system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Job Interview questions

I posted this question in academia and didn’t get much response so thought I’d ask here

Humanities disciples: As someone who will be going on the job market this fall, and a first-gen Phd, can you please share a question that popped up during your interview process? Maybe a question important to the process but weren’t expecting, a question that stumped you, surprised you, etc
And if you can, would you share what your answer to the question was?
Thanks very much.
I’m feeling excited but nervous about the whole thing and would like to know what I’m getting into. Feeling underprepared.
gpt
The question that you will always get, in one form or another, is " tell me about your research". Top tips for answering that:
1) talk about your dissertation's major contributions to the field, and do not only talk about your dissertation: your research is one big project, but you want to show that you have plans beyond it and you're already thinking about it.
2) talk about your dissertation in the past tense (even if you have not defended yet) 
3) do all of the above in a maximum of 4-5 minutes and structure the answer with a clear intro, middle and a summary sentence at the end. 

They will ask you what would you/could you teach and this is where you have to show them that:
1) you've done your research on what courses they offer and where are the gaps that you can fill
2) you have teaching experience that is relevant for them -- don't dismiss your TA experience as 'just TAing' 
3) have one undergrad and one grad course ready to talk about. Have a few major books that you will read in those courses and try to come up with one cool assignment for each of them. 

They will ask you if you have any questions: always ask at least one, and ask a question whose answer cannot be easily found on their website. 

Hope this helps and good luck!