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I attended the 2008 Summer Educators’ Conference in San Diego in August, and I’d love to rave about the conference itself.  However, my school is recruiting again this year, and I spent most of my time in the hotel suite, as did most job candidates. But I did participate in two very interesting sessions as a presenter. For one of those sessions, a DOCSIG session on preparing for the job market, I provided the interviewer’s perspective on the AMA experience. As my remarks generated both in-person and email follow-up questions, I thought it might be interesting to reproduce some of them here for those who could not be there.

In the session “To Market, to Market” the audience learned about data from the most recent hiring season, as well as trends over the last few years. The biggest take-away from that session was that there is no “normal”. Salaries, as well as teaching and research requirements, vary considerably, and the differences are quite stark between schools. Advice provided during this part of the session was invaluable for students coming into the market, as the rumor mill churns quickly. There is a wide variety of jobs out there, but you must figure out what works for you. Attendees also heard from recently hired faculty, who offered great advice about landing and transitioning into that first job.

During my presentation, I talked about “AMA Interviewing Dos and Don’ts”, based on my last few years recruiting at AMA and through campus visits. Here is a summary of some of my tips for doctoral students, from the interviewer’s perspective:

1. When you first enter the suite or room, try and generate some enthusiasm and interest immediately, no matter how tired you are. Stifle the yawns, and try not to communicate your boredom in participating in yet another interview. We are really tired too, so we look to you to wake us up and surprise us with your interesting insights.
2. I expect you to be enthusiastic, and really jazzed about the research you are doing. But guess what? You can’t maintain that level of enthusiasm after 10 straight interviews. Pace yourself, seriously consider saying no to some schools when they call you for interviews, and make sure you schedule rest, food, and bathroom breaks.
3. While it should go without saying, during the interview, don’t lie about anything, ever. That includes embellishments, hedging, or fudging the truth. We academics are a pretty small group – if you tell me you are also interviewing at school X, there is a good chance I may know someone there, and we may have a conversation about the candidates we’ve interviewed.
4. Know us, but not too well. Don’t suck up to the faculty. It’s great if you know something about us, and if we have something in common, personal or professional, that’s a good thing to mention. But you can go overboard. (For example, I have heard: “I’ve always thought of us as kindred souls, as our research is so complementary” stated to an interviewer the candidate had just met). On the flipside, know at least something about the people interviewing you, and the school they are from. Here are some real-life comments and questions I have heard, disguised to protect the guilty: “Oh, you have an undergraduate program?” (Asked with surprise, although this information is featured prominently in all the school’s literature and the website). “Oh, have you published something in JCR?” (asked of a senior scholar with at least five JCR articles published) “So, how much do you typically pay an assistant professor?” (NEVER ask this at AMA: it is way too early in the process, and the answer is either confidential, and/or negotiable).

There are many other opinions on job strategies: make sure you ask for advice from the people you trust the most, and know yourself well enough to know what you want. There were many more interesting sessions at AMA offered for faculty development. If you weren’t able to attend, you can always follow up directly with session organizers and presenters. Although a huge part of summer AMA is recruiting, the content offered this year was really quite stellar.

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