Thursday, November 29, 2007

So much better in person

Okay... so the phone interview is done. I dread the conference call of disembodied voices. Despite the fact that I had spoken one on one with three of the five committee members, I was terribly nervous.

Tasse Plein had suggested to me:
Make sure to really listen to them. In other words, make sure to let them talk; ask them questions about themselves if appropriate. Please make sure to keep your answers fairly brief. Your enthusiasm will always be an advantage, but make sure you don't come on too strong.
I do my best. Caught myself a bit just blathering on. But I think they like me. A couple of them stepped in to rescue me a bit it seemed. And I listened. And... after the formal questions (God I hate those, I feel like I just talk in vagaries), I lightened up a bit. And I listened, and asked questions. And I reflected on what they said.

We'll see. That part is over. They say they expect to make a decision in the next week or so about whom to invite to campus. They'll invite three or four to come in the end of January or beginning of February. (Great, I think... just when my baby is due!) But, I'll cross that logistical bridge when I come to it. For now, I don't know that they'll invite me.

The waiting is the hardest. To be fair, I think I had a lot of good things to say. But I wasn't my strongest with the opening questions. It wasn't so bad. But... my cell phone, them on a crackly speaker phone, we lost a connection at one point. [SIGH].

It's done. Now to let it go. I'm on to the next thing. I've got a conference call with my programmers tomorrow. Lots of grading left to do. I should know in a week or so. Either way, I'm moving on.

3 comments:

Tracy said...

Oh, phone interviews are so hard! I've done a few of those, and I think the worst thing is trying to figure out when you should STOP talking. I tended to blather on and on, making stupid jokes (it's what I do when I'm nervous), blah, blah, blah. I'm sure it went well for you, AD. These things are always better than you think they are.

Congratulations on overcoming this hurdle! Now we all wait with you.

ArticulateDad said...

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tracy. It seems at times, like an SAT test, that the interview is not so much about how well I'd serve in the post, but rather about how well I interview. Mark that up as grist for the mill should I find myself serving on a hiring committee one day.

Leslie M-B said...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. . .