Otherwise, a candidate might not guarantee that they even make it to the interview stage even if they are interested in the job.

One of our first “culling points” is letters that seem to be multi-purpose given that both sides of the equations have to be a good fit for the whole employment process to work effectively in the long run.

Lots of great advice here, in the comments, and in Perspectives so that the process isn’t something “behind the curtain”. Keep up the great work!

I am trying to figure out what might work at these conference interviews. I have thought about saying, after shaking hands, “Well my palms aren’t all sweaty after all.” But I am afraid this sounds gross. Or how about, “When I was nervous at my wedding, they kept saying bend your knees so you don’t pass out. No one gave me similar advice for this situation, so I hope I don’t pass out on you.”

How does such a strategy sound?

I guess one thing you could add is this process is very artificial. There isn’t much you can learn about people in a short interview. It’s almost a ritual in some respects. And most job candidates do fairly well. It can be difficult to narrow down a small number for an open campus interview. Often, it is actually things in the file that we fall back on to make our decisions. So if you don’t get the fly out, don’t beat yourself up. Fit matters a great deal. You may not have been the right fit for reasons that have nothing to do with your ability or your interview skills.

I read through your interview advice. It applies generically to any field where there is some professionalism and intellectual endeavor. My major field of work was engineering or engineering related. When I was looking for a job this kind of advice would have been invaluable. In fact, toward the end of my full-time working life, I went through a program supported by the State of New Jersey to help professionals find employment. We went through all of the steps that you discuss and had practice interviews, resume writing help, and help with our “elevator speech.” Position seekers will ignore your advice if they have a wish to remain unemployed.

As for AHA, sorry about that. Now that you mention it, it does seem like inside baseball. Please don’t tell Senator Mitchell, but this blog is juiced.

And finally, welcome. And thanks for the comment.

What is that word that explains people leaving blog comments for advertising purposes, I usually say spam, I see one of those RP bots already hit this blog.

It’s easy to forget that in the basement of our lovely profession are too many PhDs chasing too few jobs. Then you go to the AHA and come face to face with the anxiety (and worse) coursing through the sea of graduate students. Yikes!

Though I suppose to give LeGuin’s fictional city some credit, only one person is being tortured to keep Omelas happy.

That’s a great idea! Someone should Hunter S. Thompson one of these things.

Seriously,
I hope I’m not overstepping
that sounds like it’s over the line into obsequious to me (isn’t this question pretty routine?) But I have a hard time imagining that anyone will remember your performance on the initial phone calls by the post-AHA meeting, unless you make a major pain of yourself. Though who knows what evil lurks in the heart of search committee members.