next »

[apple]

I have been reading the archives re. job talks, and all said that the candidate should have put the job talk together a long time before offered the campus interview, and practiced it over and over.

To me, it seemed like a lot of time to put towards a project that I may or may not ever be asked to deliver, vs. working on publications, conference papers, etc., that I know I will need. Also, I'm in a one-year visiting teaching 4-3 plus advising.  I should add that in my field, you often don't need a job talk except at a R1. More common, particularly at the SLACs which make up a huge part of the field, is the hybrid research/teaching demo - ie, teach your research.

The market in my field is also crazily tight, and I wasn't expecting to have any campus visits. It also kind of felt like the academic gods would smite me for that kind of hubris.

Well, the obvious punchline to this tale is that my job search went better than expected, I have three campus visits, and a good possibility for another. All want the teaching demo (two want the hybrid), but the other also wants the job talk in addition.

Can I do this? Any advice or strategies? I can't drop everything, since it would mean dropping not only the teaching/advising responsibilites, but also the prep for the other campus visits.

And, yes, I am aware that I screwed up, but I want to know if/how I fix it. Believe me, I'm an academic, I do guilt well enough on my own.

Thanks in advance.

[Anon]

"And, yes, I am aware that I screwed up, but I want to know if/how I fix it."

You have to find some way to throw together a job talk, because there will be an hour on your itinerary for the talk, and the rest of the department will be invited. All the other candidates will do it, too. How long do you have until the interview?  It's blunt, but if I was looking to hire a faculty member for a job that had some research component to it, I would think that person should know enough about his or her work to put together at least some kind of talk about it on fairly short notice. Do you already have the teaching / research combo?  Any chance you can change and bulk that up into more of a higher-level research seminar?

During my search, I only had one school that wanted a teaching demo... kind of a pain to put it together for only one interview, but you have to give them what they want.

[anon99]

Have you given a talk at a conference recently? Can you modify that talk?

[apple]

Thanks for the responses.

I do have current conferences papers, and I do know my research (which is active and ongoing), and I will (of course) absolutely being giving a job talk - of some sort.

It's not that I think a job talk is a *bad* thing, or an inappropriate thing, even for a one-shot.

What I was concerned about, I guess, was the impression that I got from these boards that every other job candidate had been polishing their talk for the previous ten months.

I guess what I wanted to hear was that this wasn't an impossible task.




Anon wrote:

>
> You have to find some way to throw together a job talk, because
> there will be an hour on your itinerary for the talk, and the
> rest of the department will be invited. All the other
> candidates will do it, too. How long do you have until the
> interview?  It's blunt, but if I was looking to hire a faculty
> member for a job that had some research component to it, I
> would think that person should know enough about his or her
> work to put together at least some kind of talk about it on
> fairly short notice. Do you already have the teaching /

[anon99]

I didn't have a polished talk ready before I started applying for positions.  I waited until I had an interview lined up and then put a job talk together.  you should plan to set aside a large amount of time to prepare the talk as it will take longer than you expect.

[Pear]

I wouldn't worry too much about not having prepared for 10 months!  I don't think most people really do that.  I certainly didn't.  I prepared one job talk in one week, and I am now happily employed.  I always think that it's a good thing to prepare early, but, frankly, there are so many things that a person OUGHT to do that we really have to admit that we're sometimes not going to do it all.  In any case, just relax and write your job talk.

(Given some of the job talks that I've seen by the way, there is NO way that most people have been polishing it for months!)

[but HOW? need tips]

I'm in  a similar position. WOuld appreciate specific tips on how to put together a good one FAST. Thanks.

[eos]

All of the universities that I interviewed at this season have wanted a slightly different version of a job talk (one wanted a research agenda, another just dissertation, etc).  So, I prepared most of them the week before (although I did cut and paste from all of them).  If you have been presenting your research all along at conferences, you probably have enough practice to do well.  

I can give you some tips, from an ABD perspective.

I took much of my talk directly from my dissertation proposal.  For example, the argument for the importance of the study, the research questions, the methodology, the theoretical framework.  

I took the questions that my committee asked from my proposal defense and worked the answers into the talk (anticipating that the audience would have many of the same questions).

I talked in depth with my chair about the themes emerging (I am still writing right now) so I would have sophisticated conclusions to present.

Finally, I went over the job talk with a group of my best graduate student friends (who could meet at the last minute) to help me brainstorm and edit.

[%sig%]