Friday, April 24, 2015

Clearly I need help

with the format or preparation for the very structured community college first round interview, if I keep getting that far and promptly rejected. I just did more of those and had no better luck than earlier. Siiiiiiiiigh. I finally got in touch with the search committee for that other thing (it was the place with the weird job ad) and I have been rejected there too. I know that my little demos haven't been completely and utterly polished --- I am keeping on top of my full time teaching and grading, after all, which is a huge time commitment along with all the travel to other locations --- but maybe I am doing something wrong or offputting or I am wrongly assuming that I am an experienced enough teacher that I can just run through my usual class stuff.

Or maybe the problem is me and there is something just plain abrasive or unpalatable at the very core of my self that comes out more clearly in person than in print.

Sigh. Now I am back to the same crappy state of feeling I was in before.

3 comments:

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

I'm so sorry. :(

Contingent Cassandra said...

It wouldn't hurt to get what help/advice you can on improving your campus interview/demonstration skills (unfortunately, I have none to offer; might any of your current colleagues, now that the cat is out of the bag?), but I can think of some other possible explanations, including but not limited to:

(1) there are a lot of very good people competing for very few jobs, and there's a certain luck-of-the-draw element to the whole thing; the more interviews you complete, the better the odds that at least one will result in an offer;

(2) there are inside candidates (possibly including schools' own current adjuncts, a phenomenon to which it's hard to object), and you're serving as the plausible outside candidate/basis for comparison. This one is harder to avoid/combat, since, given how many very long-term adjuncts there are around, it's hard to imagine taking adjunct work (which you undoubtedly could get) with the hope that it would eventually lead to full-time work.

Hang in there!

Dame Eleanor Hull said...

+1 to CC's #1.

Your faithful readers love you (and your cats) and want you all to be successful and happy.

Unfortunately, it appears that none of us has a magic wand to wave and make it so.