Ring. Ring.
I struggle sometimes with being concise. I have a tendency to enjoy giving long answers, lots of advice, and sometimes need someone to remind me that less can indeed be more. But applying these principles to the phone interview process is quite daunting and often leaves me perplexed.
I had a phone interview today for a position I was initially excited about when I first applied but the more time has gone on and the more positions I've found since, my excitement has waned. Nevertheless, it'd be a great opportunity and most definitely a new adventure so I was looking forward to my phone interview. When they called me, I found out I was talking to seven strangers who I knew only by name and the energy in their voice. They each only asked 1 question and at the end, the search committee chair said, "So Brad, is there anything we haven't asked about you that you feel would be important for us to know?" How do you respond to that? I had been speaking with them for only about 15-20 minutes thus far and somehow I had to quickly evaluate whether I had been able to articulate a complete picture of myself. How do you sum up your professional goals, values, ethics, beliefs, experiences, passions, strengths, weaknesses, lessons learned, lessons taught in a wrap up question? I'm not so sure you can.
And so as I sat on the other end of the phone thinking of the 15-20 additional questions the committee could have asked that would have given them a more well-rounded understanding of who I am and who I hope to be, I simply said that my students are incredibly important to me and I pride myself on the advising style and relationship building I am able to do with them and hope that is valued at your institution. It probably wasn't the best answer I could have given but at the end of the day, our work is our students and I had not directly been asked about what I believe to be my true work.
I've never been a fan of phone interviews and have no idea how I faired and will compare to the others. But what can you do? It's out of my hands now...
Life is pulling me in many directions over the next week so my blogging may be a bit sparse. I'm headed to Dallas this weekend for a friend's wedding, dog sitting next week for my professor at her house, continuing my job search, and going out of town with my students. So here's to a busy rest of March!
Cheers.
I had a phone interview today for a position I was initially excited about when I first applied but the more time has gone on and the more positions I've found since, my excitement has waned. Nevertheless, it'd be a great opportunity and most definitely a new adventure so I was looking forward to my phone interview. When they called me, I found out I was talking to seven strangers who I knew only by name and the energy in their voice. They each only asked 1 question and at the end, the search committee chair said, "So Brad, is there anything we haven't asked about you that you feel would be important for us to know?" How do you respond to that? I had been speaking with them for only about 15-20 minutes thus far and somehow I had to quickly evaluate whether I had been able to articulate a complete picture of myself. How do you sum up your professional goals, values, ethics, beliefs, experiences, passions, strengths, weaknesses, lessons learned, lessons taught in a wrap up question? I'm not so sure you can.
And so as I sat on the other end of the phone thinking of the 15-20 additional questions the committee could have asked that would have given them a more well-rounded understanding of who I am and who I hope to be, I simply said that my students are incredibly important to me and I pride myself on the advising style and relationship building I am able to do with them and hope that is valued at your institution. It probably wasn't the best answer I could have given but at the end of the day, our work is our students and I had not directly been asked about what I believe to be my true work.
I've never been a fan of phone interviews and have no idea how I faired and will compare to the others. But what can you do? It's out of my hands now...
Life is pulling me in many directions over the next week so my blogging may be a bit sparse. I'm headed to Dallas this weekend for a friend's wedding, dog sitting next week for my professor at her house, continuing my job search, and going out of town with my students. So here's to a busy rest of March!
Cheers.
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