UCLA Linguistics has a wonderful starter guide on job applications in general, so take a look:

http://linguistics.ucla.edu/graduate/current-students/apply-academic-jobs-linguistics/

• GET TO THE MEAT QUICKLY. Lay out the problem/question first, and say “here’s how you're addressing this question”. It is important to contextualize your question and show that you have a broader understanding of cognitive science and how your research fits, but don't spend too much time bull-shitting about big-picture stuff, because that's something that anybody can talk about.

• Talk about YOU and YOUR EXPERIENCE: Your experience and your ability/skills/qualification is what they want to know, and nobody else can talk about it! (e.g., if you’ve taught a class or supervised an undergrad assistant, get to that topic REAL FAST).

• KNOW WHO THEY ARE. Do research on what they do, what kind of courses they (want to) offer, and think about how you fit in / what you can add to their program.

• ENGAGE in discussions. Make eye-contacts, talk to them and not to yourself, and it’s also fine to ask them questions (e.g., when they ask you about some specifics of your research, you can ask them ‘are you familiar with X’ that’s relevant for answering this question). This kind of interactional skill helps to demonstrate whether you’ll be a good colleague/teacher to have.

• PRACTICE. Make brief notes on what kind of answers you want to give (see common questions below), and practice so you can talk about them fluently. But at the same time, DON'T OVERPRACTICE - you really don't wanna sound like you memorized them all. Be conversational and spontaneous.

• Do a Mock Interview. Do a mock interview with Norbert, Colin, or any of your advisors - they really train you well!!!

• THIS IS NOT A TEST. While it's important to practice for your interview, they're not testing/interrogating you - they're interested in hiring you, so they are really just trying to get to know you better. Don't be nervous about exposing yourself or talking about your research - you know your work better than anybody else, so you'll most likely be able to handle any detailed questions about your work.

• 1. What kind of research do you do?
  • Be concise - you know you can talk about your research forever. If you are worried about going on too long, you can ask “i can talk more about this, but would you like me to go on / provide other examples / etc. etc.?”
  • Be engaging. For example, if you have a sentence that provides multiple interpretations, it's good to provide sample scenarios.
  • Be comprehensible. This depends a bit on where you're applying, but generally speaking, don't assume too much knowledge on the listener's side - Think as if you're talking to advanced undergraduates. If they are fully up to space, then they'll probably ask specific questions so the discussion proceeds faster.

• 2. What do you (want to) teach, and how
  • Know what kind of courses they want you to cover, and say you want to teach those courses (they might ask you to talk about how to teach a specific course they have in mind). Even if they ask you to teach something that you don't feel too comfortable with (say, sociolinguistics), at least say that you'll be able to teach an introductory course for undergrads. If you're getting a PhD, you can teach almost any introductory course for undergrads!!!
  • State the goal/theme of the course first (here's what i'd want students take away from a course like this), and say how you'll achieve it. If you're talking about psycholing courses, talking about what kind of hands-on lab projects you could do and why you want to do them is good. If you're teaching foundational ones like syntax or phonology, talk about what kind of fundamental concepts and skills students need to acquire (e.g., phrase structure theory, binding, raising and control, A-bar movement, etc.).
  • Relate to your experience quickly. Talking about actual experience is so much better and more attention-grabbing than bull-shitting about whatever teaching philosophy you have.
  • Think about what kind of textbook you can use for your class. Even if you don't want to use textbooks, have one or two in mind, and say why/how you want to supplement it with journal articles etc.
  • If you have had undergrad supervising experience, and have a chance to talk about it in answering some teaching-related questions, talk about it. They like to hear about this kind of stuff.
  • Sometimes they might want you to teach courses for specialized programs - e.g., syntax for TESOL programs - so look up what kind of degree programs they have. Think about how you can make it interesting for the special audience.
  • If they have student webpages linked to the department webpage, study them, and see what kind of interests they have, and be able to talk about them when you discuss the courses that you could offer.

• 3. Why do you want to work with us? / Why should we hire you?
  • here, telling them how you can supplement their existing strengths is a good strategy.
  • If you're applying for a CogSci program, you could say you like being able to situate your linguistics research in the broader CogSci, and that you can learn from other disciplines of CogSci
  • If you're applying for a liberal arts college, it's good to talk about how you like to interact with undergrads…especially if you actually do, and have had experience supervising undergrad research interns.

• 4. Where will you be in your research in 5 years?
  • Be able to talk about what kind of research you want to be doing in the next 5 years, beyond what you're doing for your dissertation. Don't just talk about doing some left-over work from your dissertation project - at least talk about how you want to expand the project, based on new questions that came up as you were working on your dissertation.
  • This is also an opportunity to mention collaboration opportunities - if you're developing new research questions
  • think about what grant you could be applying for, for what kind of project

• 5. Do you have any questions for us?
  • this can be tricky (see also the UCLA webpage above). You don't want to ask something that could potentially embarras them - for example, asking about what kind of lab facilities they have is tricky, if they actually have nothing - again, know who they are before asking questions like this. If you know what kind of questions they'd love to answer, ask them, so you can give them opportunities to brag about themselves.
  • Sample questions you can ask:
    • “Is it possible to co-teach in your program?” This can be really useful especially if there is someone in the program who you think you can collaborate with, as this will be an opportunity to show that you'll be an interesting colleague to have. For example, if you work on syntax acquisition, you could say that if there is an interest among students, you could co-teach a class with a phonologist on acquisition of phonology.
    • “what's the physical arrangement of the office spaces/lab facilities like?” This could be really important if you're applying for interdisciplinary linguistics programs (gathering faculty members from English, philosophy, etc.) or psychology/cognitive science (where labs are often separated and there is very little cross-talk).
    • “what's your department's vision for the next 5 years?” (suggested by colin) …well, this question takes a bit of courage to ask…but it might be useful to ask this if you know that the department is expanding and hiring a bunch of people, because this will give them an opportunity to brag about themselves.
    • “what kind of language communities are there in your area/university?” You can say that having access to speakers of various languages is useful.

• What's the most important paper that you read in the past few years? (Norbert asks this)

• What kind of training/courses have you had?

• What are the current issues in your field?
  • They want to get a sense that you are on top of what's 'hot' in the field you're working on. Variations of this question exist - for example, they could ask you something like “If you had to organize a workshop (like Mayfest), then what would be the theme of that workshop, and who would you invite as speakers?”

• What's the theoretical framework that excites you most?
  • This is quite a strange question from someone @ ASU…hope nobody else asks this, but if they do, be aware of any political tensions in the department you're applying for. A more reasonable variant of this is “Would your research questions rely on the theoretical assumptions you're making? (e.g., P&P framework)” Most likely the answer is no, but be prepared to answer questions like this.

• What kind of lab equipment do you need for your research?
  • This can be tricky - you can talk about all kinds of things you'd like to use in an ideal world, but depending on the financial situation of the program, you don't wanna sound too expensive, so don't sound like you simply can't do your research without MEG or fMRI.

• Can you do X? (e.g., can you do ERP research?)
  • Don't pretend to be someone who you're not, but say “yes” as much as possible, and say why you think you'll be able to handle it, even if you don't really feel confident…don't worry, they're not gonna hold you to your words!

• Can you work on language X?
  • Especially if you're applying abroad and your current research doesn't use the language spoken in that country, be ready to talk about what kind of research project you can do using that language, and demonstrate your knowledge of that language.