H****y
发帖数: 2992 | 1 Article source: Chronicle of higher education
I've just concluded all my responsibilities on a search committee.
Throughout the process, I kept jotting little notes to myself as an outlet
for all the advice I wish I could give to our applicants. I'm sure this is
mostly stuff that routinely gets tossed around here, but since I wrote it, I
thought I'd share ...
1. Don't say you can't Skype. Just figure it out. Why make us wonder if
you're techno-illiterate?
2. We're all looking at your materials electronically. When you're
applying to my university, don't suggest your lack of enthusiasm by using
file titles like "CV generic.pdf," "Cover_letter_non_research_U.doc," etc.
It's literally the first thing I see about you. Do use file titles like "
Smith all application materials for U of X.pdf," especially if everything's
in one PDF (which I personally prefer) so we know where to look.
3. During the Skype/phone interview, if you ask about the timeline, you're
signaling that the interview is about to end. Don't ask about timeline
right away.
4. Ask all your friends (and maybe especially your frenemies) if you have
any weird verbal or nonverbal tics. Like saying (literally) "blah blah blah
" a lot. (Don't do that, by the way.)
5. You can safely assume that we keep up with the news. (Yes, I'm aware
that something's happening in Ukraine.)
6. Don't say you're not an expert in something you (a) conduct research
about or (b) want to teach courses about.
7. We need to be able to imagine you in the classroom. It's fine, even
winsome, if you're on the quiet side, but do try to show off your best
articulate, confident self. We might like you a lot and want to be your
friend, but we need to know that you can communicate effectively in front of
the classroom.
8. Know the stuff you claim to know. Every committee has that one senior
faculty member who's going to pimp you, however subtly (like during meals--
beware--it's all fair game), and if he deems your substantive knowledge of
your own field lacking, you're probably not going to get the job. This
should, obviously, go without saying, but it happened at least four times
with some very strong-on-paper candidates.
9. Precise language matters. When you're giving a teaching demonstration
or research demonstration, we expect you to know what you're trying to say.
You're the expert. Don't use fillers like "and stuff like that" and "et
cetera et cetera" and "and that kind of thing." If you keep doing that, we
suspect you really have no other stuff, thing, or etc. in mind but want to
inflate our perceptions of your knowledge of the subject.
10. If you talk/joke around like most students are unmotivated or
unintelligent, we're not going to hire you. If we're concerned that you won
't intellectually challenge our students, we're not going to hire you. We
have lots of good students. I'm sorry you haven't.
Mostly, what I'd really like to say to a lot of these applicants: We think
you're great, we just had a really strong applicant pool, and you didn't
quite make the cut.
11. It is OK to act like a human being. For all the hubbub about wanting the
"perfect" candidate, we are not looking for a superhuman individual. Best
fit, yes. We want someone as perfect for the job and our department/school
as we can find, but not some mysterious superhuman.
12. Don't act crazy even if you are nuts. Everyone has quirks, but we want a
colleague for a good long time with whom we have to have conversations at
least during faculty meetings. You will also represent our department and
school, so being able to act professionally for a couple of days is a must.
13. Please prepare for the interview. At least know what programs we have,
have a vague idea what college we are in, what type of institution we are.
14. Do not pretend to be someone you are not. If you do get the job, don't
be surprised to get a task you said you were qualified to do.
15. Have a list of questions you want to ask us. Believe me, it is in your
best interest to ask them especially if you get the job.
16. Remember, it is a mutual commitment, so we are interviewing each other.
17. Hygiene, people. I got my first job because the other campus candidate
had such intense BO no one wanted to drive him back to the airport.
18. Don't spend the interview talking about perceived hot topic of the day
at the expense of talking about your content area. We need to know if you
can teach the content. And you choice of hot topic was soooo yesterday.
19. Don't talk all about diversity and respect and then end your interview
with a joke about republicans. Even our very liberal department saw the
irony of that! |
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