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[mleok]

My primary concern was an issue mentioned in my initial post.  The faculty member who strongly encouraged me to apply and said "you would be an excellent candidate" is the SAME faculty member who later made comments such as "we are actually looking for someone within other lines of research", etc.  This same faculty member also told me that the selected candidates blew me out of the water (in so many words) in terms of pubs/grant, and yet the large majority of them had about the same number of pubs and only 1 more grant.  So, s/he either didn't know how to say "don't apply, you suck" or meant their initial words and then changed their mind?

Okay, I did not realize that this was the same faculty member, it does seem a bit strange in that case.

[voxprincipalis]

My primary concern was an issue mentioned in my initial post.  The faculty member who strongly encouraged me to apply and said "you would be an excellent candidate" is the SAME faculty member who later made comments such as "we are actually looking for someone within other lines of research", etc.  This same faculty member also told me that the selected candidates blew me out of the water (in so many words) in terms of pubs/grant, and yet the large majority of them had about the same number of pubs and only 1 more grant.  So, s/he either didn't know how to say "don't apply, you suck" or meant their initial words and then changed their mind?

I think you also may not be aware of how drastically the shape of the "ideal candidate," as described to you by one person, may change in the course of the search committee meeting and making decisions on how to cull the pool. Do not underestimate the degree to which departmental politics may rear their ugly head(s?) in those meetings. You go in thinking that of course we want a candidate with X, Y, and Z and after a knock-down drag-out with the Basketweaving Theory people, who think that of course the department needs a candidate with A, B, and C, you end up collectively pursuing candidates who have H, R, and Q.

I was once a candidate in a search in which it got back to me through the grapevine that I was a strong contender for the short list, but then the search "took a bizarre left turn," as it was explained to me, and I was eliminated. Does this mean that the person who told me I was a strong contender was lying? Nope -- it means he couldn't have anticipated that the search committee as an unwieldy, unbalanced whole would lurch off after some unexpected thing.

VP

[merinoblue]

I think you also may not be aware of how drastically the shape of the "ideal candidate," as described to you by one person, may change in the course of the search committee meeting and making decisions on how to cull the pool.

This is a very good point.  I've seen this happen as a member of a SC.

[educator1]

Meaning that if the only adjuncts used are young people and a few retirees then way
 fewer seasoned professionals.

So you want to stay on as an adjunct so that you can become a better teacher for the students?

YES

[glowdart]

I think you also may not be aware of how drastically the shape of the "ideal candidate," as described to you by one person, may change in the course of the search committee meeting and making decisions on how to cull the pool.

This is a very good point.  I've seen this happen as a member of a SC.

And at some places, the admin gets their hands into the pool, and you can imagine how that might turn out.  

All of which is to say, matand, is that sometimes, it's just got nothing to do with you and everything to do with the hang-ups, dreams, and notions of 15 other people.   

[mouseman]

I think you also may not be aware of how drastically the shape of the "ideal candidate," as described to you by one person, may change in the course of the search committee meeting and making decisions on how to cull the pool.

This is a very good point.  I've seen this happen as a member of a SC.

And at some places, the admin gets their hands into the pool, and you can imagine how that might turn out.  

All of which is to say, matand, is that sometimes, it's just got nothing to do with you and everything to do with the hang-ups, dreams, and notions of 15 other people.   

From Matand's description, the faculty member who encouraged him to apply has issues.  Explaining that the other candidates were vastly superior to Matand in publications and funding, a claim which is evidently not only untrue but can easily be checked, seems weird.  But it's a job search, and weirdness is an integral part of most academic job searches.

[mleok]

From Matand's description, the faculty member who encouraged him to apply has issues.  Explaining that the other candidates were vastly superior to Matand in publications and funding, a claim which is evidently not only untrue but can easily be checked, seems weird.  But it's a job search, and weirdness is an integral part of most academic job searches.

One possibility was that the faculty member was sincere when inviting matand to apply, but what outvoted in committee, and was too embarrassed to admit that, and came up with a hollow explanation for the outcome instead.

[87735501111]

Also remember that in some places, adjuncts are seen also as insiders who would not be seriously considered for TT hire, the same way that many US departments would not hire their own PhD students unless they had been elsewhere for many years. So maybe this faculty member encouraged you without realizing this.

[seniorscholar]

You really want to know the reason why we almost never even interview an adjunct for a TT position? Because people who are adjuncting at enough different schools to support themselves dont have any time for research, and we expect someone more than one year beyond the PhD to have serious publications: ten years of teaching the same low-level course don't count for squat if there aren't any publications or even conference presentations post-PhD.

[oldfullprof]

It's a bit more shameful at our place.  The only adjuncts we've ever hired permanently have been women (also VAPs.)  I think it's because one person is threatened by other men, and, if he's seen them for a while, builds up "feelings."  One person in particular would have been pretty good, but his candidacy was met with derision by this senior faculty.  We've hired several people out of grad school who had never published.  We hired two men in the last ten years (myself and one other) who'd been out for a while and had pubs.