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[systeme_d_]

The AAR (American Academy of Religion) "Job Center" (some grad students have called it the Axis Mundi, others know it as Profane Space) is just like Onion described the AHA above!

Who knew?

[concordancia]

The AAR (American Academy of Religion) "Employment Center" is just like Onion described the AHA above!

Who knew?

Wait, I repeat...Y'all get cubicles???

I feel so cheap.

[systeme_d_]

Yes, and the cubicles have "lovely" curtains, just as described.  This aids in creating the labyrinth to The Center.

[mended_drum]

I'm thinking that with the popularity of webcams, Skype interviews would work pretty darned well.

[scampster]

Thanks to onion for painting that picture!

[punchnpie]

the current system could certainly be improved, most notably by SCs accepting applications electronically.

A couple of questions/confusion -  1) Why the heck don't you people use electronic submissions? I read on the fora about all the money spent on applications and just can't believe this is still going on in the 2000's. Everything I sent was electronic, as was all communication with me, save the final offer.  I just don't get this.  Maybe the SC are the same people who don't want students to use computers in class? /ducks and runs

2) I'm confused about the selection process. I thought you applied for the job and then got selected to interview at the conference. Is this not correct? Are people showing up at the conference w/o interviews? I ask because people mention the expense of attending for the hope of an interview.  Just from what I've read (and I could be wrong) there seems to be little sense in just arriving if you haven't an interview lined up.

In my field, we applied to individual jobs online. We also submitted our CV's to an electronic database where prospective employers could read them there and then invite us to interview. Finally, we had a job book available and could contact employers while at the conference, but you took your chances on them being booked up, though I think most people could get an interview that way. We're a small, and at least at the time, in demand, field. There are never enough applicants for the slots, though that may be different this year. 

[larryc]

I'm thinking that with the popularity of webcams, Skype interviews would work pretty darned well.

I don't see how a Skype interview is going to result in a free trip to San Francisco (or wherever) for a search committee.

[jacaranda_]

the current system could certainly be improved, most notably by SCs accepting applications electronically.

A couple of questions/confusion -  1) Why the heck don't you people use electronic submissions? I read on the fora about all the money spent on applications and just can't believe this is still going on in the 2000's. Everything I sent was electronic, as was all communication with me, save the final offer.  I just don't get this.  Maybe the SC are the same people who don't want students to use computers in class? /ducks and runs

When I was on the job market, electronic application sites were, 40% of the time, a pia, for completely stupid reasons.  Here is why:

(1) HR on many campuses don't bother to tailor the generic job application software to faculty positions.  Incredibly stupid crap I had to type in for some places.  Maybe that situation has improved.

(2) letterhead:  I know, seems like a fussy matter, but unless you have a multi-page scanner (and why the hell are they so scarce?), you end up submitting your letter without letterhead.  For SC members, that little visual cue does actually help you keep people straight in your head when you've read dozens of files.  Otherwise they all look exactly the same.

(3) restriction of items:  I usually sent a Diss Abstract with my materials, a completely normal habit.  Online systems don't let you send anything that falls outside what the software is set up to accept.

There were other things that bugged me, but they have mercifully faded from memory.

From the perspective of a SC department, when all the files come in electronically, you have to print all of that material.  Much easier for the admin to open an envelope and stick the materials in a folder.

For many logistical reasons (ok, and some aesthetic and tactile and non-technophobic ones) as a SC member, I much prefer materials someone has sent through the mail.

On edit about skype:  it would seem to make sense to simply have options:  if you can make it to the AHA (or MLA, my case) to interview in person, great.  If not, skype seems like a fair option for people who simply do not have the money.

[whiteknight]

the current system could certainly be improved, most notably by SCs accepting applications electronically.

2) I'm confused about the selection process. I thought you applied for the job and then got selected to interview at the conference. Is this not correct? Are people showing up at the conference w/o interviews? I ask because people mention the expense of attending for the hope of an interview.  Just from what I've read (and I could be wrong) there seems to be little sense in just arriving if you haven't an interview lined up.

