by Ashley
So, coming right on the heels of this email, I just received another email about a potential job (maybe)?? However, the email really just confused me. I need your help to decipher what this is all about…..
First, to back up, let me remind you about the status of my job search situation.
I seemed to have two promising job leads:
One of them is for a position here in Tucson. That’s the one I referenced here. I’ve been through a formal phone interview with them and have been invited for a campus interview, to occur in a couple weeks.
The second job lead is for a position out-of-state. I referenced it way back here. As a brief summary, this job lead has been weird from the start. I was initially contacted by email and asked to set up a time to talk by phone. Naturally, I assumed this was a phone interview and I prepared accordingly. However, it turned out to be a super casual conversation with the search chair (he was in an airport at the time), and I was told the committee loved me and was very interested in having me come for a campus interview. Yes – skipping a phone interview entirely and going straight to a campus interview (if you’re in academia you know how weird this is). I was told they were interviewing for a full professor in Nov/Dec and an assistant professor in Feb/March, so I’d be contacted in the New Year sometime. This was from back in October.
Fast forward to today.
I receive an email from a new person (who took over the role of committee chair from the last guy I spoke with). Here is, verbatim, portions of the email I received (I’m omitting identifying information about the university, department, etc.):
Although you were not invited for an interview during our recent search process, members of our faculty were very impressed by your application and identified you as somebody we would like to get to know better. As such, we would like to invite you to [come here] to be our guest for a day this semester. We would like to have you present your research to our faculty, visit with the faculty both informally over meals and more formally with those who might have similar research interests and, in general, allow us to become better acquainted with you and hopefully you with us. Again, this isn’t an invitation for an interview but rather simply a chance for us to meet you as you were an individual who stood out to us during our search process as somebody with whom we want to become more familiar. Please let me know at your earliest convenience if this is something that you might be interested in and we can begin working on the logistics of scheduling.
What the what???
Sooooo, if not an interview, what is this??? I have never heard of something like this before! Surely it is an interview, right? But he specifically says it is not one. What does this mean????
I feel like I’m somewhat in a bind because I feel awkward going to my old advisors to ask about this given that I’m currently in the interviewing process for a position at that university. I don’t know where to turn for advice on this situation!
Additionally, I feel like I’m psyching myself out before anything even happens. Job lead #2 (the “not-an-interview” job) is a more prestigious position at a very prestigious university. I almost feel like an impostor trying to fit in. These people know I’ve never had a professor position before, right? Why are they so interested in me???
It feels so much more comfortable just to invest in trying to get the position here in Tucson. It’s familiar, easy, and we get to stay where we are (meaning no job changes for husband, no moving costs, etc.). But apparently job lead #2 isn’t even an interview to begin with??? What is it then??? Really just a chance to get to know each other??? What are we going to do, start collaborating or something?? I’m just so confused!!!!!
Of course, I’m going to reply to the email and say I’d love to come for a visit. There’s no reason not to take them up on that opportunity. But the whole thing makes me nervous and the fact that I thought it was for a campus interview, and it turns out to not be an interview is just so….baffling???
I know there are some academics that read here. Someone, shed some light on this for me!
What does this all mean???? Where would you turn for guidance (is it a ‘no-no’ to go back to my old advisors while in the interview process??)
