113312991
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« on: March 10, 2008, 04:22:39 PM » |
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After writing off this year's job search, I just got a TT offer from an R-2(?). Competitive salary, 2-2 teaching load (normal in my field), pre-tenure sabbatical, all sounds great. I noticed on another thread that someone warned about accepting an offer when you're way down their list, since there might be something wrong with the job. My question is, how can I tell? I got a good vibe from the faculty when I visited. The students seemed engaged. The location is one that probably a lot of people wouldn't find desirable (state with a bad economy), but it works for me. Are there questions I should ask the chair when I get back to him to make sure I'm not walking into a disaster? Thanks a lot for your help.
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eugenides
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« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2008, 04:49:13 PM » |
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How did you get to know you are their 3rd or 4th choice?
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113312991
New member
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« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2008, 04:50:59 PM » |
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The chair told me.
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satanicmechanic
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« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2008, 04:54:07 PM » |
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Hey,
I started a thread on this topic just a couple of days ago. Just scoll down.
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113312991
New member
Posts: 3
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« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2008, 04:55:43 PM » |
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Thanks. I thought maybe this was a slightly different situation because I was one of the original group of interviewees, but that thread is helpful.
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svenc
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« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2008, 05:21:05 PM » |
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It could very well just be that their top two choices had other offers that better suited their needs. Put another way, it may be a (positive) comment on the strength of their applicant pool, rather than a negative signal about the job.
Or the place could be a snake-filled s***hole, but that could be the case even if you were their first choice!
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In foris veritas.
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ruralguy
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« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2008, 05:42:14 PM » |
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The top candidates may all have had "two body problems", etc.
I wouldn't sweat other folks' reasons for not accepting.
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the_honey_badger
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« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2008, 02:33:18 PM » |
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Whether you are first choice or eighth choice, when you begin in the fall you will still be called the same thing: Asst. Professor.
Don't obsess over it especially in the humanities: there are 50 well qualified, hirable candidates for every position at a minimum. Being tenth or fifteenth in that sort of competitive pool is as good as being first.
If it makes you feel ANY better, I was indeed the first choice at my tt institution. I arrived and found out (immediately) that I "won" by one vote in a vicious three-way-split of the vote. Two "factions" spent five full years bring that up, attempting to undermine me, and being generally nasty. Five years! It wasn't and isn't even *about* me, its about their decades long fights and internal pettiness over everything. These people can't let go of anything even when those involved are long gone...
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_____________________________________
"Honey badger don't care."
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nocalprof
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« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2008, 05:03:50 PM » |
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Just do exactly what you would do if you were their first choice - kick butt!
:)
Congrats!
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,690
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2008, 05:09:49 PM » |
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Follow that good vibe. You have 3 to 7 years to overcome any misgivings they may have about you. The school will soon forget that they hemmed and hawed over whether you were the best candidate, but they won't soon forget the excellent job you do, especially when you document it and request supporting letters from others for your tenure file.
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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pink_
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« Reply #10 on: March 11, 2008, 05:12:32 PM » |
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Whether you are first choice or eighth choice, when you begin in the fall you will still be called the same thing: Asst. Professor.
Don't obsess over it especially in the humanities: there are 50 well qualified, hirable candidates for every position at a minimum. Being tenth or fifteenth in that sort of competitive pool is as good as being first.
This bears repeating. |
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Horses don't have seatbelts. Listen to Pink, she's smart.
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msparticularity
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« Reply #11 on: March 11, 2008, 07:15:46 PM » |
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Also, I don't know about the rest of you, but at this point my job search fatigue has gotten so bad that I'm not even very clear any more about first choice versus tenth choice - and I'm betting search committees are in pretty much the same condition! While in the moment we may all be feeling kind of worn down and negative, I'm betting by fall everyone will be looking pretty cheerfully ahead.
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"Once admit that the sole verifiable or fruitful object of knowledge is the particular set of changes that generate the object of study...and no intelligible question can be asked about what, by assumption, lies outside." John Dewey
"Be particular." Jill Conner Browne
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geonerd
Couldn't be an apex predator so I settled for being a
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Do not take the bait
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« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2008, 08:11:17 PM » |
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There's no way of knowing why the first 2 candidates declined. If you like the department and they like you, and you have an offer, then that's an EXCELLENT thing. Congratulations!
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How many of your grandmothers still are living, and how is their health?
Traffic doesn't care what I think of it. |
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chaud
Once again, I'm a
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« Reply #13 on: March 11, 2008, 08:15:44 PM » |
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I wouldn't worry about it a bit, though they shouldn't have told you that.
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nailman
Longwinded
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« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2008, 11:18:54 AM » |
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It's sort of already been said, but the joke for medical school students is, "What do you call the guy who graduates last in his class from medical school?" "Doctor".
What do you call the guy who lands a job as an assistant professor after being 4th choice? "Professor".
Unless you have evidence that the school is a snakepit or horrible place to work, etc., assume all of the other candidates either (a) got offers from places they liked better, or (b) couldn't/didn't want to move there for personal reasons. You can of course ask around to see if there's any reason you missed why you shouldn't want to work there. But if you can't find anything, then it's probably nto that the other candidates knew something you didn't.
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