presentation of or an exercise around during the interview. Besides giving the interviewer a good basis of evaluation, the following conversation can be a reflection on the presentation.

SCENARIO-BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Situating the candidate in specific, tricky scenarios through questions in the interview can give a good idea of how the candidate would act in challenging situations that could occur in the job. This could also enable reflection between the interviewer and the candidate about how to act in pressured situations. ​

Here are some examples of typical, challenging scenarios to situate them in:​

- You ask a question about an exercise/course material in class and no one answers. What do you do?​

- You ask a question about an exercise/course material in class and someone answers incorrectly/misleadingly (factually or interpretively). What do you do? ​

- You are asked a question (about e.g. the exam or course material) that you do not know. What do you do? ​

- In an exercise class, half of the students has prepared (read the material/done the assignment), and half of the students haven’t. How do you handle the situation? Who do you prioritise? ​

- One or few students are dominating the class and they are at a higher level than the others. How do you invite more students into the dialogue and make sure they understand?

Onboarding

 

When an instructor comes on board (at a course), it is important to give them a proper introduction to their new role. This can be managed in several ways.

Introduction meeting

Make sure to sit down and have an exhaustive introduction meeting with the Instructor – and the other teachers.

 

 

 

 

Talking to former Instructors

If possible, connect new Instructors with former Instructors so they can share knowledge and experiences from the job

 

 

 

 

Access to former Instructors material ​

If possible, provide new Instructors with materials from former Instructors/teachers in the same role 

 

 

 

 

Observe first instruction and provide feedback  ​

Give the Instructor a good start by observing their first class and providing them with constructive feedback afterwards. Download a report template to view some suggestions on what element a template could consist of. Download here.