next »

[Anonymous]

Some years ago, I was invited to interview for a job as an assistant professor of communications at a Middle Atlantic college. During my telephone conversation with the chairwoman, she said that there was the only one date and time when she could assemble the committee to consider my candidacy. So I jumped through hoops and drove nearly 800 miles to get there on time.

When I arrived at the college on the morning of the interview, no one, not even the chairwoman, was present. Two members of the committee showed up 15 minutes later and ushered me into a nearly dark classroom full of broken furniture. They  asked me to wait until the rest of the committee arrived.

A half-hour passed in the gloom. The two committee members returned, saying it would be just a few more minutes. Another half-hour later they returned, saying they were ready to begin the interview, even though the other committee members had yet to arrive.

"Where is the rest of the committee?" I asked. "Where is the chairwoman, who had told me she looked forward to the interview?"

I heard a few mumbles, and then one of them brightened up and said, "Don't worry, we'll represent your views to the entire committee."

I said I'd rather meet with the entire committee at another time because it was important to meet my potential co-workers. I stood up and started to leave the dreary, dismal room. They followed, muttering apologies and asked me to wait just a few minutes longer.

I agreed to wait a few more minutes, but I asked them to show me the radio- and television-production facilities where I would be teaching while we waited for the others to arrive.

"Not possible," they said.

"Why?" I asked.

"We don't have the keys," they said.
 
I suggested they call security to let us in. They stared at the floor. I began heading for the stairs and the exit. They stopped me again, and then pointed out the department secretary and introduced me to her. I told her that I was sorry that I was not going to have an opportunity to meet the chairwoman or have the interview. She looked flustered for a moment and then pointed to a woman about 40 feet away.

"Hey, Dr. _____! Got you a new boyfriend!" her voice rang through the atrium. I wanted to sink through the floor. The chairwoman came up to me and greeted me cordially. The two faculty members melted away as she approached.

She invited me into her office and after a brief conversation about my availability, she offered me the job, but gave me no explanation about what had transpired. I asked for a tour of the campus and the broadcast labs and facilities. Again, the same answer. I asked again and stated my reason for asking. She said it was not possible, but she upped her offer by $5,000.

I pointed out to her that if I was going to consider her invitation to join the faculty I would need more information about the college so I could make an informed decision. She demurred and raised the ante again. When I asked her what had happened to the committee, she shuffled her feet.

I thanked the chairwoman for her time and said that when she was willing and able to assemble the committee and to conduct a complete tour, I would gladly return for an interview. She called me at home that night and repeated the job offer. I declined.

To top it all off, the institution never reimbursed me for my travel expenses!

[Jet Blue]

Such disorganization and insensitivity must not be all that unusual in academe.

I was invited for an interview at a state university many miles away, and after the initial interview, the search committee, for some reason, asked me me back unexpectedly for a second interview. After the second interview, they called to arrange for a third interview! Each time, I asked about the reason for the unexpected callback, but I was offered no plausible explanation (e.g., "just to touch base" or "just to make sure we're on the same page").  

The best part is that I ended up meeting with the same set of people, who asked me pretty much the same set of questions all three times (I am still deeply mystified by their recruitment process).

I only agreed to make three separate trips because the secretary informed me that I would be fully reimbursed for my travel expenses (which amounted to over $1,000).

Then, as I was leaving my third interview, I was told by the dean and the chairman of the search committee that they only reimburse local candidates! What kind of logic is that? Is that kind of bait-and-switch even legal?

I didn't want to burn any bridges, so I maintained a smile on my face, but I withdrew my candidacy right then and there. I certainly don't want to work at such a school.

[Anon]

Your experience sounds like a case in which the institution was keeping you on the string while the candidate they were really negotiating with was wavering. I sure hope the other candidate didn't accept!

Just another instance of an institution's/search-committee's stupidity and lack of class.

[Depressed and angry]

I have been reading all of threads in this forum. I find the clear lack of professional sense exhibited by many of these so-called institutions of "higher" learning very disturbing.

