post mortem

The annual meeting of my professional organization is over, and I can now happily report that I survived my interviews in one piece. Although it was probably the most stressful weekend of my graduate career, I feel relatively at peace about the whole experience. I made a lot of mistakes, but I also learned a great deal – about myself as a scholar and teacher, and about the field and career more generally.

Some things not to like about interviewing:

• walking into a room full of strangers whose identity and disposition were previously not established
• probing, openly doubtful questions about the value of the research you've spent years on
• strange or incomprehensible questions that may or may not sink your chances at getting a job
• waiting outside hotel rooms and bumping into the same candidates over and over again because you're all competing for the same jobs

Some things to like about interviewing:

• it's a great opportunity to inflict your ideas on unsuspecting scholars from all over the country
• a narcissist's dream: talking about oneself ALL DAY LONG
• the chance to see what different kinds of academics value about their colleagues and institutions – is the most important thing the freedom to grow into whatever kind of scholar you want? or to be surrounded by the smartest colleagues? or to have the brightest students? or to live in the most desirable (however you define it) location?

Everyone has been asking me, "How did it go?" But it's nearly impossible for the candidate to know. The friendly and kind committees will smile and nod, no matter how stupid your answer is; the challenging and pushy committees will frown and ask a follow-up question, no matter how brilliant your answer is. I experienced occasional brain-freeze, but usually had some sort of answer for the questions that came up. I still don't know whether those answers went over well, or not. But at least I enjoyed some memorable moments: the interview in which an older committee member asked one inscrutable question, and then promptly fell asleep on the table; the interview when I was asked about my methodology of early Aegean archaeology, and gave some answer in which I mumbled "Linear B" three times; the interview in which I was asked whether the approximately four Asians in the field had a secret "cool club," etc. etc.