Here at the Hiring Conference....

So we've made it half way through the AALS hiring conference.  Any stories anyone wants to share?  Best interviews?  Worst interviews? (no names necessary)

One anonymous candidate shared the following with me.  First, the sight of the long and lonely hallway outside the interview suites.    Is anyone's blood pressure rising just looking at this?

And, secondly, an explanation for why no one was on time to interviews in the Wardman Tower.  Apparently, the elevator was broken - here's a candid shot of the guy fixing it...

Thanks for sharing, anonymous candidate!  And good luck tomorrow!

Comments

[anon]

Glad I didn't have any interviews in the Wardman Tower yesterday.

I also want to chime in an confirm an urban legend: it is possible to score an extra interview by chatting with faculty at the reception/mixer. So next year, go and be your charming self - you never know what will happen!

[anon candidate]

Interviewed with Florida International...easily the best looking faculty appointments committee in D.C. Like the cast of CSI Miami.

[Eric Muller]

This image sends chills down my spine.

I went through the meat market twice -- two consecutive years. Not sure how I found the strength to try a second time after crashing and burning the first. If I never have to go through a process like that again, it'll be way too soon.

[Dr. K]

Anybody ever hear of the STAIRS?

[aggggh]

Funny. I took the same hallway photo, but thought better of making it my Facebook profile picture.

[blistered feet]

Dr. K - When you only have about two minutes between interviews, and are wearing high heels, and have to go down 8 flights in one tower and up 8 flights in the other, the stairs don't really feel like an option!!

[anon]

Overall, the conference was much more fun than I thought it would be. Exhausting, but fun. The vast majority of my interviews were great. The committee members were interesting, engaging people who treated me with respect and listened to my ideas. I obviously won't get a callback from each of those schools, but I left those interviews feeling good about myself and the school!

But more than a handful of the interviews were simply painful. A little advice to law schools -- don't send faculty members to the conference who (a) fight with each other during the interview, (b) ignore the candidate and laugh at their own jokes the entire time, or (c) treat the candidates like ignorant little children. Two interviews began with open hostility from at least one committee member and went downhill from there. No clue why they wasted their slot interviewing me when they had already decided that I was unqualified for the job!

But all in all, a much better experience than I had anticipated.

[anon]

I agree with anon above - it was mostly fun and I enjoyed the interviews a lot more than I was expecting. So now what? Is next week pretty much the week the callbacks happen? When do references get called usually, before or after a callback?
By the way, I also enjoyed meeting the other candidates - good luck everyone!

[anon]

Yes, another tip for committees: Having one person ask all of the questions, from a list of stock questions, and a handful of questions seemingly tailored to the candidate, while the rest of the committee sits silently for most of the interview is unbelievably awkward and signals a lack of interest.

Maybe that's your goal, but at some point we as candidates switch from selling to buying mode, two schools followed this approach in my interviews and they hurt themselves. Even if I don't hear back from those two schools, I'm hopeful to land a job somewhere, and those interviews colored my judgment about those schools. We may only have 20 minutes to make an impression, but it's a two way street.

[Anonymous]

And be glad you weren't one of the 5 people stuck in that elevator for half an hour on Friday evening!