If nothing else, I think I'm getting better with practice at interviewing. I am now sadly aware of just how amateurish and unready for prime time I must have seemed in my earlier interviews. On the plus side, I feel like I rocked the fuck out on my short-list interview. I was prepared, I anticipated nearly every question they threw at me, I had worthwhile questions to give them, I had thought about research and pedagogical implications of living and working in Distant Place — I was on. Of course, with a little time to reflect on the interview after the fact, I worry that I might have seemed a little too eager to please in some ways, although I never went into ass-kissing territory or anything. In any case, even if that worry is justified, I still think I did better than on any previous interview.
It's something of a cold shower to intone to myself now that I probably won't get that job, and I should keep plowing on with other applications. It's hard to maintain that Zen-like remove when you really, really want to get a job.
I think I'm going to try to work on my sangfroid and inner calm by making a curry.
It's something of a cold shower to intone to myself now that I probably won't get that job, and I should keep plowing on with other applications. It's hard to maintain that Zen-like remove when you really, really want to get a job.
I think I'm going to try to work on my sangfroid and inner calm by making a curry.
Nice going on the interview! I know the Zen thing is hard, but it's got to feel better knowing that you did everything right.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it went well! And that you feel like you're improving. Eventually, you've got to hope it'll have an effect. Sending you many many vibes...
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I hope it works out...interviews are such hard work and you deserve some awesome results after all your preparation!
ReplyDeleteHave to say that I found interviewing to be weirdly validating (in that it was the first time I wasn't a grad student talking about my ideas but a potential colleague, if that makes sense). Like I was sitting at the big kids' table finally...
One gets better at interviewing with time. And sometimes, whatever happens in an interview is beyond your control (I interviewed at a place where I felt that half the faculty was amazing, and the other half was trying to destroy me. I found out that they didn't hire anybody because the committee couldn't agree on a candidate. It was group A against group B, and they hated each other).
ReplyDeleteThanks, all!
ReplyDelete@Ink: I felt more a sense of liminal crisis moment than anything else — kind of like being seated at the kids' table, and making a formal request to be re-seated with the grown-ups.
@Spanish Prof: Welcome! I dread the day I encounter one of those interview committees that runs on vitriol and vituperation. I've heard the stories, but I've been lucky enough to dodge them so far.