next »

[sugaree]

 I was never formally notified of the outcome of the search...

A friend of mine from grad school had this happen to her last year. How often does this happen? I can understand (but dislike) never hearing from a school after simply applying. But to never even get a rejection email after the time and money they spent to bring you to their school?

Sadly, I think it happens more often than it should (even once is too many!), but probably not as often as people tell horror stories about. It's just that we always hear about these horror stories, repeated often.

As a counterpoint, I once had a conference interview and the SC called to notify me that they would NOT be inviting me to campus (alas). I was on another campus visit at the time when I checked my messages and found out about this and didn't think much more about it. But the next night, another message from the SC chair, as he hadn't heard anything from me and wanted to make sure I was okay (or, something like that?). Anyway, he was a new hire himself so I guess he wanted to make sure the candidates for his first search as Chair would not be treated so shabbily. Obviously, I have never forgotten that kindness, and I try to make sure that all the candidates in the searches I'm now a part of are treated well.

[anakin]

Why would students boycott their part of a university's faculty hiring process?

Similarly, why would they pay thousands of dollars of tuition and not show up for classes; buy pizza instead of laundering their underwear; get a dog or a cat; cheat on an exam; or drink excessively but hold out for organic broccoli?

Umm...because they're 20 and they have no functioning pre-frontal cortex yet??

[whipkitty]

 I was never formally notified of the outcome of the search...

A friend of mine from grad school had this happen to her last year. How often does this happen? I can understand (but dislike) never hearing from a school after simply applying. But to never even get a rejection email after the time and money they spent to bring you to their school?

Sadly, I think it happens more often than it should (even once is too many!), but probably not as often as people tell horror stories about. It's just that we always hear about these horror stories, repeated often.

As a counterpoint, I once had a conference interview and the SC called to notify me that they would NOT be inviting me to campus (alas). I was on another campus visit at the time when I checked my messages and found out about this and didn't think much more about it. But the next night, another message from the SC chair, as he hadn't heard anything from me and wanted to make sure I was okay (or, something like that?). Anyway, he was a new hire himself so I guess he wanted to make sure the candidates for his first search as Chair would not be treated so shabbily. Obviously, I have never forgotten that kindness, and I try to make sure that all the candidates in the searches I'm now a part of are treated well.

Yes...I have been rejected by some real sweeties!  Which of course, only made me sadder about the rejection.  But I remember one guy in particular who said that I wasn't getting the offer because the person they were going with had ten years experience over me.  We got to talking and he said he had been Hung Up On after delivering the bad news, been harangued, and cussed out.  So, remember to stay classy.  Because you never know when the school that rejected you will have another opening.

[theritas]

he said he had been Hung Up On after delivering the bad news, been harangued, and cussed out.  So, remember to stay classy.  Because you never know when the school that rejected you will have another opening. 

I sincerely hope that people don't need karma as the only reason to 'stay classy' in the face of rejection. 

[whipkitty]

he said he had been Hung Up On after delivering the bad news, been harangued, and cussed out.  So, remember to stay classy.  Because you never know when the school that rejected you will have another opening. 

I sincerely hope that people don't need karma as the only reason to 'stay classy' in the face of rejection. 

Would be do nice to think so...

[pathogen]

I am, on the other hand, astonished when doctoral students, who will themselves be on the market in two or three years, don't bother to attend the job talks or the open session for the Graduate Students' Association and the candidate, even when food is provided.

Dang, I volunteered to be the GSA's representative on a couple job searches because I wanted a say in the new library director and a couple other key positions that would affect me as a graduate student.  I got a couple nice lunches out of one set of interviews, but the rest had no food at all.

I was also amused to find out some things that people will say because lunch with a couple of students is not really part of the interview.  I reported that one candidate was choosing our school because it was a tiny place that wouldn't require a doctorate and he was done with school.  I don't care if you don't want a doctorate, but I am appalled that someone wouldn't want to be a lifelonger learner for a position like technical services librarian (aka the one who is in charge of new technology).  I was not impressed with the guy who told us how cool a particular library program was; his job talk was about how we could come into the twenty-first century by using a program that was a much earlier version (with significantly less functionality) than the program we were using.  Telling me how we could have the experience we had five years ago as your proposed first major initiative means you couldn't even be bothered to spend two minutes with our website.

