= Premium Content

  • Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Previous

Next

A Shocking Offer

February 23, 2011, 12:54 pm

By Gene C. Fant Jr.

We’ve all heard horror stories about botched on-campus interviews: The candidate who passed out in the teaching demonstration. The applicant who chewed out a staff member, unaware that the person was the dean’s spouse. The potential colleague who wore a denim jumpsuit with fluorescent-orange accent piping. We aren’t surprised when no offer is made to those job applicants.

Some time ago I had an interesting conversation with a candidate who was sure, absolutely sure, that he had bungled his on-campus opportunity. He had been tongue-tied in the small-group interviews, none of his technology for his teaching demonstration had worked, and he was certain that he’d had lettuce in his teeth throughout the lunch conversation. He went on, nebbish-like, until the punch line: “And then they offered me the job!” He had been both shocked and overjoyed by the offer.

I think of this person’s story whenever I tell people to be graceful in the aftermath of any on-campus interview. You never know what might develop. Presumption of failure can be undermined by reality.

Do you know any stories of people who were shocked to receive an offer? What had they done to mess things up that caused them to be so surprised?

This entry was posted in Faculty Hiring, Interviewing. Bookmark the permalink.

  • Print
  • Comment
  • blisterfish

    A colleague of mine cut himself shaving and just could not stop the bleeding, so he showed up with a piece of tissue stuck to the razor cut – he landed the job.

  • swish

    Whenever I’ve come out of an interview feeling good about it, I can forget about that job. The only times I’ve ever been offered a job (or aced a test, or landed a good part in a play) were the times I felt I did horribly badly.

    I should practice the George Costanza technique and always do the opposite of what my instinct tells me is best.

  • rbourgault

    I am afraid I have to agree with swish and I don’t understand why there would be such a disconnect between what I think is a good interview and what the committee concludes! I don’t get the logic of that. Can someone suggest a possible reason?

  • keinname

    swish: nervousness signals that you really want the job–and, more important, probably means that you worked really hard at trying to get it. The hard work tends to reveal itself, even as the nervousness makes it easy for you to think you did horribly.

    On the other hand, if you hadn’t been nervous at all, and had been convinced that everyone thought of you as God’s gift to the world, you probably would have come across as cocky–one of the worst adjectives you can have affixed to you. I once landed a job fairly easily when the guy who interviewed before me was described to me (later) as “obviously thinking of the interviewing faculty as idiots” and as having been very condescending in answering questions during the job talk. By acting like a normal, polite human being, and probably displaying some nervousness, I seemed like a much better prospective colleague.

  • jsdfkaljfd

    Indeed, what appears to be bumbling to oneself can often appear to be thoughtful to others.

  • marbie4184

    I had an interview where only one person, in a group of five, asked me questions. I would respond, then get shot back with a question “Well, what do you do when that doesn’t work?” This went on for about an hour. I left having no clue how it went, but all I knew is that I answered every single question. I was offered the job the next week.

  • swish

    Thanks, you two. Could be some truth in that for the interviews (seems less likely for auditions), but that doesn’t explain why the phenomenon has also occurred when taking multiple-choice tests.

  • singfasola

    like marbie4184, when interviewing for the administrative position I now hold, I ended every response to an interview question with a question back to the committee. I didn’t want to be the smartest person in the room, but I have always been well-engaged (some would say overachieving) at work and wanted to demonstrate first, my interest in the position, and second, that I have a mind that works. Those Q&A exchanges probably gave the committee some insights into my strengths and weaknesses without having to go through that particular interview question (which was never asked).
    Landing a job is a two-way street: you have to ask enough questions to learn whether you like job and the committee (your potential colleagues), and you need to demonstrate to them that what they are seeing is likely to be what they will get.

  • jobsearchinacademia

    I have a question and I need your advise. I went to a campus interview recently, it is my dream job in paper, the faculty could have been better, but  it is a job! Now, normally I hear people give you 15 days to decide: I was asked to respond to a verbal offer within 5  days. Then they will send the letter…what happens if I say yes to this offer verbally, but then I have a “better offer” while they send me the letter? Why are they forcing me to reply within 5 days? I feel pressure and I have 3 campus visit back to back and I know I can make a wise choice once I have more time, but they need the reply ASAP (5 days)… what shall I do?

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

  • The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • 1255 Twenty-Third St, N.W.
  • Washington, D.C. 20037