Questions to Ask a Head of Department
Questions to ask a head of department, for a candidate whose interview is with the person who would run their working week, in a school, a university or a company, and for a new or long-standing member of staff sitting down with the head for the first time. They are grouped in the order such a meeting tends to run: the department's priorities and budget, how classes and projects are shared out, support and reviews, how the head leads and deals with the level above, your first year, and a few to close on. School words such as class and term sit beside project and quarter throughout, so read whichever fits your setting.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Priorities
What are the department's priorities for this year?
Why ask it
Expect two or three, and write them down, because your own work will be weighed against them. Then ask which the department chose and which were handed down, since the second kind tends to come with deadlines nobody here set.
What is the biggest challenge the department is dealing with right now?
Why ask it
The honest answers are usually staffing, money, results or a change imposed from outside. Whichever it is, ask how it touches the post you are discussing, since a new person is often hired to be part of the fix.
Where would you like the department to be in three years?
Why ask it
The reply shows whether the head is building something or holding things steady, and either can be the right call. Ask what has to happen this year for that picture to stay on course, which turns an aspiration into a task that someone, possibly you, will be given.
How is the department judged by the people above you?
Why ask it
Most heads get asked about one or two figures, whether exam results, enrollment, grant income, revenue or satisfaction scores. Whatever is counted shapes what gets praised, so find out which of those figures your role would move.
Does the department hold its own budget, and what can you spend without asking anyone?
Why ask it
Some heads hold a real budget and some can only ask for money line by line, and it varies from one employer to the next. The answer tells you whether a request for equipment, software or training is decided in this room or sent upstairs to wait.
What did the department have to go without after the last budget round?
Why ask it
A concrete loss, such as a post left unfilled, a trip dropped or a license not renewed, shows how tight things are better than any general remark about funding. If nothing was lost, ask what was added.
Is the department growing, holding steady or shrinking, and what is behind that?
Why ask it
Rising student numbers or a fuller order book mean new posts and new work to claim. A shrinking department can still be a good place to work, but ask how posts were protected the last time numbers fell and whether this one is permanent.
What is the department proudest of from the last couple of years?
Why ask it
Most of this list probes, and this one does not, which makes it a good early question in a first meeting. Notice whether the credit goes to named colleagues, and whether the achievement is one the people above the head would also count.
What would you most like to change about how the department runs?
Why ask it
This gets you the head's own agenda as opposed to the official one. Listen for whether the change is under way, planned or only wished for, and ask what has held it up, which often turns out to be time, budget or one unwilling colleague.
Why does the department need this post filled now?
Why ask it
Replacing someone, covering growth and starting something new are three different jobs under one title. For a replacement, ask what the last person's load was and whether you would inherit all of it. A team member meeting a new head can turn it around and ask what the head sees their role as being for.
Workload
How do you decide who takes which classes, projects or accounts?
Why ask it
There is always a method, written down or not: years served, specialism, a rotation, or last year's list copied forward. If the head can explain theirs, someone has thought about fairness. 'It sorts itself out' usually means the longest-serving people choose first.
When is next year's timetable or work plan settled, and how much say do people get?
Why ask it
The date matters because requests made after it are rarely granted. Ask how preferences are collected, on a form, in a meeting or in the hallway, and put yours in through that route when the time comes.
What would a full load look like in this post?
Why ask it
Get it in units you can count: teaching hours and separate preparations, courses per term, clients, cases or projects running at once. Then ask whether new staff start on the full figure or a reduced one, since practice differs between employers and you should not assume either.
Who takes the hardest groups or the least popular work, and is it shared around?
Why ask it
In some departments the newest person gets what nobody else wanted. A head who rotates the difficult class, the early shift or the awkward client will say so readily. Hesitation here is an answer too.
What comes on top of the main job: duties, committees, cover, admin?
Why ask it
The extras are where a reasonable load becomes an unreasonable one, and they seldom appear in a job advertisement. Ask which are required, which are voluntary in name only, and whether any carry extra pay or time, because that depends entirely on the employer.
What happens to the work when someone is out sick or leaves partway through the year?