In a realistic, logical world, that is how things would work. With the AHA, one has to register and book a room well in advance, hoping that one has an interview by the time the AHA takes place. Otherwise, to cancel will cost money. Additionally, I have been notified the evening before leaving for the AHA that I had an interview. That's how poorly run some searches are. Some unis actually interview cold on the spot, which seems ridiculous, but not in AHA world.

[punchnpie]

I guess I should say that we didn't apply through HR systems. You just sent your stuff in an electronic file to the SC.  I've sat on a couple of searches now that I'm TT. You can always do a pdf for the cover letter, if that's your thing. Otherwise, yeah, I guess they do look the same once they've been printed out, but that's why there's a name on them.

[larryc]

...and search committees justify notifying candidates of last-minute AHA interviews by saying (and this is a direct quote) "Any serious job candidate will be there anyway." So some poor desperate bastard scraping together a $15,000-a-year living adjuncting pays for a last-minute plane fare and hotel out by the airport and pays full conference registration (because you can't interview if you are not registered) to be one of a dozen people to spend 20 minutes with two bored senior professors who are pushing through the interviews quickly so they can use their free drink coupons before happy hour is over.

In his hotel room that night he calls his wife and puts a brave face on it and says by the way we can't afford day care next month after all. While in the hotel bar the two senior profs confess to not having taken notes and having no idea who they talked to and let's just invite the blond and someone else to campus next month.

The AHA interview system must be destroyed.

[heywhynots]

The AHA interview system must be destroyed.

What percentage of attendees at AHA are there just for the interviews (committee members and job applicants)?  Seems potentially AHA has positioned itself to inflate the number of attendees by having these interviews.

As for the questions about electronic submission.  I much prefer that.  Online uploads aren't that much trouble.  They can be individually configured.  Some I have seen allow for uploading publications and scanned transcripts along with the letter,CV, and statements of teaching and research. Other places set up an e-mail account to handle applications and you send all the files to that address.  If you like you can combine them into one PDF if so desired. Imagine this is easier for the administrative assistant who just needs to print files rather than make multiple copies for committee members.  Heck they can send the files to a committee member and they can decide how they want them printed (if at all).

[jacaranda_]

(because you can't interview if you are not registered) 

Wow. That is just criminal.  I mean, the whole stupid business is, but why the AHA gets to profit off of the misery of its most vulnerable members is just . . . . agh!

I don't know that MLA is really any better, but I had to figure out on my own that I could save about $200 by not renewing my membership and skipping the registration fee.

[polly_mer]

What is this thing you call a conference interview?  In none of the fields for which I would apply for a TT position is interviewing at a conference even an option.  You send your materials to the committee (for clueful places via email, for pita places using the annoying electronic system that requires you to retype everything in your CV and transcripts before you can upload your attachments) and wait for an email to arrange a phone interview.

The only people who interview at conferences are industry people looking to snag technically trained PhD's.  Even then, while every organization has an information booth in the job-fair area (separate and to the side of the trade-show area and usually just a short walk from the poster area so that the graduate students can pop over and see the possibilities), the interviews themselves are held in a separate area far from foot traffic with enclosed cubicles that are separated by a few feet so that interviewer and interviewee can hear each other.

In addition, I remain bemused by the idea that going to the big conference in your field is somehow an imposition for people.  Yes, I recall the many times people have pointed out how the MLA or AHA is not relevant to their particular research area, which is nicely covered by a smaller conference.  However, in my experience, that just means that you should get your fellow niche area people together to form a group that can organize panels that you, collectively, want to see to make going to the conference worth while.  You can whine or you can change the system.  Of course, I am also in fields where one can usually apply for aid as a student or underemployed person to attend the conference because the biggest push is to lower the unemployment rate of good, but unlucky, people because industry is usually hiring, even if academia is not.

[erzuliefreda]

The AHA runs almost solely on the job market interviews. Those are the bread and butter of the event, not the sideshow. Senior faculty travel to San Diego this year, on their departments' dime in this economic crisis. Many are folks who have never and never will give a national-level conference paper. But for the 20-minute interviews, they get the travel money, while the junior faculty get nothing. The AHA system is hard on many people, not just the candidates.