It is very evident that with the poor market conditions, these employers feel that they are able to get away with unprofessional behavior that verges on the illegal. Many of them figure that no one will dare question or challenge such behavior because they're in the driver's seat: they can call the shots because they're so powerful.

Or is it that in reality they're weak, pathetic people who are finally able to gloat and exercise a little power at the expense of others?

It's time to take these little bullies out of the playground and have them whipped soundly!

[Pissed]

I could offer up my spleen to a number of other related topics in this forum, but this one will have to do. Four weeks ago I got a call from Very Respected Community College (from now on I will refer to it as "the school") for an interview that was to occur within two weeks. I was stoked. The school had an illustrious reputation and top-notch students.

I was required not only to interview with the faculty, two representatives of the administration, and an affirmative-action person, but also to give a teaching demonstration and a short lecture of my work and my students' work. Wow! I said (secretly), that's a pretty hefty assignment, and all the moreso because the position was for a digital art professor, and my materials needed to be prepared as an online presentation, which is kind of like asking someone to put on a small theatrical production.  

Plus, the paramaters of the teaching lecture/demo were worded strangely, though they said "please pick your own topic." I decided to plow forward and assume that some higher intelligence was at work.

I did all the right things. I researched the school, its faculty and the current adjunct extensively, did an absolutely stunning presentation that suavely turned their somewhat unintelligible question into a finely-tuned personal philosophy that was still gracefully respectful, and then I rehearsed it 'til I could fit it all into the small time slots given to me.

When I got to the interview, I found out that three of the seven faculty members were absent -- notably, the senior male members of the faculty. At the time, I thought nothing of it. During the interview, they let slip that they had two "excellent part-time instructors" already. Again, I paid no attention. I thought the whole thing went great. They were very complimentary and receptive. They told me they would contact me in a week to two weeks.  

After two weeks passed, I finally worked up the nerve to call them. Guess what? Their finalists were their two incumbent part-timers, and they claimed they'd mailed my letter of rejection out weeks before -- but they said they would gladly resend it! I said, "No, that won't be necessary."

If I hadn't called, I would still be waiting for a response. I can't believe I was so naïve, and I can't believe that they had the audacity to pad their search with a large handful of innocents that they buried under a mountain of sadistic demands and bull while they guiltily feigned interest in the line-up of poor souls who had gussied themselves up to perform an ill-conceived song and dance for them.

I am and will remain forever disenchanted. It's no wonder there's is such a huge demand for psychiatrists these days. Perhaps a change of career is in order.

Still full of bile.

[Anonymous Adjunct]

On 5/20 "Pissed" wrote: "If I hadn't called, I would still be waiting for a response. I can't believe I was so naïve, and I can't believe that they had the audacity to pad their search with a large handful of innocents that they buried under a mountain of sadistic demands and bull while they guiltily feigned interest in the line-up of poor souls who had gussied themselves up to perform an ill-conceived song and dance for them."

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. On the flip side, many part-timers who put in years of outstanding service and go through the same hoops multiple times are never hired. They end up being "padding" too.

One thing that gets me about the community-college application process is how they ask a bunch of questions in the form of a "supplemental questionnaire," which needs to be submitted with the other application materials. Some of the questions are ludicrous -- e.g., "How are you uniquely qualified to handle diversity in the classroom?"  What are they expecting us to say, anyway -- that we're going to give certain groups higher grades because we know by genetics that they are superior? The whole thing is preposterous.

If you read other posts here, you will find equally appalling experiences. I'm sure it doesn't dull the sting much, but we've all been burned in some way somewhere along the line. At least you now have a snappy presentation already worked out in case you decide to apply to other schools ... .

Good Luck,

Anonymous Adjunct

[Anon]

Well, at least you have a great presentation you could tweak and re-use for another interview.

[Less pissed]

Thanks to those kindly anonymous folks for the feedback.  

And, I agree that there are positive aspects to my experience -- besides having presentation materials that I can use (and actually already have), I am hopeful that perhaps the committee members may have reason to refer me for other positions they hear about, in general simply to increase my visibility -- I haven't extensively socialized in my field, which is incredibly beneficial, and I mean absolutely result-producing.  

