Finding a New David: Short-List

Katherine: Are you going to be here from 2:00 to 3:30?
Me: Yes.
Katherine: Well, you can't.

Yesterday I got kicked out of the office so the hiring committee could meet and create a short list of candidates. For official/legal reasons, I can't be privy to the details of selection, but I do know they're down to three potential people now. It's definitely been interesting to see the selection process from an insider POV. A couple points to remember if you're ever applying for an academic job:

1. A vitae is scary (think resume plus everything you've ever published, won, been nominated for, or been graded on - okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but not much) When you write your resume, they say two pages tops. Vitae, not so much. I saw a few that had to be a good ten pages long.

2. A single typo may be the kiss of death. More than fifty people applied for this job and it got to the point of looking for something, anything, to disqualify people and narrow it down.

3. Recommendation letters are essential. However, they should not be written by students.

4. "Writing Sample" does not mean all three of your novels. Nor does it mean a music CD you recorded.

5. A podcast does not count as publishing credit.

I'm not sure how long it'll take for the committee to pick who's going to replace David - now comes the part where they call references and arrange to interview the candidates. I do think, however, that I may be one of the first in the genereal public to know the final decision. Oh boy, I feel special.