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[chici]

Hi,

I have recently received my schedule for a campus interview and have been asked to give an "informal" research and teaching job (15 minutes each). The chair said specifically that I won't have to prepare anything to read (which would be the normal thing to do in my discipline). Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Any suggestions?

[waistcoat]

I'm also in a field where the norm is to prepare something to read, and I've gotten the instruction to prepare an "informal" presentation a couple times.  The best advice I got was to write up the presentation as if it were a talk I was going to read, but then practice it and get it down so that I could give the talk from notes without "reading" it as such.  The important thing, it seems to me, is to be able to give the appearance of being "informal" while actually being quite formally prepared.

[dr_crankypants]

The important thing, it seems to me, is to be able to give the appearance of being "informal" while actually being quite formally prepared.

Yes, whatever you do, don't treat this as a genuinely informal conversation.  Write out a talk, learn it, and then be able to go from minimal notes. 

[helpful]

In my social science discipline, reading a talk would be an indication of being unprepared. We often ask questions that try and determine whether the candidate is "thinking from a script" as that would indicate they would have some problems teaching our students who can spot imposters/unprepared/inauthentic professors a mile away. (Imagine the consequences).

Make sure you know what the tradition of 'informal' means in your discipline and by that I mean the teaching traditions as well as the conference/job talk presentaton traditions.

[lackademia]

This sounds quite similar to the guidelines given me for my upcoming campus visit.  My advisor said that "informal" doesn't really mean informal in my MLA field, and that reading would be typical, even expected.  But I haven't asked the SC about what hu thinks or expects.   

[dr_dre]

But I haven't asked the SC about what hu thinks or expects.   

Do you plan to? I asked an SCC about the format of one of these and hu's reply was helpful. It seems like expectations vary so much from one place to another, that a polite, general inquiry is not too pushy. Best of luck!

[trabb]

Advice from hard-earned experience:

Show up prepared to give either an informal talk or to read a paper.  Once you're there, quietly ask individual faculty members of their expectations.  Then go with whatever seems to be the dominant response.

I was once asked to give "informal, off-the-cuff remarks" about my research and about my teaching.  I did just that and did it well.  I found out later that the faculty were quite surprised that I didn't read a paper and gave the job to the other candidate who did.  Of course if they really had expected "off-the-cuff remarks," that job probably would have been mine; the other candidate simply was smart enough to know that no-one really wants informal.

[octoprof]

In my social science discipline, reading a talk would be an indication of being unprepared.

This is true in my field as well. Present your research, but don't read anything.

You should know your own research/writing well enough to talk about it without reading it.

[chici]

Thanks, this is good advice. I did ask the SCC how informal this talk should be and he said that I should be able to talk with just a few keynotes (again, not the way things are normally done in my field). I'll try to write out the talk first and then internalize it as much as I can so I can do it without notes.

[dr_dre]

I'll try to write out the talk first and then internalize it as much as I can so I can do it without notes.

This sounds like a good idea. I am doing something similar soon. I'm getting the idea from my contact there that I may be seated at a lunch table with the faculty, not standing at a podium, so I may not be able to pull out notes, in my case. The job search is like a weird quiz show sometimes. Best of luck!

[englitprof]

That's pretty much what I did for my first job.  I'm in literature, so my "talk" was text-based, and I prepared quotations to discuss that I handed out to everyone.

[jossfritz]

By the same token, "Ok, relax, you're not being interviewed anymore" apparently means "Brace yourself, I'm about to interview you."

[history_grrrl]

Echoing what others have said -- when I interviewed for my current job, I was told to do an "informal" 20-minute research talk. I ignored the "informal" part and prepared as though I were making a presentation, which in the end is precisely what was expected. The key is, don't think "informal" means "unplanned."

[lackademia]

But I haven't asked the SC about what hu thinks or expects.   

Do you plan to? I asked an SCC about the format of one of these and hu's reply was helpful. It seems like expectations vary so much from one place to another, that a polite, general inquiry is not too pushy. Best of luck!

I think I might ask now, even though preparing for either a read talk or a purely spoken talk sounds like just the added level of danger that would spice up an otherwise low-stress affair (this is my terribly dry sense of humor emerging).  Seriously, I'm not quite sure what is appropriate in terms of asking about the visit.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[anon33]

Echoing what others have said -- when I interviewed for my current job, I was told to do an "informal" 20-minute research talk. I ignored the "informal" part and prepared as though I were making a presentation, which in the end is precisely what was expected. The key is, don't think "informal" means "unplanned."

I strongly second.

Also, I would like to add:
Try to be very flexible.
When you look at your audience, you will know if you should be super formal or super informal.

To be flexible, you need even more preparation. (Scenario One + Scenario Two +...)