Student votes matter on search committees and I wish more students knew that.

Bwahaha. I was once one of the students taking a candidate in my PhD dept to lunch. I asked him what kinds of stuff he wanted to teach. Response: "Well, the focus here isn't really on teaching, you know. They want us to concentrate on our research." Dude! I've been in this department for 5 years! I know that, and I also know that's a stupid answer to that question! My feedback on him was not positive, shall we say.

[paultuttle]

A former supervisor tried to move up from her Associate Dean position to the position of dean of that same school.  Unfortunately, she was both amazingly arrogant and woefully underprepared in all kinds of ways, having earned three degrees at the same institution and having built her entire academic reputation on one sole (and very narrow) strength--but she was good friends with a dean from another school at the same university, so she thought she had an in.

During the campus Q&A session in front of 150+ faculty members, she was asked a question that she couldn't answer.  She stumbled through a couple of phrases and then turned to her friend and said, "<Friend's name>, could you answer this for me?"

Deafening silence.  Then the friend said, apparently choosing her words VERY carefully, "<Former supervisor's name>, I can't answer that question for you."  Long pause as she twisted in the wind . . . .

That, I'm afraid, sealed the deal.  Before two months were up, she was given three choices: leave, resign, or retire.  She chose the latter.

Update: The former supervisor is now reporting to her friend at a university in another state, having retired from our state system (as I explained above) rather quickly after the above debacle.

Apparently a variety of things rise to the top . . . .

[westcoastgirl]

I posted this on another thread, but I thought I'd share this here. This happened about five years ago.

I applied at CC in my area which is part of a string of inner city CCs. They have a reputation for being slightly corrupt, unorganized, etc. I was interviewing there for a language instructorship. When I got there, the "interview" was so unorganized, it was laughable. They had sent me all the wrong information about where to meet, what to bring, etc. They asked if I'd brought my powerpoint to give my demo. That was never, ever mentioned and I even had to pull up the email on my smart phone to prove it when they insisted they told me to bring a powerpoint (while we were sorting this out, I was never even enlightened as to what was supposed to be the topic of said ppt). They weren't hostile about all of this--just very clueless. There was a lot of bumbling and phone calls being made. It was hard to get angry since it was so comical and it was obvious that there was a complete breakdown of even the most basic info.

Anyway, they finally grabbed some random faculty member to interview me (he was the senior faculty member in a science area, but again, the position came through a broad Liberal Arts department, so he was just as able as the next guy to interview me).

It turned out that he was a native speaker of the language for which I was interviewing. He found it quaint and charming that I spoke that language and proceeded to say "You mean, you can read this language?" (Um, yes. I'm claiming to be able to teach it at all levels, so I hope so). "What brought you to study it. It's so hard. I didn't think Americans would learn this?" "Are you a member of so and so religion?" "Are you married?" And he insisted in speaking in that language during the interview, even though there were two other people there that didn't know the language. He would turn and translate and say "Yes, in this religion, we believe in x, not like you guys who believe in z." Wow. The assumptions made were through the roof.

It was so unprofessional, but benignly so. He was genuinely sweet and very curious and acted as if we'd met in a cafe and were getting to know each other a little better. He was much older, so it wasn't as if he were hitting on me. I'm very familiar with this sort of behavior, having lived in different places, so it actually didn't offend me.

I don't think he'd ever talked with an HR person in his life. We never even got on with the interview because he was so intent on hearing what had brought me to study "his culture." Very, very weird interview. I left with my jaw agape and just laughed it off. I'm sure I could have made a phone call or two. It never even crossed my mind because it actually made me laugh really hard. Dh and I still laugh about it.  I never heard from them but that was simply because of major disorganization. They never hire anyone for this particular position and it's advertised all the time. In fact, one of my current superiors asked me to go interview there. I just shrugged it off.

[turing_complete]

Reviving this one to gast a flabber.