Why ask it
Either there is a system, such as cover staff, slack in the plan or a budget for temporary help, or the people who remain absorb it. Asking about the most recent absence gets you the real arrangement and not the intended one.
How do you tell when someone has too much on, and what do you do about it?
Why ask it
You want to hear something the head actually did: took a task away, moved a deadline, argued for help. If the only answer is that their door is always open, the noticing is being left to the person who is already overloaded.
Which weeks of the year are heaviest here?
Why ask it
Knowing when the crunch falls, be it exams, reports, admissions, year end or a launch, lets you plan leave and family commitments around it. Ask what is expected in those weeks that is not expected in the others.
How much of the planning and material is shared, and how much would I build myself?
Why ask it
Shared schemes of work, unit plans, course shells, templates or a documented process can save a newcomer weeks. If everyone keeps their own, ask whether a colleague would let you see theirs, and count the building time as part of your first-year load.
How flexible are the hours and the place of work, and who signs off on a change?
Why ask it
Policies on remote days, leaving between classes or shifting hours are set by the employer, and the head may have more or less discretion than you expect. Ask what the written rule is, then what people in the department actually do.
Support
How are new staff brought into the department in their first weeks?
Why ask it
Listen for specifics: who meets you on the first morning, whose work you watch, when the full load begins. That much detail means someone has done this before and learned from it. 'You will pick it up' means the induction is you asking questions, so line up the person you will ask.
Who would I go to day to day with a question: you, a mentor or someone else?
Why ask it
Heads of department are often too busy to be the first stop. Get a name, and if a mentor is assigned, ask whether that person is given any time for it or does it as a favor.
How often would you and I meet one-on-one?
Why ask it
Where the head only calls people in when something is wrong, every invitation feels like bad news. If there is no regular meeting, ask for a short standing one through your first term or quarter, which is an easy request to grant and a hard one to resent.
How is performance reviewed here, and what is your part in it?
Why ask it
Appraisal schemes are set by the employer and sometimes by regulation, so ask for the document itself. What the head can tell you is whether they write the review, contribute to it or only pass it on, and that shows whose opinion of your work counts.
How will I know how I am doing between formal reviews?
Why ask it
Once a year is too late to learn that something is off. Listen for habits: dropping into lessons, reading drafts, a quick word after a meeting. If there are none, agree on a check-in at around six weeks and put it in both calendars.
What happens when someone in the department is struggling?
Why ask it
The good version starts early and informally, with a lighter load, a colleague to observe or one specific target. Ask at what point it becomes a formal process, since that step follows the employer's own procedure and you should read it for yourself instead of relying on a summary.
What training or development has someone in the department done in the past year, and who paid for it?
Why ask it
Asking about last year gets you a fact where asking about opportunities gets you a brochure. Follow up on time as well as money: a funded course is no use if nobody can cover your classes or your desk while you attend.
Who in the department has moved up recently, and how did it come about?
Why ask it
A name and a story show that progression happens and what it took, whether a new responsibility, a qualification or a vacancy. If people only move up by leaving, that is worth knowing before you plan to stay five years.
When a complaint comes in about someone in the department, what do you do first?
Why ask it
What you are listening for is the order of events: does the head hear the member of staff before replying to the student, parent, client or other team, or after? Ask for a recent case with the names left out.
How long do people tend to stay in this department, and why did the last person to leave go?
Why ask it
Long service can mean a happy team or one with no way up, so pair this with the question about who has moved up. A head who speaks warmly of people who left for a bigger job is usually one who helped them get it.
The head
How would you describe the way you lead the department?
Why ask it
Most heads give the description they hope is true, which still shows what they are aiming at. Ask for one decision from this term or quarter that shows it, and if you meet someone from the team, ask how they would put it.
Who do you answer to, and how often do you meet them?
Why ask it
The title of the person above, whether principal, dean, director or vice president, tells you how many layers sit between your work and the top. Frequent contact generally means the department's needs get heard, and it also means changes of mind upstairs arrive quickly.
Which decisions are yours to make, and which need sign-off from above?
Why ask it
Go through the ones that matter to you, such as hiring, spending, the timetable, what gets taught or built, and who gets leave. It saves you asking the head for things that are not theirs to give, and shows you when a yes is really 'yes, if it is approved'.
