Apply Within

After a quiet couple of years on the hiring front, our college is conducting no fewer than 15 searches for faculty and administrators this fall.  Right now we are just in the early stages, hoping that we will be awash in great applications.  Next we will face the challenge of asking the right questions and looking for the right indications in order to make the best hiring decisions.  It’s a challenging task, but in today’s economy I am glad to be on this side of the interviewing desk.

Occasionally I’ll come across a story of a corporate merger or restructuring where employees are required to re-interview for their own jobs.  When two companies fold into one, unlike Noah they typically don’t need two of each creature.  The prospect of having to compete again for the job you’ve already earned seems a bit like being told you have to take your chemistry final over again after you’ve passed the class.

For those of us in higher education, where we enjoy more job security than most people, this idea of re-interviewing sounds especially foreign. Perhaps the one exception, at least for faculty, is applying for tenure.  The department hired you with much celebration and affirmation, and then six years later you have to convince everyone all over again that they should keep you around.

A few years after I was hired as an assistant professor I served on a search committee to hire a new faculty member.  In just that short time the job market had become much more competitive, and we received applications from people who had much stronger resumes than I did.  I remember thinking how grateful I was that I didn’t have to compete with those people for my own job.  When my time came to apply for tenure I only had to compete against myself and my department’s expectations.

Of course, we all are evaluated regularly, but there is a difference between keeping a job and getting a job.  What if satisfactory or even excellent performance wasn’t enough to keep my job?  What if I literally had to compete for it, again, against others who were equally or even better qualified?

I probably would start with the job description.  When is the last time you looked at your own job description?  Is there anything there you might actually be surprised to find?  Would you find the job described there appealing?

What are the qualifications for the job?  Are we as qualified now for our positions as we used to be?  Are we now overqualified for our jobs?  Are we utilizing our abilities to our full potential?  Have the qualifications for our job actually changed since we were first hired?

I am sure most of us would find that we still are qualified for and well-suited to our positions.  But that is only part of a successful application.  I expect that for the college’s 15 searches we will have many applicants who are well qualified.  What generally sets candidates apart is their vision for the position, their enthusiasm, and their ambition.  Often when we hire for a new position or replace someone in an existing position we see it as an opportunity to shake things up or take a step forward.  If you were competing for your own job, what vision would you articulate to convince the search committee of the value you would bring?

We begin a new job with such enthusiasm and creativity, and a host of forces conspire to drive that energy out of us.  I am not suggesting that everyone reapply for their jobs, but I am intrigued by the mental and emotional exercise of imagining one was doing so.  More than a test to see if we could still land our jobs, this exercise could lead us to re-envision what we bring to those jobs and what we would like those jobs to be.

Try this: Write a one-page application letter for your own job.  If the job you have no longer seems to you like a job you would apply for, think about why that is and then talk to someone about it  — a colleague, a spouse, maybe your department head.  What might be possible to make this position a better fit for your abilities and desires?  If you’re generally satisfied with where you are at, imagine applying for the same position but at a different institution.  How would you sell those people on your qualifications?  Or imagine that there are a dozen really qualified people applying for your job – How would you differentiate yourself?  Above all, remind yourself just how much you have to offer and how much you have accomplished already.  Remember, the interview is just a formality.  The job’s already in the bag.