Legal Commentary

A couple hours ago our committee finished its last interview at the meat market meet market AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference.   This is my second year as a tenure-track professor, and my first appointments committee experience.  Comparing this experience to the one I went through just a couple short years ago, I learned the following:

1.  Apparently it's pretty rare for such new faculty to be on an appointments committee.  Perhaps we're progressive that way, or just gluttons for punishment, but two of our group are in their second year.  At the same time, I relish the input I am having on the process.

2.  The interviewing process is simply exhausting.  Just as I always thought it was more tiring to take a deposition than to be deposed, I think it is more difficult to interview rather than be interviewed.  (I except candidates that have 20+ interviews from these comments).  We were on for a full half hour, every half hour, all day.  No breaks except a lunch made short by being perpetually behind.  I envied the candidates that got to stretch their legs on the run between towers - not the stress, and the rushing from room to room, but the ability to move for a second.

3.  As a candidate I thought it was challenging to be on for every interview - not knowing which scholarship might be discussed.  But at least it was my scholarship and I was familiar with it.  This weekend we engaged 28 candidates on their scholarship, often wholly unfamiliar to at least some (and sometimes all) of us.  It was like 28 mini-workshops where you can't sit back and listen to other peoples'  great questions.

4.  I can't over-emphasize how impressed I was with all of the candidates.   Everyone we interviewed had something really great to bring to the table.  Of course, some did better than others, but I am really pleased with the work we did to select a slate of folks to meet.  I also really personally liked some of the candidates aside from what they might contribute as scholars and teachers, including many I know we won't have room to call back.  I have been told that for many candidates one callback for every three interviews, and even one callback for every five interviews, is a good result.  I understand that now.  We surely will not be able to bring every highly qualified and engaging candidate back to campus, and it really stinks.  And it may have little or nothing to do with a candidate's quality or likelihood of success.  If our full faculty had infinite time, patience, and money I would want to introduce most of our candidates to them.  Did I mention the part where I personally liked many we just can't accommodate?  Ugh. *

5.  That said, I don't want to give potential candidates too rosy a picture.  There were candidates who just weren't ready to go on the market for a variety of reasons.  There are things you can (and should) do to get ready for the academic teaching market.  Prawfs and other sites have many tips on this, including a compilation I keep at my own web site.  I have also read others say that being on this side of the table clears up a lot of mysteries in appointments, and it's true.  Things that didn't make sense to me when I was a candidate make perfect sense in the dynamics of appointments committee decisions. 

This has been a great experience, but one that is both exhilarating and exhausting.  I hope we make the right choices as a committee - it's a lot of responsibility that we took very seriously.

*Anyone reading this that interviewed with our committee - please don't read anything into this about how you did.  Our committee made no decisions today, is not meeting until we are back at school (did I mention the part about how exhausted we all are?), and my own personal thoughts are only one vote in any event.  That said, if you don't get a callback, also don't read anything into it about how you did.   Did I mention that there were people we really liked that we won't be able to call back?