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[tuxedo_cat]

Hi everybody,

I have some good news:  a friend of mine who was on the Delegate Assembly for MLA at this year's Convention was kind enough to request (1) that MLA consider making some formal recommendations about using Skype/video-conferencing as part of the hiring process.  He also put in a request about (2) offering the option of a reduced registration fee for job candidates who need to get into the Convention Center solely to do an interview in the Ballroom.

The response from executive members and other senior members of the Delegate Assembly was apparently quite sympathetic.  On item (1), they have already started drafting a document to recommend best practices on video-conferencing options for conducting interviews.  That will take a few months to finalize, but they hope to have a documented posted on their website sometime this summer.  I'll post the link here when it's up.

On item (2) there will be some further discussion to see what sort of change makes the most sense.  It sounds like it is helpful for the MLA executive members to understand why this would alleviate some of the stress and financial burden of the job process, especially for those who are no longer grad students, who may be trying to live on an adjunct's salary, and who are paying a higher membership fee and conference registration fee . . . just to make it to a job interview.   

So, hooray for the MLA for their swift attention to these concerns!  I hope they may set an example for the other major academic organizations (AHA and CAA) on making the job process a more humane one for candidates in such a dispiriting job market.  This happened much faster than I was anticipating.  And many thanks to my friend -- let's call him "Jack" -- for presenting these two proposals to the Delegate Assembly.  I am certain that he did so with eloquence and in a diplomatic fashion.

It's possible that folks at MLA may have a look at our conversation here at some point -- something to keep in mind in providing any feedback here about your own experiences on the ground with the job process.

[academic_cog]

I have not done a videoconference interview, but I would note that "skype" is only one kind of videoconferencing software (that people like because it is free). I would recommend that search committees and candidates look into whether their campus has a tech department that does videotaping/videoconferencing, because then you can benefit from a professional-looking workspace, sound and lighting equipment, and (most important) experienced techs present to trouble-shoot. I had a couple grad school colleagues who used Instructional Services (they tape classes and do distance learning stuff for the school) for their interviews and it worked really well.

Conversely, I had a friend do skype interviews and a series of technical problems sprang up in the middle of the interview in such a way that they had to eventually give up and resume on a different day --- which drove my already overstressed friend to tears (and this person was not invited on to the next stage).

In sum, I love the cheapness compared to traveling to MLA, but am worried that people aren't taking into account the possibility of technical problems.

[erzuliefreda]

It's nice that MLA is finally acting on suggestions folks have been making for years and years. Perhaps AHA will get on board, too. I am certain that the board members of both organizations have long been aware of the financial expenses candidates incur on the job market, if they are talented and engaged enough to be the esteemed pillars of their profession. In sum, it's about damn time.

[quasihumanist]

The Joint Mathematics Meetings have significantly reduced registration fees not only for students, but also for those who are unemployed and those who are temporarily employed(*).  These reduced fees apply both to members and nonmembers of the sponsoring organizations.

To qualify for those reduced rates, one simply has to sign a form stating that one is unemployed or a separate form stating that one is temporarily employed.  I suppose the Meetings could sue someone who made a false claim, but I don't think it has ever done so.  In practice, the honor system works well since there aren't very many scumbags who would cheat their own professional society, especially since a large percentage of participants have their registration paid for by their employers.

(*) IIRC, "Temporarily employed" means being in a position for which there is no legal expectation of renewal past August.  Adjuncts and those in the last year of visiting or postdoc positions count.

[larryc]

Good on the MLA, and yes the AHA needs to get on board. A year or two ago the AHA blog had a couple of posts that still pretended that AHA conferences interviews are the norm in history hiring (they are not) and siad it would be a terrible mistake to move to phone or video interviews.

[marigolds]

This is fantastic news!  So happy that the MLA leadership is being responsive these days to problems in the disciplines (see: digital scholarship and changing tenure guidelines, proposing teaching track appointments, etc.) 

[litdawg]

Huzzah for "Jack"! Huzzah for TC for encouraging friends like "Jack"!

