The ‘Courtesy’ Application

Friends and relatives can be one of the hardest parts of the job search, especially if they don’t have any idea what goes on in a search in terms of institutional peer rankings, specialty fields, and so forth.

My doctoral institution provided me with a first-rate education in my field, and my professors were personable, widely published, well-connected scholars. My fellow Ph.D. graduates landed very good jobs at strong teaching institutions. I was never, however, under the delusion that my nonflagship state university Ph.D. was going to get me a job at an Ivy League institution. As I performed my first job searches, I was careful to match the positions with realistic expectations.

One of my relatives, however, saw an ad from a nearby university in her Sunday paper and absolutely insisted that I apply. The university had a top-tier department in my field, and I knew that my application would be shuffled politely to the bottom of the pile. I felt like I couldn’t lie, so I decided to apply so that I could say honestly that I had. I knew, however, that there was no way on earth that I would get the job. When the rejection letter finally came, I kept it on file for a long time just to have a sheet of letterhead from that fine institution.

Do any of you have stories about positions you applied for that you now look back on and think, “How ridiculous of me!” or about friends or relatives who made you apply for a position? Even better, did you apply for an “out of my league” position and end up landing it?