When did you last push back on something that came from above, and what happened?
Why ask it
You are finding out whether the head filters what comes down or simply passes it on. A specific story, even one where they lost, is reassuring. Do not press for criticism of their own manager: one example is enough, and an interview is not the place for more.
How does news from senior leadership reach the department?
Why ask it
Hearing it from the head at a meeting, with reasons and room for questions, is different from finding it in an all-staff email. The route also tells you how early you would hear about something that changes your job.
How often does the department meet as a group, and what gets decided there?
Why ask it
Some department meetings are where the timetable, the budget and the plan get argued out, and some are a list of notices read aloud. Ask what the last one changed. That tells you whether your voice would count in that room or whether the real decisions are made beforehand.
How long have you been head, and is it a fixed-term role or an open-ended one?
Why ask it
In some places the headship rotates or runs for a set number of years, and in others it changes hands only with a reorganization. If a change looks likely within a year or two, ask how the next head is chosen, because understandings reached with this one may not carry over.
How do you like to hear about a problem: straight away, or once I have a fix to propose?
Why ask it
Take the answer literally and act on it from the first week. For a new hire this is one of the most practical questions on the page, because the first mistake you report will color how the head reads you afterwards.
What could I take off your desk this term or this quarter?
Why ask it
This suits a new hire or an existing team member better than a candidate, who can ask what the head is shortest of time for. The answers are often small and worth taking seriously: a set of marks or figures entered on time, a booking or an order handled, one meeting that you chair.
First year
What would you want me to have done by the end of the first year?
Why ask it
Ask for it as two or three outcomes you could both recognize, such as classes settled and results on track, a course redesigned or a backlog cleared. Write them down afterwards and bring them to your first review.
What should I concentrate on in the first month?
Why ask it
Often the answer is smaller than candidates fear: learn the names, learn the systems, get one thing right. If the head lists ten things, ask which two they would check on first.
What do people new to this department tend to find hardest?
Why ask it
The head has watched several arrivals and knows where they trip, be it the grading policy, the booking system or one demanding group. Ask what helped the ones who got past it quickly.
What would you want me to leave alone to begin with?
Why ask it
New people are tempted to fix things on arrival, and some of those things have a history. This question earns goodwill and spares you a fight you did not know you were picking. Ask when it would be reasonable to raise the subject again.
Is there a probation period or a first-year review, and what does it turn on?
Why ask it
Length, terms and what counts as passing are set by the contract and the employer's rules, and those differ from place to place, so ask to see them in writing. The head can tell you what they personally look at, which is usually narrower than the paperwork.
What would you like this hire to bring that the department does not have yet?
Why ask it
It might be a subject specialism, a technical skill, experience with an age group or a type of client, or simply fresh eyes. If you have it, give a short example. If you do not, say how you would get there and ask how much it matters.
What could I take on after the first year: a course, a project, a responsibility?
Why ask it
This shows ambition without asking for a promotion you have not earned. A head with something in mind will name it. If the answer is vague, ask what the last person in the post went on to do.
To close
Having met me, where do you think I would need the most help?
Why ask it
It lets the head voice a reservation as a practical matter, which is easier for both of you than a question about doubts. In an interview, respond once with an example. As a new hire, treat whatever they name as the first thing to raise with your mentor.
Who in the department should I talk to first, and about what?
Why ask it
The names tell you who the head trusts and who really runs the timetable, the lab or the client list. Take them up on it, and put a workload question and a support question to those colleagues too, since they live with the answers.
What should I read or look at before I start?
Why ask it
Whatever they name, the handbook, the unit plans, last year's report or the shared drive, is what they will assume you know on day one. From a candidate it signals you are already thinking about the job, and it costs the head ten seconds.
What are the next steps, and who makes the final decision?
Why ask it
In some places the head decides, and in others they recommend and a panel, a principal or a human resources team signs off. Knowing which tells you how to read the wait, and who else you may still need to meet.
What have I not asked that you think I should know?
Why ask it
Ask it last and wait. This is where a restructure, a building move or a change of syllabus tends to come out, because the head was not going to raise it unprompted and has now been invited to.
