tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post6473553410228959725..comments2023-10-29T06:41:23.910-07:00Comments on Halfway There: Do you really want this job?Zenohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-71372941087560352232011-07-04T22:50:28.111-07:002011-07-04T22:50:28.111-07:00Permit me to add one more suggestion: Proofread e...Permit me to add one more suggestion: Proofread everything you submit, including the cover letter if you write one. Then proofread it again. Then give it to at least two other people who are better at proofreading than you are to proofread. And when all that's done... proof it all one more time. <br /><br />Yes, it matters.Bob Beckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277751475085231581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-89890264288803249532011-07-04T06:50:40.518-07:002011-07-04T06:50:40.518-07:00That hadn't occurred to me, Anonymous. By the ...That hadn't occurred to me, Anonymous. By the time you're ready to receive your degree, you really do need more than one person to vouch for you. Didn't you have a committee (which probably included your thesis advisor) which passed judgment on your thesis? Members of that committee might be good sources of letters of recommendation. Scott's suggestion is good, too. We like letters from supervising professors who speak to a candidate's teaching skills or potential (especially since community colleges are teaching institutions rather than research centers).<br /><br />Clearly shy grad students need to give some thought to building academic relationships while going through their programs.Zenohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-66999226830291249672011-07-04T06:33:12.539-07:002011-07-04T06:33:12.539-07:00"I'm not sure that inflated CVs tend to b..."I'm not sure that inflated CVs tend to be that much of a problem for teaching positions."<br /><br />plam, it sure is at a research university if the faculty candidate is trying to fob off a bunch of research manuscript titles -- which may be nothing more than at most a rough draft or maybe even just a title for a proposed paper -- as manuscripts submitted or even accepted for publication by peer-review journals -- and then after getting the job the person subsequently keeps changing the titles' status and adding lots of new ones on CVs, annual job reviews and Federal grant proposals, sometimes even noting downward (!) trajectory because the person can't keep all the lies straight, or the manuscripts were finally submitted (and listed as "provisionally accepted," whatever the heck that is!) but then rejected, or... or... and yet only a handful of those titles ever saw printer's ink.<br /><br />N.B.: Nowadays it's more common not to allow the listing of a title of any unpublished manuscript that has not yet been fully accepted for publication, with a copy of the letter of acceptance required as evidence.Kathienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-7197304126155413042011-07-04T00:16:35.643-07:002011-07-04T00:16:35.643-07:00Anonymous,
Have you been a TA? If so, could you a...Anonymous,<br /><br />Have you been a TA? If so, could you ask a professor or two whom you worked under as a TA? They could be better resources than you advisors if you are applying for a teaching position.Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-5995135831726611662011-07-04T00:01:30.694-07:002011-07-04T00:01:30.694-07:00Hi Zeno,
Any advice for people too shy to know an...Hi Zeno,<br /><br />Any advice for people too shy to know anyone besides our thesis advisors who will write good letters of recommendation?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-61816423477221129692011-07-03T22:12:13.346-07:002011-07-03T22:12:13.346-07:00"I have seen candidates attempt to address th..."I have seen candidates attempt to address their assigned topic off the cuff, with no evident preparation. The results are predictably poor and haphazard."<br /><br />Ah. That sounds familiar.<br /><br />Hence why I lost my job.<br /><br />Good thing that there's so much need for maths teachers that I got in at the next school over.Jens Knudsen (Sili)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14078875730565068352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-36252730248277232492011-07-03T20:34:08.116-07:002011-07-03T20:34:08.116-07:00I'm not sure that inflated CVs tend to be that...I'm not sure that inflated CVs tend to be that much of a problem for teaching positions. For some reason, I'd tend to worry more about people with credentials but no actual skills. Like, for instance, the incompetent calculus TAs I hear about. This is a first year class, you're supposed to be a graduate student, and you can't do the problems at all? (Yes, it's harder to do them "live", but presumably you should be able to do them at least when you're marking them.)plamhttp://patricklam.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-83168810562434229632011-07-03T19:48:26.552-07:002011-07-03T19:48:26.552-07:00That's one thing I have never encountered in o...That's one thing I have never encountered in over two decades of hiring experience. We've never run into any inflated applications. Or, to be more precise, no inflated applications have been successful. The reference-checking on our top finalists has always panned out and verified their claims. I'm sure luck is an element, but due diligence is a factor, too.Zenohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09058127284297728552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15868947.post-27542195943556497942011-07-03T19:42:30.785-07:002011-07-03T19:42:30.785-07:00You seem to have omitted "Don't inflate y...You seem to have omitted "Don't inflate your resumé."<br /><br />Candidates who obtain jobs beyond their abilities through such deviousness can wreak havoc on colleagues, especially if they continue to inflate their resumés in order to obtain tenure, then advance their careers in order to become their colleagues' superior. I know people who were thus victimized, and it took a decade to ease out the inflater (via the old "pass the trash" ploy) -- but not until several capable and decent other faculty members' careers were left in tatters.Kathienoreply@blogger.com