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[musclememory]

What gives with this?  Are these schools really wanting to limit their applicant pool?  Three letters of rec are not enough?  Oh, and you want three proposed course syllabi?  Separate research, teaching, and diversity statements?  Really?

OK.  Done now.

[systeme_d_]

My theory is that it's an inferiority complex.  They make you jump through all those hoops because they can't believe you actually want to work there.

[lizzy]

If they ask for it and you want the job, you'd best provide it--graciously and without complaining or rolling your eyes.

There may be demands from HR or a union that dictate what the SC asks for, or other conditions that you can't see from your position on the other side of the search dynamic.  You have no way of knowing how SCs are putting those materials to use. Fork 'em over if you're interested in working for them.

[systeme_d_]

Of course you're right, Lizzy.  I was just helping Musclememory with his/her vent.

Doing things well and graciously is one of the keys to happy employment -- both getting it and keeping it.

[barcrossliar]

The big R1s just want to know that you'll be publishing in first tier journals and bringing in the bucks.  They can look at your research and publishing/grant record and figure that out.
They don't care whether you can design a good course, reach poorly-prepared students, or understand the difference between delivering content and teaching.
That's their niche and they provide valuable service.  

The little places generally want you for your teaching ability.  If you think showing off your ability to design courses and teach is an irrelevant time-waster, you're fishing in the wrong pond.

[mended_drum]

And more than anything else, they don't want to be thought of as "little no-name schools."  I mean, just because you haven't heard of them...sheesh.

[shrubbery]

I am always gracious, but I will admit to rolling my eyes when the teaching places that want a 4/4 (or often more) of intro humanities survey courses also ask for a research statement or include "strong research agenda" in their ad.

"While teaching Ancient Literature, World History Post-1945, American Studies 101, and Global Cultures from the dawn of time to 9/11 for a total of 800 students per semester, I will self-fund summers purely dedicated to research in foreign archives while keeping up on all the secondary literature.  This will result in three cutting edge books - before tenure!  Don't believe me?  Hire me and find out!!!"

Perhaps they want a more realistic assessment:
"While teaching your over-enrolled courses full of under-prepared students whom you are extorting into debt with the promise of jobs that they will never get, my drive to conduct research will slowly be ground into dust.  In the evenings, as I sit among piles of grading and secretly teach online night-courses on the side, I will occasionally glance longingly at my bound dissertation.  As the years pass and the tome accrues more and more dust, I will glance less often.  Yet, each time my eyes fall upon it, there will be a small pang.  I will gulp and blink once or twice as my mind flits over those happy days spent in research and intellectual exchange.  Then I will shake my head as if awakening from some strange and unfamiliar dream.  Who was that person that wrote that book-like object?  They are a stranger to me now."

Well, phew, I managed to get my daily snark and vent out of my system simultaneously.

[oldfullprof]

When I'd make the "long shortlist" and get a request for a statement of how my teaching is "Christ-centered" along with the other stuff, I'd back out...

[zupixx]

I am always gracious, but I will admit to rolling my eyes when the teaching places that want a 4/4 (or often more) of intro humanities survey courses also ask for a research statement or include "strong research agenda" in their ad.

Perhaps they want a more realistic assessment:
"While teaching your over-enrolled courses full of under-prepared students whom you are extorting into debt with the promise of jobs that they will never get, my drive to conduct research will slowly be ground into dust.  In the evenings, as I sit among piles of grading and secretly teach online night-courses on the side, I will occasionally glance longingly at my bound dissertation.  As the years pass and the tome accrues more and more dust, I will glance less often.  Yet, each time my eyes fall upon it, there will be a small pang.  I will gulp and blink once or twice as my mind flits over those happy days spent in research and intellectual exchange.  Then I will shake my head as if awakening from some strange and unfamiliar dream.  Who was that person that wrote that book-like object?  They are a stranger to me now."