Getting the most from a conversation with a head of department
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Work out which conversation this is
If you are a candidate
The head of department is usually the person you would work for, and often the one with the strongest voice in the appointment. Lead with Priorities and First year, which show you are thinking about their problems, and take two from Workload so you leave knowing the size of the job. Expect room for four or five in all, so mark the one whose answer could change your mind and ask it first. Pay, contract terms and leave generally belong with whoever handles the offer, so ask the head who that is.
If you have just joined
The decision is made, so you can be more direct. Start with First year and The head: what to concentrate on, what to leave alone, how they like to hear about problems. Bring a notebook. A new hire who writes down the answer to 'what should I read first' and then reads it has made a good start.
If the head is new and you are not
A team member meeting a new head is being sized up too. Ask about their priorities and how they plan to allocate work, then offer what you know: which systems creak, which weeks are heaviest, what the last timetable got wrong. Avoid opening with a grievance left over from the previous head, however fair it is.
School, university or company
The title covers different jobs. In a school the head of department often still teaches for much of the week and manages a handful of colleagues. A university head or chair may serve a fixed term among peers. In a company the role can be a senior executive with a large budget. Read each question with your setting in mind and swap the nouns: classes for projects, timetable for work plan, term for quarter.
Choosing what to ask
When the head is one of a panel
School and university interviews often seat the head of department beside a principal, a dean or someone from human resources. Put the department questions to the head by name, such as how classes are allocated or what a full load is, and leave questions about the whole organization to the senior person. You get the answer from the one who lives with it, and the panel sees that you know who does what.
Read the department before you meet its head
The department's page, the course list, the organization chart and any published inspection or review report take fifteen minutes and stop you asking what is already public. Better still, build on what you find. 'I saw the department added a second course last year. Who is picking up the teaching?' gets a fuller answer than the bare question.
Time the question to the department's calendar
Once you are in the job, when you ask matters as much as what you ask. Class or project preferences count before the planning round closes, and a training request counts before the budget bids go in. Get those two dates from the head in your first meeting and work back from them.
Keep budget and pay apart
Asking what the department can afford is a question about the work: equipment, cover, training, new posts. What you would be paid is a different conversation, usually with a different person. Run the two together and a fair question about resources starts to sound like the opening of a negotiation.
Weighing what you hear
Turn the load into a week
Afterwards, lay the figures out on a weekly grid: teaching hours or project time, preparation, duties, meetings and the extras. Set it beside the week you work now. A load that sounded ordinary in the room can look quite different once the committee, the cover and the Thursday meeting are drawn in.
Separate what the head controls from what they do not
Much of what you ask about, from appraisal rules to working hours to probation, is set above the department and varies by employer and by country. A good head will say 'that is not mine to decide' and point you to the document or the office that holds the answer. Follow that pointer, and do not treat the head's summary as the rule.
Give credit for 'I will have to check'
A head who says they need to look up the probation terms or the cover budget, and then does, is more use to you than one with a confident answer for everything. Note what they offered to find out and whether it arrives. How a small promise is kept before you start is a fair preview of the larger ones.
Write it down the same day
Note the first-year goals, the load figure and anything that was promised, with the date. If you take the job, those notes are the agenda for your first one-on-one. If something later turns out differently, you can raise it by pointing to the conversation and not to a feeling.
What to steer clear of
Inviting the head to criticize their own boss
The questions under The head ask how decisions travel, not what the head thinks of the people above. One example of pushing back is plenty. Pressing further puts them in an awkward spot and makes you look like someone who repeats things.
Negotiating the timetable before you have the job
Ask how work is allocated, and hold back the list of classes, days or clients you would prefer not to take. Preferences are welcome once there is an offer or once the planning round opens, and the head will remember who asked how it works and who arrived with conditions.
Treating your last department as the standard
Loads, review cycles, cover arrangements and budgets differ widely, even between departments in one building. 'At my last place we did it this way' is fine as background to a question and grating as a bar to be cleared.
Going around the head
If the load or the timetable turns out harder than you were told, the head should hear it first, with your notes from this conversation in hand. Taking it straight to the principal, the dean or the director usually sends it back down to the same desk, with the head now on the defensive.