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Thursday, November 06, 2008
If it's Thursday, I Must Be in Room 4513 -- Or Was it 4315?
So I gather it's hiring conference time again. Of course, I wish the best of luck to everyone. Herewith, some unsolicited advice.*
1) Sometimes -- less often than used to be the case, I think -- you will find that particular interviewers, or even whole factions of the interviewing committee, have some ideological commitment or hobby-horse that you cross at your own peril. Your first instincts will tell you to steer clear. But, look, you can't please everyone. Sally forth. What's the worst they can do -- ding you?
2) If you are interviewing with one of the 40 or so "top 20" schools, they may, in a clever feint, ask you primarily about your scholarship. They may seem uninterested in what you have to offer in the classroom. Don't believe it: talk mostly about your teaching.
3) Conversely, if you are interviewing with a school that asks primarily about your teaching aptitude and that has obvious teaching needs, this might be a good time to talk about how you would rather not teach Property, but do have a great idea for a limited-enrollment seminar on Derrida and legal theory.
4) You may find that you arrive at your schedule interview room only to find that the prior candidate is still talking with the committee (usually, you will hear gales of laughter from behind the closed door as you sit in the hallway). You have two good options here: 1) sit meekly without knocking while the prior candidate bogarts all your interview time); or 2) knock every minute or two until they let you in.
6) Finally, don't worry -- you have plenty of time, and the Marriott Wardman Park is easy to navigate. And there's never a lineup at the hotel Starbucks.
* I take no responsibility for any consequences of actually following this advice. And I might add in a more serious vein that it is quite possible to have a very good time at the meat market; kibitzing about the law is, after all, one of the great benefits of the job. This is just kibitzing under somewhat unusual circumstances. Enjoy.
Posted by Paul Horwitz on November 6, 2008 at 01:08 AM in Paul Horwitz | Permalink
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Comments
Hey Peter, was that you outside the door? I'm just kidding, you're right that if you have a packed schedule you could run into problems if one committee starts running behind. My inclination would be in that situation that you're just going to have to cut the lackadaisical committee short, maybe with an apology as soon as you get in the room that it's going to be a short interview. I was fortunate, or unfortunate, depending on your view, not to have such a crowded schedule -- I only had one back-to-back IIRC.
Also, I'll reinforce your general point, which is that you the candidate should trust your vibe from a given committee. If you didn't get a good impression of them from the interview, you very well may not like working there either.
Posted by: Bruce Boyden | Nov 6, 2008 4:54:35 PM
Here's another piece of advice that you left out, Paul:
7) When they ask if you have any questions, inquire about the size of the offices and the quality of the office chairs. You're going to spend a lot of time sitting in a chair in an office, if hired, and you should be sure that the dimensions, ceiling heights, chair comfort is to your liking. (I've never understood why schools never sell themselves by mentioning the quality of the offices.)
Posted by: Advice Giver | Nov 6, 2008 3:02:27 PM
Here's another piece of advice that you left out, Paul:
7) When they ask if you have any questions, inquire about the size of the offices and the quality of the office chairs. You're going to spend a lot of time sitting in a chair in an office, if hired, and you should be sure that the dimensions, ceiling heights, chair comfort is to your liking. (I've never understood why schools never sell themselves by mentioning the quality of the offices.)
Posted by: Advice Giver | Nov 6, 2008 3:02:02 PM
that's a good point, Bruce, though it's difficult to tell what advice to extract from it. the problem is that if the person with the 2pm interview, who knocked at 2:10, and has now sat silent for another 5 minutes, does nothing - what happens to her 2:30 interview? she's supposed to wait until 2:18, have them usher her in, and then blame it all on that committee when she turns up at 2:45 for her 2:30? that makes a bad first impression too. The choices: the candidate may do nothing and throw off her own schedule for the rest of the day, becuase this one committee was having such a good time that they couldn't keep an eye on the time; or make some feeble effort to get things back on track. I agree with Paul's point that the burden should be on the faculty committee. but once they start acting irresponsibly, there seems to be no good choice left for the candidate. irritate this committee; annoy everyone for the rest of the day; or miss one of the interviews (or condense it to the point of meaningless) - and who knows, maybe the school that was being late was not one she was especially keen on.
Posted by: peter | Nov 6, 2008 2:10:28 PM
Re: 4, I would say knock once, not more than once and certainly not every minute. I was the person laughing it up with the committee and going about 10 minutes over my time on one occasion, and the next person knocked, someone went to acknowledge him/her, and then about 5 minutes later they knocked again. I could see that the committee was visibly annoyed. Not the first impression you want to make.
BTW, I didn't get a callback from that school. I guess they just enjoyed my conversation.
Posted by: Bruce Boyden | Nov 6, 2008 11:10:41 AM
Peter, I actually agree with you that this question is a real one. Faculty members should remember their obligation to the person sitting out in the hall. Perhaps they should keep in mind comment #5 as well: maybe they're having a great time laughing along with a candidate who does glib interview-talk well but won't deliver true substance once he arrives for his or her job-talk or actual job; maybe the person waiting in the hall who doesn't keep 'em laughing is actually a serious scholar in waiting. And my sense of etiquette recoils at the knowledge that some interview candidates will gladly overstep their 30 minutes without much thought for the next person waiting in line, although the first line of responsibility here should still be the faculty committee itself.
Posted by: Paul Horwitz | Nov 6, 2008 10:39:53 AM
Paul, I love your comments, and especially number 4, which in a roundabout way raises a serious point. I'd arrived 5 min. in advance for an interview with a School That Will Go Unnamed & sat out in the lobby as the clocks turned to 10am, then 10:05, with uproarious laughter continuing to emanate from the hotel room. At 10:07 the door opens. Does the previous candidate hurry off? By no means. Rather, ostentatiously lounges in the doorway with a faculty member who does the same. Message being broadcast? "We know there's someone else up next, and we really don't care." My interview with STWGU, oddly, does not generate raucous laughter. They were in a Serious Mood and had Serious Questions about my work. Then they noticed, at 10:26, that they were Pretty Much Out of Time and hurried me away. I left assuming that I'd never hear from them again, nor did I want to.
Fast forward two months. The STWGU left a phone message one day - urgent flyback request, please respond right away. At that time I was in practice and preferred to stay for another year rather than subject myself to kind of rudeness I had already encountered (in this particular case). Lesson: there are (at least) two sides to every interview.
Posted by: peter | Nov 6, 2008 10:34:10 AM
I second Paul's final point (the askterisked one). And it is not just kibitzing about law, it is kibitzing about *your* particular areas of expertise and interest in the law, which, by definition, you enjoy doing. It ceases to be fun when you realize everything that is riding on the kibitzing . . .
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | Nov 6, 2008 7:13:35 AM
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