People on hiring committees: are you being flooded with requests for APSA interviews this year? Seems like a lot of places are only doing interviews one or two days, vs. three or four last year. Others are only doing "informal" interviews outside of the speed-dating room.
APSA interviews
(74 posts) (1 voice)-
Posted 9 months ago #
-
^ Yes.
Posted 9 months ago # -
I am only scheduling interviews with female candidates in my room.
Posted 9 months ago # -
kickin back with blow, booze and a hooker...god it feels great to have tenure now, you tard virgin
Posted 9 months ago # -
OP--yes, although this year's requests are pretty on par with the last couple of years.
Posted 9 months ago # -
I suggest candidates boycott this embarrassment to the discipline.
Posted 9 months ago # -
These interviews are a total waste of everyone's time.
Posted 9 months ago # -
It has been a while since I was on the market. One year I did the APSA room and it didn't amount to a hill of beans.
As an AP I was on several search committees. We never did the APSA thing; but if we had, I don't think it would have had too much of an impact on the final search since the committee won't really look at the dossiers until after the job deadline, which was a couple months after APSA.
If I were doing it again, at APSA I would only meet with small liberal arts departments. I would assume the committees there are smaller and meeting one-on-one would be an opportunity to impress a "bigger player" in the decision making process.
Good luck to all you budding superstars!
Posted 9 months ago # -
We use APSA to filter out the weakest candidates. We never hired anyone from that pool, ever.
Posted 9 months ago # -
I got one phone interview out of my APSA interviews last year, but that was all. It seemed like most of the interviews were bad schools trying to sell me on applying there, which in this market is fairly unnecessary.
Posted 9 months ago # -
OK, but just in case it *isn't* a waste of time to contact a department, does anyone want to helpfully volunteer what the norms might be for contacting departments about possible interviews at APSA? Do folks usually include a full cover letter, a copy of the CV, or etc? Or just simply email the contact with a brief "I hope you'll consider talking to me" sort of message?
Posted 9 months ago # -
^ To be perfectly honest many of these are set up by department secretaries who don't read anything at all and fill the slots in a first-come first-serve fashion. As such your email should be succinct and contain nothing more than a CV.
Posted 9 months ago # -
^ that is very helpful, thank you. Merciless teasing of some sort or another may now begin.
Posted 9 months ago # -
The real interviews are the ones where they contact you, not the other way around. If your advisor is talking you up with colleagues than you may get some calls to set up a time to chat at the conference.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Any suggestions on how to best prepare for the interviews? I've been practicing my answers to common questions in front of the mirror and am getting pretty confident with the top 20 questions or so. What else can I do?
Posted 9 months ago # -
^ Wear Depends so you don't **** yourself, champ.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Make sure you know a little bit about the schools you are interviewing with (where they are, what classes they want you to teach). Come up with a few questions to ask them (even in 20 minute interviews, people usually leave time for you to ask questions). Also, see if you can get somebody to watch you and give you feedback. Personally, I think that the APSA interviews are a great opportunity to practice skills that you can use on phone interviews and campus visits, so this practice will help down the line.
Posted 9 months ago # -
^ Agree with above. I didn't get any follow-up on any of my APSA interviews last year, but it was helpful when I started doing phone interviews at other places. I already had an idea of what kind of questions I would get asked and I had already flubbed answers so I knew where to improve.
Posted 9 months ago # -
It's a practice but no real decisions are made there. So don't epxect much other than practicing your interviewing skills.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Posted 9 months ago #
-
The APSA interviews were useful for my department. We have limited funding for bringing candidates in for an on campus interview. Phone interviews are an option (which we also utilized) but at least APSA gives the chance for a brief face-to-face meeting. It provides more information than just the file alone. Think of it as a chance to add a more human dimension to your file, despite the speed dating atmosphere.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Did you hire someone based on APSA interview? ^
Posted 9 months ago # -
Yes, at least one hire over the years, and it has also gotten on campus interview opportunities for a couple of others.
Posted 9 months ago # -
^^^More human dimension =verifying that applicant is not a cyclops.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Well, that, and things like energy level, ability to engage in conversation, some level of interest in the job, etc. It would be nice to think every candidate who applies has those qualities, but surprisingly not the case. APSA interviews serve the same purpose as any other interview in going beyond what is on paper. If you aren't interested in the job or don't feel like APSA interviews are worth treating like "real" interviews, my advice is to avoid them. We treat them as seriously as a phone interview, for whatever that's worth to you job seekers.
Posted 9 months ago # -
The least APSA could do would be to limit the meat market aspect of the event somewhat.
Posted 9 months ago # -
My favorite part is walking by the people you interviewed with two hours before as they talk to someone else, and eyeing up the competition (or giving the stinnkeye to the competition, your choice).
Posted 9 months ago # -
This thread just shows how clueless most people on PSJR are. The top departments do "interviews" at APSA, but not through the formal APSA interview process.
Most top departments do informal meetings at APSA, inviting candidates they might be interested in for casual one-on-one meetings with search committee members. For example, a search committee might email a potential candidate and suggest meeting up at APSA, but it's by no means called an actual "interview." Or a search committee member might show up at your panel and watch you present and stay to chat afterwards, encourage you to apply, etc. However, you'd better bet you are being evaluated by the search committee member and better treat it as an interview.
Posted 9 months ago # -
^Does every R1 department do this? How are you supposed to know the difference between an informal interview and just a friendly chat?
Posted 9 months ago # -
^ Generally R1s have a good sense of who they want to hire well before the applications come in.
Posted 9 months ago #