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Feb. 4th, 2003 05:02 pmSo, back from the adventure. Quick summary of the whole job interview experience: meh.
I dunno. It's not that it went badly, just that -- well, interviewing is like flirting, when it goes well there's a zizz and a crackle and a pleasant tingly sense of potentiality and intrigue, and when that doesn't happen, it's just...flat. I was giving it my all, I was working it, but I didn't feel like I was striking any sparks, and I didn't feel any great spark back.
There was one question I know I flat-out blew, the dreaded "Tell us what you know about theories of student development and how you use them in your work." What I didn't actually say was, "Well, I learned enough about theories of student development in grad school to get through my prelims, but I found them mostly tedious and irrelevant, and five years in the field has only strengthened that opinion." OK, I didn't quite say that, but I'm afeared that that's what came across, and the person asking that particular question was one of the faculty, who didn't look well-pleased by my response. Lost a vote there, eh.
I mean, I think I did reasonably well overall; the woman who walked me back to my car said I'd done a fine job and was impressive, but she also said they're interviewing eight candidates altogether (ack) and that it's a "very strong" pool.
So if I had to bet, I'd bet it's a no-go, and on the whole I'm OK with that. While I was charmed by many aspects of the place, I kept having a hard time actually visualizing myself there. It felt kind of like a blind date where you've really sold yourself on how wonderful this new person is, and how this is going to be a great thing, and then when you finally get together, there's just no chemistry. I'm really glad I went and reality-tested the situation; I'm very much at peace now about the whole thing.
And I'm very glad I got to visit Seattle, albeit briefly; L. was a great hostess, and I had a lovely visit with some of my favorite fannish people, although I was so whomped with fatigue that I just couldn't be as convivial as I'd have liked.
A nice thing -- on the trip back, flying across the northern tier of states in the middle of the night, I looked out my window, across Canada, and saw this misty shimmery glow of light above the horizon, like a huge fogbank illuminated from within. I couldn't figure out what it was for a while, but finally I realized I was looking at the northern lights. I watched them for almost an hour, as I drifted in and out of sleep, seeing them form into brilliant little needles of light that arced up out of the glow, and then dissolving and reforming.
Apart from that, though, may I just ask god to strike me dead with big jaggedy boulders falling from the sky if I ever again in this life propose taking a red-eye flight. I am comatose with fatigue today, and aching all over. I owe e-mail to everyone (Laura, Des, Aral, I'll get back to you soon, promise!), but I think all I'm good for tonight is (a) watching Buffy and (b) falling into bed, with a thud.
I dunno. It's not that it went badly, just that -- well, interviewing is like flirting, when it goes well there's a zizz and a crackle and a pleasant tingly sense of potentiality and intrigue, and when that doesn't happen, it's just...flat. I was giving it my all, I was working it, but I didn't feel like I was striking any sparks, and I didn't feel any great spark back.
There was one question I know I flat-out blew, the dreaded "Tell us what you know about theories of student development and how you use them in your work." What I didn't actually say was, "Well, I learned enough about theories of student development in grad school to get through my prelims, but I found them mostly tedious and irrelevant, and five years in the field has only strengthened that opinion." OK, I didn't quite say that, but I'm afeared that that's what came across, and the person asking that particular question was one of the faculty, who didn't look well-pleased by my response. Lost a vote there, eh.
I mean, I think I did reasonably well overall; the woman who walked me back to my car said I'd done a fine job and was impressive, but she also said they're interviewing eight candidates altogether (ack) and that it's a "very strong" pool.
So if I had to bet, I'd bet it's a no-go, and on the whole I'm OK with that. While I was charmed by many aspects of the place, I kept having a hard time actually visualizing myself there. It felt kind of like a blind date where you've really sold yourself on how wonderful this new person is, and how this is going to be a great thing, and then when you finally get together, there's just no chemistry. I'm really glad I went and reality-tested the situation; I'm very much at peace now about the whole thing.
And I'm very glad I got to visit Seattle, albeit briefly; L. was a great hostess, and I had a lovely visit with some of my favorite fannish people, although I was so whomped with fatigue that I just couldn't be as convivial as I'd have liked.
A nice thing -- on the trip back, flying across the northern tier of states in the middle of the night, I looked out my window, across Canada, and saw this misty shimmery glow of light above the horizon, like a huge fogbank illuminated from within. I couldn't figure out what it was for a while, but finally I realized I was looking at the northern lights. I watched them for almost an hour, as I drifted in and out of sleep, seeing them form into brilliant little needles of light that arced up out of the glow, and then dissolving and reforming.
Apart from that, though, may I just ask god to strike me dead with big jaggedy boulders falling from the sky if I ever again in this life propose taking a red-eye flight. I am comatose with fatigue today, and aching all over. I owe e-mail to everyone (Laura, Des, Aral, I'll get back to you soon, promise!), but I think all I'm good for tonight is (a) watching Buffy and (b) falling into bed, with a thud.