I couldn't agree more. I love teaching, really, and despite coming from a top R1 school I actually enjoy it more than research. I'm a VAP of history at a large state university, and would love to move to a SLAC. So yes, 3/3 is fine with me, but I would never teach anything more than that. You hear me right, I will leave academia before taking a 4/4 job, because I did not spend so many years getting a PhD to be a slave. I know times are tough, but if after 2 or 3 more rounds on the job market I end up getting nothing, I'll move on.

And why am I saying all this? to me, these obscure schools that ask for all those materials raise a lot of red flags. If I go and work there I'll be miserable, so why even apply? I recommend you adopt my approach - ignore those job ads and don't apply. Better for you, and better for the SCs there.

[larryc]

I couldn't agree more. I love teaching, really, and despite coming from a top R1 school I actually enjoy it more than research. I'm a VAP of history at a large state university, and would love to move to a SLAC. So yes, 3/3 is fine with me, but I would never teach anything more than that. You hear me right, I will leave academia before taking a 4/4 job, because I did not spend so many years getting a PhD to be a slave.

Slave??! Don't be a jackass. What do you actually know about a 4/4 load, what exactly is your experience that enables you to speak with such confidence? Slave! I find it hard to believe you are a historian.

these obscure schools that ask for all those materials raise a lot of red flags. If I go and work there I'll be miserable, so why even apply? I recommend you adopt my approach - ignore those job ads and don't apply. Better for you, and better for the SCs there.

How is that approach working for you?

The idiocies of any given HR department or wayward dean (who wrote those dumb requirements) are not likely to have much effect on your quality of life at a given institution. Far more important are your students, your colleagues, and above all your attitude.

[quasihumanist]

I think in large part what is going on is that at these small schools, the people writing the ad don't know what the standards in your field are.  They are probably out of your field, and there is no one in the field whom they can consult (or the person whom they can consult has been out of touch with the job market for so long they have no idea).  So they ask for what is standard in their field, or ask for what they think is reasonable.

For example, in my field, it is typical to only write a short paragraph each about research and teaching in the cover letter and then elaborate in separate teaching and research statements.  It's the small schools with no significant department in my field that asks for everything to be in the cover letter.

[shrubbery]

My post was more snarky than genuine.  I'd jump to teach at a 4/4 institution - unless they wanted a book for tenure. 

[grasshopper]

these obscure schools that ask for all those materials raise a lot of red flags. If I go and work there I'll be miserable, so why even apply? I recommend you adopt my approach - ignore those job ads and don't apply. Better for you, and better for the SCs there.

How is that approach working for you?

Larry C! Hush! Don't rock that boat!

The fewer people who apply for those jobs, the better chance I have. So yes, Zupixx. Do it. Make arbitrary judgments about an entire department based on what they ask for in app materials.

I think in large part what is going on is that at these small schools, the people writing the ad don't know what the standards in your field are.  They are probably out of your field, and there is no one in the field whom they can consult (or the person whom they can consult has been out of touch with the job market for so long they have no idea).  So they ask for what is standard in their field, or ask for what they think is reasonable.

I don't understand this. The people in the department know what is standard in the field. You know, being in the field themselves and all. From what I've seen, this has little to do with an ignorance of norms in the field, and much more to do with the needs of the specific department in question. Remember: their goal is not to satisfy your desire to have them conform to what you think is normal. Their goal is to fill a need that they have. I think it's safest to use that assumption as a basis for any judgment calls.

[grasshopper]

My post was more snarky than genuine.  I'd jump to teach at a 4/4 institution - unless they wanted a book for tenure. 

A lot of those 4/4 loads have fewer preps.

[seniorscholar]

The big R1s just want to know that you'll be publishing in first tier journals and bringing in the bucks.  They can look at your research and publishing/grant record and figure that out.
They don't care whether you can design a good course, reach poorly-prepared students, or understand the difference between delivering content and teaching.
That's their niche and they provide valuable service.  

The little places generally want you for your teaching ability.  If you think showing off your ability to design courses and teach is an irrelevant time-waster, you're fishing in the wrong pond.

A super explanation -- people who are not superstars (and some who are) should post it by the computer.