Waiting for a Call Back

Last week at this time, many of you were thinking that your life would improve dramatically after you navigated the AALS meat market.  By now you know that the days after the meat market can be just as harrowing as you wait anxiously for the schools you met with to call and offer you a call back interview.

While I can't actually help ease that anxiety, let me offer a few words of reassurance and advice during this time in the hiring process:

1) The call back timeline varies across schools, and sometimes within schools.  Just because you know people who already have received a bunch of call backs, that does not mean you have struck out this season.  Some schools call earlier than others.  And even if you know people who have received call backs from the school you liked most at the meat market, it doesn't mean there is zero chance you will get a call back from that school.  Some schools schedule their candidates in batches, and you may simply be in a later batch.

2) If you do get a call from a school, feel free to ask questions about their process.  You should ask schools how the call back visit will be structured.  Ask what the job talk format is like.  Ask if you can get a list of the people you'll be having dinner with before you get to the school.  ANd, if you're feeling brave, you can also ask how many candidates they've invited for call backs.

3) Try to schedule your call backs before the end of the fall semester.  Many schools vote on candidates before they leave for winter break.  If your interview isn't until January or February, you may not get the same amount of consideration.  That said, different schools follow different timelines, and a January or February interview may not have that consequence at all schools.

4) Make alternate plans.  I'm not saying you won't get a tenure-track teaching job this year, but I know that I felt a lot better trying to figure out a back up plan while I was waiting for schools to call me.  This is also the time of year when a number of VAPs and fellowships start hiring, so you could always consider working on an application to one of those programs just in case.

Comments

[Another Candidate]

Thanks, Carissa - it's great to hear a voice of reason in the chaos of callback reporting.

[superdry clothing]

of year when a number of VAPs and fellowships start hiring, so you could always consider working on an application to one of those programs just in case.

[Paul Horwitz]

To add to the last comment, as I said on Prawfs, don't forget about visiting positions at law schools either. It worked for me and led to a tenure-track position elsewhere.

[Coach outlet]

Very nice show with a lot of variety and well presented. It was a great job of community building which the local arts scene could use more of. Congrats to all involved. Great to see what local people can do.

[Christian Louboutin Outlet]

Vice Principal Joshua Greenbaum wrote in the letter that accompanied the bookmarks, "We hope that this very small token may serve as a reminder to people all over the world that there is true hope in the power of good deed, or what we call in Hebrew, mitzvot."