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[peppergal]

I'm applying for a position in Department A at University X.  The ad says that the position will be a joint appointment with Department B, but all the contact info (website, email address, SCC) are in Department A.

While researching the university, I noticed that one of the faculty in Department B is someone I went to grad school with.  We were in different tracks in the same department, and this person finished a couple years before I did, so we never interacted professionally, but we were socially friendly (chatted in the department lounge, went for drinks a couple times, etc.).  I've only seen this person once since finishing:  when hu finished, I was abroad doing fieldwork, and hu had already left by the time I came back.  Our paths crossed once in a hotel lobby at the MLA a couple years ago, and we went for a drink at that time.

Would it be out of line for me to send an email saying, "Hey, I'm applying to the position in Department A that says it's a joint appointment with your department.  I just wanted to give you a heads up, in case someone asks whether you know me.  By the way, congratulations on the book!"  I don't want to seem like I'm asking for an unofficial reference, but I also don't want an inquiry about me to come out of left field as far as hu is concerned.

Thoughts?

[tuxedo_cat]

Leave it alone.   You barely know this person.  I see very little to gain from this, and definite potential awkwardness.  If you get a campus visit, you can reminisce at dinner about what a terrible Dept. Chair Prof. Blowhard was.

[whiteknight]

Don't do it. You'll look desperate.

[larryc]

Don't do it. You'll look desperate.

Yep. On the other hand if you don't do it, you look self confident and professional to your acquaintance (who will recognize your name instantly if he is on the search committee).

[peppergal]

Don't do it. You'll look desperate.

Yep. On the other hand if you don't do it, you look self confident and professional to your acquaintance (who will recognize your name instantly if he is on the search committee).

Yes.

Thanks!  That's something I had not considered.  I am very grateful to the wisdom of the fora.

[squidward]

On the other hand...

If you do contact this person and let them know you are applying, then they will know you are actually interested in the position and may put in a good word for you during the process (which could help a little in the case that you are a viable candidate).  They may also offer to give you some insights into the position and department, which could help you decide how to present yourself or whether you might want to avoid applying at all costs.

If you don't contact them, if they are involved in the process at all, they may see your name and think you weren't really interested in the position, just sending out your applications to every job out there.

Contacting somebody about a position is not desperate, it's showing interest.  Job ads routinely include a clause about contacting the chair or some other person for more information.  Hiring departments usually want to get a pool of highly qualified applicants, but look more favorably at those who seem genuinely interested in the position - a lot of qualified people make little effort to tailor their cover letter to the institution and what is specified in the ad.

[imawakenow]

On the other hand...

If you do contact this person and let them know you are applying, then they will know you are actually interested in the position and may put in a good word for you during the process (which could help a little in the case that you are a viable candidate).  They may also offer to give you some insights into the position and department, which could help you decide how to present yourself or whether you might want to avoid applying at all costs.

If you don't contact them, if they are involved in the process at all, they may see your name and think you weren't really interested in the position, just sending out your applications to every job out there.

You state your interest in a position by applying.

If the relationship with the person in "department B" is as described--an acquaintance whom the OP has seen once in the last couple of years--then I agree with previous posters: leave it alone.

If this is a good friend that you (OP) interact with frequently, then you've already talked about the position and that person is already on board.

[aristotelian]

If this is a job you truly covet, then the thing to do here is have your advisor or your former colleague's advisor place a phone call on your behalf.  Then you aren't doing anything over the line, but you get your name on this person's radar screen.  If he or she has any influence on the committee, perhaps your CV will get bumped to the top of the pile.

[mended_drum]

On the rare occasions when a job candidate is someone I know or used to know, I tell the SCC and offer no evaluation of the candidate unless and until he or she makes the short list (at which time, I will vote using my best judgment).  When such a person contacts me (usually by e-mail), I send a polite reply acknowledging his or her interest in the job, but that's all.  This is not standard procedure, but I'm never comfortable when one of my colleagues starts arguing that we should interview or hire one of his or her friends.  It just doesn't feel right to me.

[phlegmatic]

Interesting--I never thought of it as particularly desperate to contact someone you know at a place where you are applying. I just sent the folks I knew an email and said, "hey, I'm applying to the position at your school, look out for my application! Also, got any tips?" Everyone was very gracious. I also actually knew them, so maybe that's the difference.

[conjugate]

I sent an e-mail to a guy I knew at a department I applied to, and asked him for any information he might feel free to give me about the position.  I never heard back from him, and never got an interview with the department, for what that's worth.  We knew each other from a position at another school years earlier but hadn't been in contact for quite a while.

I have no idea if contacting him (or, I suppose I should say, trying to contact him) helped or hurt or made no difference whatever.  If he didn't remember me and was on the committee, it might have been a bad mistake.

[ruralguy]

Don't contact the person. I agree that is looks very "green" and desparate.

[verbena]

Interesting--I never thought of it as particularly desperate to contact someone you know at a place where you are applying. I just sent the folks I knew an email and said, "hey, I'm applying to the position at your school, look out for my application! Also, got any tips?" Everyone was very gracious. I also actually knew them, so maybe that's the difference.

I agree with phlegmatic. To me, it doesn't sound remotely desperate to contact someone you've known for a bunch of years with whom you get along well enough to have had drinks with a few times (just the two of you? were those, like, dates?) and who now teaches in a department that's affiliated with the one you're applying to. To me it just sounds human, friendly, and professional.

Good luck with your search.