This fact is a little off-putting, I would imagine, for most individuals within academe, the character and time needed for soulful and meaningful research not usually jiving with the term "bon vivant." But I am meandering onto a whole other realm of consideration.

To the person who wrote to me regarding the supplemental questions I can only say "YES!"   Thankfully, I had a few minutes before the interview to look over their questions so that I could actually dredge up some kind of reasonable response to the question, "How do you deal with diversity in the classroom?" It is also a question that tends to induce feelings of guilty defensiveness and peculiar surveillance -- to prove oneself to be unbiased -- how do you do that? It seems like a question that, no matter what your intention, you can just end up sounding like some awkward geek who protesteth too much.

Perhaps they should just skip this type of question and administer psychological testing. It all has a vaguely McCarthyesque feel to it, even when you are part of the equal-opportunity selection, which I am. And, unfortunately, someone's ability to work effectively with students (and peers) without "-isms" or other preferences beyond work and talent is only seen over time, and in the tangible products of real-life relationships and successful mentorships.  

But, I am delaying sending out some last-minute applications.  

Best to all.

[Anon]

Oh please. How patronizing! I, for one, am glad to see anger in this forum.

I just finished two interviews with two different braches of the same school. Go figure. Same dean ... who, by the way, told me he was on his way out. The first interview I thought went well. The second was abominable. I arrived soaking wet from the pouring rain because there was no parking. No one was there to greet me. The secretary had a doctor's appointment, and the dean was out.  No search committee in sight.
 
After 20 minutes, someone came to get me and walked me into a room of people but no one was introduced to me. I was told to present a marketing lecture (I am in family science). I was to present a case study and a research presentation. All this between the hours of 10 a.m. (make that 10:20) and noon.

Later, as I was working with my new career counselor in preparation for leaving this field that I have yet to get into, I was told that was a new interview style known as the behavior method. They wanted to see how I would react to unplanned situations. I call it rude.

[Elizabeth Robinson]

I am pissed, disturbed, and disgusted in D.C. Two weeks ago I interviewed at a community college in the Washington area for a full-time photography position. The interview started a half-hour late because the committee was given the wrong time for the interview. I was given a quick "ad-lib" tour of the facilities during that time.

When the interview started, the television was left on, and a faculty member brought her lunch and sat there eating yogurt covered almonds with a soda. The committee went down a list of canned questions, and it was apparent they were just going through the motions. The job was tailored to someone who had been teaching there for 10 years.

When I received the rejection letter it was addressed to "Mr. ___" instead of "Mrs. ___," which was further insulting. I would love to send them an invoice for my time and travel expenses, not to mention a call for discretion the next time they apply such unprofessional search practices. Any lawyers out there?

[Anon]

Hey, don't be so cynical! When they ask you about handling diversity in the classroom, here are examples of the answers they want (based on personal hiring experience at both colleges and community colleges):

• "I went to an urban public school and worked with people of all ages and backgrounds as a student. I know how to relate to all kinds of people."
  
  
• "Even though I went to an Ivy League school, I volunteered/worked/interned at service organizations/charities/church/inner-city soup kitchen, so I know how to relate to all kinds of people."
  
  
• "When I lecture, I make a point of drawing illustrative examples that people of all different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds can equally relate to."
  
  
• "I put so much energy into teaching that even kids who did poorly in high school/adults who have backgrounds of educational failure get so excited about class that they work hard and enjoy every moment of the semester!
  
  
• "Because of/in spite of my own background, I am personally passionate about educational opportunities being offered to all people because ... [insert your own mantra here]."
  

Another question that community colleges like to ask is: How would you handle problem students who start trouble in class? Tell the committee you would first speak respectfully to the student, then invite the student to leave class so that others might learn, then call security, in that order.  

That's what they want to hear. Trust me. You don't have to promise to curve a score of 50 to a score of 90 or give special consideration to any one group.