This is the life-changing week so many have waited for: the arrival of the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference. Dance cards are filled, research agendas have been polished, questions are being anticipated (and responses rehearsed), etc. At this late stage, there's not much left to do but to keep drinking gallons of OJ and using extra doses of hand sanitizer to stay healthy.
But here's an eve-of-conference suggestion.
Hiring chairs, reach out one more time and contact each candidate via email, (i) confirming the time of the interview, (ii) providing your interview suite number, and (iii) disclosing names of folks on your interview team.
Candidates, don't wait for this email (at least beyond Tuesday). Instead, contact the hiring chairs and ask for this info. Also disclose if you have an interview before, or after, an interview. Given the physical layout of the Marriott Wardman (see previous post here), schools will appreciate knowing if you may arrive a few minutes late or wish to leave a few minutes early.
Best of luck to all candidates. And try to be yourself and enjoy the process.
Pictured: the Wardman Tower, just one wing of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (the sight
of this week's AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference (source link here)). Can you name the two Supreme Court justices who lived at the Wardman Tower?
I'll just gently suggest that there is no need for the (endlessly repeated) advice that candidates alert committees that they have back to back interviews and might be a little late.
We already know that.
We've been candidates. We've interviewed hundreds of candidates over many, many years ("we" being the members of any given committee). In fact, on the very same day the candidate is interviewing with us, we had to walk through the massive hotel and wait endlessly in crowds for the elevators just like everybody else. And then we did it again at lunch.
If you are late, we will not even blink an eyelash. It happens all the time. We forgive you.
Posted by: Rolling Eyes | November 03, 2009 at 01:22 PM