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Job Hunting Update: Fourth Interview
Jan. 31st, 2014 09:20 pm(Skip directly to the blog of the day for silly fun.)
Now it's really down to two candidates. We're so different and they're having trouble deciding, so they called us in (separately) to see how we'd do one of the actual job duties. This is my favorite kind of interview activity because it seems so relevant.
I looked at two actual petitions, talked about whether they should be accepted or denied and why (and what questions I would ask various parties), and then, for the one that was denied, sent an e-mail to the interviewers as if one was the student and the others were her advisors.
I think I did basically well, but did two things especially well. One is that I wanted to include a paragraph describing the student's options that I knew of, and I thought of one that the staff hadn't considered before. And one was saying that I didn't think it was my place to tell the student that they can ask their college to waive the requirement (some colleges really don't like to waive requirements); instead I would then include a paragraph recommending the talk to his or her departmental advisor for possible additional options. (That advisor would know whether it would be appropriate to request a waiver.) The folks at the table said they couldn't quite help wanting to tell the students about waivers, but admitted they would rather do it over the phone than via a written document.
Afterwards, they asked for the names of my supervisors in Business, Geosciences, and the Registrar's Office--they will contact those people in addition to the references I actually listed.
They hope to get back to me sometime next week, but admit that sometimes things take longer than you hope.
Blog Entry of the Day - Act Your Age - But Exercise like a Kid at 121 Seconds - The author explains that exercise doesn't have to be boring just because you're a grown up. "At what point did you decide that jumping through a hoop on an inflatable bouncing snail was no longer necessary?"
At the end is an illustrative video of him spending 121 seconds doing an exercise he calls the "circle of death," namely, jumping through a hula hoop on an inflatable bouncing snail. He is not good at this exercise, but it is fun and quite challenging, and, let's face it, hilarious.
He has several videos illustrating additional sample exercises for those of us who have forgotten how to be creative. The most hilarious one, in my opinion (not that I've watched them all yet) is the Choose a Body Part - Core exercise called the Ab-Matic 121. "It's a fresh take on an old favorite. Rather than just doing traditional sit-ups, these must be timed carefully to avoid being hit in the head with partially filled drink bottles. To increase the level of difficulty, you can have your housemates hit you periodically in the abdominal region with randomly selected objects." Unfortunately, this one comes with a warning not to try it at home. "What you are about to see was performed by a trained professional. Unfortunately, his training and profession are in an unrelated field." Yes, he is wearing a helmet. And yes, his kids are gleefully pommelling him with "randomly selected objects."
So far, I have not followed in the author's footsteps. I just sit in front of my computer watching his exercises. This is wrong.
Now it's really down to two candidates. We're so different and they're having trouble deciding, so they called us in (separately) to see how we'd do one of the actual job duties. This is my favorite kind of interview activity because it seems so relevant.
I looked at two actual petitions, talked about whether they should be accepted or denied and why (and what questions I would ask various parties), and then, for the one that was denied, sent an e-mail to the interviewers as if one was the student and the others were her advisors.
I think I did basically well, but did two things especially well. One is that I wanted to include a paragraph describing the student's options that I knew of, and I thought of one that the staff hadn't considered before. And one was saying that I didn't think it was my place to tell the student that they can ask their college to waive the requirement (some colleges really don't like to waive requirements); instead I would then include a paragraph recommending the talk to his or her departmental advisor for possible additional options. (That advisor would know whether it would be appropriate to request a waiver.) The folks at the table said they couldn't quite help wanting to tell the students about waivers, but admitted they would rather do it over the phone than via a written document.
Afterwards, they asked for the names of my supervisors in Business, Geosciences, and the Registrar's Office--they will contact those people in addition to the references I actually listed.
They hope to get back to me sometime next week, but admit that sometimes things take longer than you hope.
Blog Entry of the Day - Act Your Age - But Exercise like a Kid at 121 Seconds - The author explains that exercise doesn't have to be boring just because you're a grown up. "At what point did you decide that jumping through a hoop on an inflatable bouncing snail was no longer necessary?"
At the end is an illustrative video of him spending 121 seconds doing an exercise he calls the "circle of death," namely, jumping through a hula hoop on an inflatable bouncing snail. He is not good at this exercise, but it is fun and quite challenging, and, let's face it, hilarious.
He has several videos illustrating additional sample exercises for those of us who have forgotten how to be creative. The most hilarious one, in my opinion (not that I've watched them all yet) is the Choose a Body Part - Core exercise called the Ab-Matic 121. "It's a fresh take on an old favorite. Rather than just doing traditional sit-ups, these must be timed carefully to avoid being hit in the head with partially filled drink bottles. To increase the level of difficulty, you can have your housemates hit you periodically in the abdominal region with randomly selected objects." Unfortunately, this one comes with a warning not to try it at home. "What you are about to see was performed by a trained professional. Unfortunately, his training and profession are in an unrelated field." Yes, he is wearing a helmet. And yes, his kids are gleefully pommelling him with "randomly selected objects."
So far, I have not followed in the author's footsteps. I just sit in front of my computer watching his exercises. This is wrong.