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06/12/2003 Archived Entry: "Get a job (sha la la)"

Went for my first academic job interview yesterday: Lecturer in Interactive Arts at SFU. I'm traumatized. First of all, there's "the committee." I think I was doing OK until the last few people started asking their questions- at that point, we're 30-40 minutes in, and we've moved beyond any reasonable conversation length. Now its officially an interrogation. And then there's the coded questions. To paraphrase: "You're young. [pause...uncomfortable laughter] How do you see this affecting your relationship with your students?" I'm young? I AM young! Shit, they're not going to hire me because I'm young! It's too late to start prematurely aging- drinking whisky, smoking, having 5 kids before I'm 28. But wait, what's the question here? [little beads of sweat form on forehead] Is it a lack of experience question? Is it an authority question? Actually, I have a veritable laundry list of coordination xp with undergrads...yes, I should say that. And good rapport. But not too good...Wait, wait! It hits me after. It's code. They're refering to a specific incident, with a specific previous lecturer. They're talking about dispute resolution. It has nothing to do with age per se. Can they really not hire me because I remind them of someone else?

And, damn, it wasn't until after the interview I decoded the question. And I have fantastic dispute resolution (well, avoidance) skills. Any project manager has to! You set clear, agreed upon expectations. You always make sure there's an exit strategy (avoiding those endless debates). You insist on students taking responsibility before a problem escalates. And, hell, I'm not shy about talking to someone privately about crossing over the line. But I don't get to answer the question again, do I? But wait, the question wasn't even asked, was it???

Actually, I think I did pretty well, but if I don't find out one way or the other soon, I could quite possibly go mad...