Well, I can see how *I* rate. . .
Received in the mail today three thanks-for-your-application-we'll-get-to-it-shortly letters.
The first one, addressed to "applicant," asked me to return the standard affirmative action form. . . but did not include an envelope.
The second one, which did succeed in identifying me by name, also asked me to return their affirmative action form. But. . . they didn't include the form itself.
The third letter successfully enclosed
both an affirmative action form
and a postage-paid envelope. . . but thanked me for applying for a position in [field wildly and impossibly unlike my own]. (This is especially galling since I applied to this department last year, for the same position, and got more than one request for follow-up materials. . . from the same person who signed this letter.)
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commented at 12:48 AM~
Remember that at this stage, despite the signature, the person dealing with the application is a secretary. Possibly a student assistant. While there is plenty of humiliation in the job process, these incidents, thank god, are not among them.
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Professor B commented at 9:39 AM~
At least you are getting a response - when I submitted my materials two years ago, I probably sent out 20 or so packets, and I think over half of them never even acknowledged my info. Having been on the other side of a faculty search, I can tell you they are often extremely poorly run, with secretaries doing alot of the leg work. Don't let this get to you.
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Dr. Virago commented at 1:29 PM~
I second and third the previous two comments.
And on the topic of pseudonymity, I know what you mean. I just discovered a hit on my blog that *had* to be a scholar working in an area similar to mine and who organized the conference panel I'm going to be on in May. I know it's her because she Googled an obscure medieval poem that I stupidly mentioned (in reference to my conference abstract!) in a post about a month ago, and she lives in a town where she'd be the only person alive who'd even *know* that poem. I felt like sending her an e-mail saying "whoops, guess you discovered my blog! don't out me!" because I know she's cool and won't out me, but then I got paranoid. What if by some strange coincidence it's not her (maybe her student)? What if she's not as cool as I think? What if my knowing it was her freaks *her* out (especially if she doesn't know what Site Meter is).
Oops, sorry to hijack your comments. Just wanted to say I empathize. We're probably not being totally paranoid, either. But really, have you said anything on your blog that you wouldn't say in real life? Not everyone in the world is an Ivan Tribble (and would you want to work with that type anyway?).
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Dr. Virago commented at 1:31 PM~
Oh for god's sake. I just realized I commented on two posts-in-one, and mostly on the *wrong* one. OK, that's when I know I need to get off the computer and get back to work!
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La Lecturess commented at 10:41 PM~
No worries, TF. That's a terrifying story! (Note to self not to include the awesome quotation I came across in a lit crit work & was thinking about including in a post this weekend...)
I've been found so far by TWO people who have googled "Sommer is y-comen in," which was the title of one of my very earliest posts (and which, needless to say, had more to do with the change in seasons than with anything I work on). I've also been found by some dude in Italy who googled the phrase, "giving the smack down." Hope he found what he was looking for!
