A community college job offers instructors the chance to serve a different group of students than a job at a traditional four-year university; students come from a wider variety of backgrounds, financial situations and educational experience. When you are interviewing candidates for an open position, it is important to gauge their understanding of your mission and dedication to providing a quality education.

Teaching Experience
Because community colleges do not focus on research, you will need to find candidates who are great teachers. During the interview process, ask about the time they have spent instructing others. Ask about non-traditional teaching experience, such as camp counseling, arts instructing or leading workshops. You may find that a candidate without traditional teaching experience may have led groups on tours in different countries, for example, or volunteered as a conversation partner for immigrants learning English. Talk about the populations the candidate has worked with and how they are able to adapt to the needs of non-traditional students.

Problem Solving
Teachers at community colleges work with a wide range of students and must be skilled at meeting the learning needs of each individual. In one class, they may have a recent high school graduate and a middle-aged person returning to school after a hiatus. To gauge their level of comfort and skill handling the challenges of working with varying student populations, ask how they would handle different situations; use examples of situations that have occurred at your college. Take note of the creativity and innovation of their solutions.

Motivation
To get a sense of why your interviewee is applying to your school, ask questions that get at their motivations. You might ask why they chose a two-year institution over a four-year college, for example, or ask how their teaching philosophy will fit with the students you serve. If your school attracts a certain population that requires special considerations, ask why the candidate is interested in working with them. In doing so, you can get a sense of how well they have researched your institution and how interested they are in teaching. Knowing about a teacher's motivation can help you understand how well they will perform on the job based on environmental and situational factors.

Reality Check
Community colleges have a different set of limitations than four-year colleges and are often more challenging for teachers. During an interview, ask questions designed to see how well the candidate understands the working situation at your school. You might ask about a comfortable course load, classes the instructor would like to teach, how they would handle low travel budgets and touch on expected salaries.