Over the years, I've told colleagues and friends about things I have seen or experienced. Many times, people have said that I should write them down so that they won't be lost and forgotten, since some of them might be useful parts of our history. I've been writing them down, without being sure what I would do with them. I decided to gradually post them on this website, and see what reactions I get. I suggest reading from the bottom up (starting with the August 2017 post "The Meritocracy"). Thoughtful and kind feedback would be useful for me, and would help me to revise the exposition to make it as useful as possible. I hope that while you read my stories you will ask yourself "What can I learn from this?" I'm particularly interested in knowing what you see as the point of the story, or what you take away from it. Please send feedback to asilverb@gmail.com. Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully reflect on them!

I often run the stories past the people I mention, even when they are anonymized, to get their feedback and give them a chance to correct the record or ask for changes. When they tell me they're happy to be named, I sometimes do so. When I give letters as pseudonyms, there is no correlation between those letters and the names of the real people.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

"HIRE ME!"


I think I could write a book about job interviews. I think many women in academia could. Here's a story about a job interview I went on in 2004. 

It was at a university where I knew the Dean. He encouraged me to apply for the position.

The schedule included a 50 minute interview with the Hiring Committee. Contrary to the picture above, I was seated at one of the short ends, with the committee lined up on both sides of the long skinny table. I'm guessing the Chair was at the far end, facing me. I felt as if I were looking down a long tunnel; the phrase "running the gauntlet" came to mind.

I'm sure there were other questions, but I remember only one. They said they wanted to hire a woman, and asked me how to go about doing that.

It's possible I've been asked similar questions informally at interviews, by friends in one-on-one conversations. But this was a formal part of the interview, at which I'd be graded on my answer. What was the right answer?

At the time, it seemed to me that the obvious response was to jump up and down and shout "HIRE ME! HIRE ME!"

"HIRE ME!" Dare I say it?

But why hadn't they thought of that?

I decided I needed to think a bit more, so I stalled for time. 

I asked them what they'd been doing so far. They had made offers to women and (mostly) men, but the women had turned down their offers to go to better places.

Since I've often been asked the question (though not usually for a grade), I had a ready answer, which I gave them: "Put together a diverse hiring committee. Advertise widely, with an ad that gives the criteria you're really looking for. Interview the people whose files best satisfy those criteria. To the extent that you can, make offers that are attractive enough that they're accepted. Go down your list until the positions are filled or you run out of acceptable candidates."

(In other words, do what you should be doing anyway.)

They weren't at all happy with my response. 

After further discussion, I got the sense that they wanted me to tell them "You've been doing great! There's nothing else you should be doing!" I hadn't. They chose to view my reply as criticism, and they weren't pleased.

The rejection email from the department Chair began: 

Dr. Silverberg:
The Hiring Committee has met and made its decision. It is not good for you. We will not be making an offer to you.

I gave it a 5 or 6 week cooling off period, then emailed the Dean:

Dear T,

Although I haven't been asked for feedback on my job interview, I thought it might be useful to give feedback on one aspect.

Much of my interview with the hiring committee consisted of discussing the question of how to hire more women. In retrospect, my feelings about having been asked that question, and then been rejected for the position, are negative. By the way, I gave standard, well-known answers to that question, but was left with the impression that some of the committee reacted to my response defensively and negatively.

I hope that this feedback is helpful for your future job searches.

Best regards,
Alice

The Dean never replied.

If I had it to do over again, knowing that I would be rejected (for whatever reason), it would have been more fun to have jumped up and down and shouted "HIRE ME! HIRE ME!"