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mouse
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« Reply #15 on: May 01, 2006, 05:34:40 AM » |
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What is "professionalisation"? Two peoples divided by a common language, indeed!
On another note, I guess if I ever interview a Brit and they DON'T send a thank-you, I will try hard not to interpret it as rudeness. But it will be an effort.
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Anon as well
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« Reply #16 on: May 05, 2006, 04:33:49 AM » |
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> What is "professionalisation"?
Over here, we still like to maintain the fiction that academics are amateurs, doing things for the love of the subject. We are not a profession, we don't clock on like bankers or lawyers. So we try to keep things like having to write a thank-you note well at bay.
Mind you, the bankers and the lawyers wouldn't send a thank-you note, either.
Over here, thank-you notes are things you send when you're five after somebody's birthday party. Why on earth should you thank an institution for interviewing you? It's your qualifications and abilities that have got you the interview, not the generosity of the interviewing institution.
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science expat
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« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2006, 07:27:07 AM » |
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I agree!
Sorry, Mouse, but I abhor the thought of thank you notes after an interview. And I'm an American.
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nonplussed
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« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2006, 01:28:27 PM » |
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To my astonishment, I just received a thank you note from a Welsh department chair for MAKING an application. How weird is that?
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mouse
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« Reply #19 on: May 07, 2006, 10:53:29 AM » |
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"Why on earth should you thank an institution for interviewing you? It's your qualifications and abilities that have got you the interview, not the generosity of the interviewing institution."
No, no, no, you don't thank the institution, you thank the people who took the time out of their already insanely busy schedules to pick you up at the airport, show you around, make sure the AV for your talk was set up properly, etc. etc. etc. Clearly, UK interviews are much shorter than US interviews, which can take 2 whole days, so there is less necessity. But a US interview tends to take up a lot of time and energy if you are the faculty host and/or on the search committee.
Re "professionalisation," okay, I get what it is. I don't get why saying "thank you" is a "professional" thing in the UK, but that's clearly because in the US we're trained to thank other people as soon as we are old enough to talk. Again: one thanks the _people_, not the institution.
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science expat
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« Reply #20 on: May 07, 2006, 11:20:03 AM » |
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Mouse, I understand thanking the people. But, do you not do that at the time? So, "thanks" for taking me to dinner, showing me around, arranging a tour, or whatever.
My problem, which I also had in the States, was with a "thank you" note after the interview. I'm sorry, but it seems to me to be a$$ kissing because it goes beyond thanking them for their courtesy and instead thanking them for the "privilege" of an interview.
I know that many folks don't agree with this position which is why I now ignore the question on the jobs forum....
[%sig%]
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American "professional in ed.
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« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2006, 08:40:44 PM » |
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I found this discussion of 'thank you' notes interesting. As one whose background is career development and career management consulting and whose educational experience is in administration, outreach and activities that generate revenue (that the rest of academia depends upon), I was curious over the word "professionalization".
It is considered so "awful", in the halls of academe there in the UK? Would love to understand what is "wrong" with taking a business and professional stance on something as important as education.
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