I also second Academic Cog's remark about videoconferencing language vice using a copyrighted service name. Skype (c) is kind of like Kleenex (c) and Coke (c). We used it for two candidates this year and had no problems, but I had nightmares enough of my own during the year I relied on it to talk to my family.

[anisogamy]

I'm glad that the MLA is being responsive to the concerns of jobhunters.  That having been said, I continue to greatly prefer conference to phone interviews (I have not yet had one via Skype) and hope that conference interviews continue to be a viable option within my non-MLA discipline.  It's expensive to go to the conference, yes, but I feel so much more at ease expressing myself and my candidacy in person rather than over the phone.

[paulsa]

I'm glad that the MLA is being responsive to the concerns of jobhunters.  That having been said, I continue to greatly prefer conference to phone interviews (I have not yet had one via Skype) and hope that confnce, yes, but I feel so much more at ease expressing myself and my candidacy in person rather than over the pherence interviews continue to be a viable option within my non-MLA discipline.  It's expensive to go to the confereone.

I agree with this completely. Face-to-face meetings between real live human beings allow for much higher quality interactions than can be accomplished with technology. On the other hand, the conference interview really can place a serious financial burden on some candidates. I'd like to see search committees continue to do conference interviews but provide the option of a Skype interview for those who couldn't otherwise come.

[tuxedo_cat]

Having served on several search committees, I would say, sure, there is no dispute that f2f interaction is always preferable to anything mediated.  The difficulty, of course, is the sheer cost of getting oneself to the conference location to be interviewed.

It would interesting to have some numbers (ball-park) of the cost of this trip for those of you who have been on the job market at MLA who do not have full-time jobs and have had to pay for the entire trip out-of-pocket -- either for this year's convention or in other years.

[larryc]

Having served on several search committees, I would say, sure, there is no dispute that f2f interaction is always preferable to anything mediated. 

Dispute! I have found that for the short-list interviews, phone interviews give the candidates a far less stressful experience that made them better able to make their cases and let their knowledge and personalities come through.

[janewales]

I'd like to see search committees continue to do conference interviews but provide the option of a Skype interview for those who couldn't otherwise come.

We have to abide by university guidelines that require a level interview playing field, and that means we can't interview some people in person, and others via Skype or phone. We don't do MLA interviews for the long list anymore; we use phone interviews for the long list, and then the usual campus interviews.

I agree that the phone (or Skype) has flaws, but in our experience, there are always at least a few candidates in whom we are interested, who have no plans to go to MLA, either because they can't afford it, or because they're in systems where the MLA isn't a universal expectation. And so the phone has become our standard.

[grasshopper]

Having served on several search committees, I would say, sure, there is no dispute that f2f interaction is always preferable to anything mediated. 

Dispute! I have found that for the short-list interviews, phone interviews give the candidates a far less stressful experience that made them better able to make their cases and let their knowledge and personalities come through.

I prefer the phone for prelim interviews - nobody can see me as I consult a list of talking points. When I've only got 15-30 minutes to convince an entire group of people that I'm a contender, there's no space for screwing around.

[losemygrip]

My organization does not require conference registration in order to access any placement services.  You just have to have an up-to-date membership.  Flash your card and you're in.  Maybe that's what MLA needs to do. 

It's interesting to hear these comments about phone interviews vs. Skype.  We gave our recent candidate pool the option of either, and all but one chose phone.  Meanwhile, my colleagues in other departments were scoffing at the mere idea of using anything but Skype.  I told them we didn't want to put any undue pressure on candidates, even tech-savvy ones like those in the field for which we are interviewing currently.  It sounds as if I was right!

[tuxedo_cat]

My organization does not require conference registration in order to access any placement services.  You just have to have an up-to-date membership.  Flash your card and you're in.  Maybe that's what MLA needs to do. 

That's an excellent and throughly sane suggestion which I will pass along.  Ordinarily, of course, any job candidate has to pay both the membership fee and then the conference fee on top of that.  We are not "card-carrying" members of MLA, but that logistical bit is easy enough to get around.