We had a candidate interview yesterday.  He arrived for the sample lecture, set up his laptop, and projected the first slide.

Then just as the talk was to start, he used his computer to email the SCC, who was sitting just a few feet away.  The SCC looked at his iPhone, showed it to the department chair, and then announced that the candidate has withdrawn from the search.  The candidate packed up his computer and left.

No idea what happened there.  Extreme case of stage fright?!  The candidate's CV indicated that he'd taught classes before, but it's possible, I suppose.

[hikinggirl]

Reviving this one to gast a flabber.

We had a candidate interview yesterday.  He arrived for the sample lecture, set up his laptop, and projected the first slide.

Then just as the talk was to start, he used his computer to email the SCC, who was sitting just a few feet away.  The SCC looked at his iPhone, showed it to the department chair, and then announced that the candidate has withdrawn from the search.  The candidate packed up his computer and left.

No idea what happened there.  Extreme case of stage fright?!  The candidate's CV indicated that he'd taught classes before, but it's possible, I suppose.

Oh my! That is a little sad.

[anorak]

Reviving this one to gast a flabber.

We had a candidate interview yesterday.  He arrived for the sample lecture, set up his laptop, and projected the first slide.

Then just as the talk was to start, he used his computer to email the SCC, who was sitting just a few feet away.  The SCC looked at his iPhone, showed it to the department chair, and then announced that the candidate has withdrawn from the search.  The candidate packed up his computer and left.

No idea what happened there.  Extreme case of stage fright?!  The candidate's CV indicated that he'd taught classes before, but it's possible, I suppose.

Wow!  He might have been better off if he just ran out of the room.  Was there any interaction with him after this incident?  Did someone take him back to the hotel or airport?

[babbinacara]

Reviving this one to gast a flabber.

We had a candidate interview yesterday.  He arrived for the sample lecture, set up his laptop, and projected the first slide.

Then just as the talk was to start, he used his computer to email the SCC, who was sitting just a few feet away.  The SCC looked at his iPhone, showed it to the department chair, and then announced that the candidate has withdrawn from the search.  The candidate packed up his computer and left.

No idea what happened there.  Extreme case of stage fright?!  The candidate's CV indicated that he'd taught classes before, but it's possible, I suppose.

Oh my! That is a little sad.

Maybe the candidate became crazed with anger that the SCC was checking her/his email, instead of sitting politely with her/his phone off and put away, ready to pay attention to the talk that was just about to start. If the phone were stowed away appropriately before this happened, why did the SCC look at it just then?
Flabbergasted works both ways.

[canuckois]

Reviving this one to gast a flabber.

We had a candidate interview yesterday.  He arrived for the sample lecture, set up his laptop, and projected the first slide.

Then just as the talk was to start, he used his computer to email the SCC, who was sitting just a few feet away.  The SCC looked at his iPhone, showed it to the department chair, and then announced that the candidate has withdrawn from the search.  The candidate packed up his computer and left.

No idea what happened there.  Extreme case of stage fright?!  The candidate's CV indicated that he'd taught classes before, but it's possible, I suppose.

Oh my! That is a little sad.

Maybe the candidate became crazed with anger that the SCC was checking her/his email, instead of sitting politely with her/his phone off and put away, ready to pay attention to the talk that was just about to start. If the phone were stowed away appropriately before this happened, why did the SCC look at it just then?
Flabbergasted works both ways.

Oh please.  Texting during the talk?  Sure.  Checking e-mail 2 minutes before the talk starts?  Whatever.

[zharkov]

Why didn't the SC chair or department chair ask the guy what the problem was?

Their lack of asking seems the strangest part of the whole story.

[theritas]

Why didn't the SC chair or department chair ask the guy what the problem was?

Their lack of asking seems the strangest part of the whole story.

I'm imagining that something offensive had taken place earlier in the visit, and that the candidate was reflecting upon this during set-up.  Apparently, the revelation that "there's no way I'm getting this job at this point" or "there's no way I'd accept this job at this point" over-rode the auto-pilot that brought this person to the presentation room.