percytruffle Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Please pray for me. I am nervous and had nightmares last night over this silly interview. I applied for the art teacher position at a local Christian school. Ds, the only one still at home, will be a senior next year and will take community college classes mostly, so the timing of this opening is great and I think I really, really want this job. I'm almost afraid to say that out loud! Yikes, I am just a little stressed though. I didn't expect to be this nervous. I would appreciate some good thoughts and prayers flung my way this AM! Thanks all and I'll let you know how it goes, Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenKitty Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 I hope it all goes well for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Readsalot Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 It sounds like the timing is perfect. I will say a prayer for your confidence and success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ria Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 I'll be praying! You'll do fine, don't worry!! Ria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria from IN Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 :DFlinging those good thoughts your way! I know it's easy to say "stay calm" so I won't. Just remind yourself how much you love art, and convey that in your interview, and the rest will follow. Good luck! Maria;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volty Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 My buddy is as an art professor in Mississippi (and felt the full brunt of Hurricane Katrina). His story... *************************** We are quite a bit alike- even in the minutiae. Those years make a difference. I was just a few months short of 30 when I got my MFA. My goal was tenure track teaching job 5 years after graduation. Much of what I did was dedicated to that task. It took a the full five years and an obscene amount of rejection letters. Fortunately, I had some wonderfully honest professors lay it all out for me. They told me it would take at least 5 years, especially being a white guy. Most schools are filled with white guy professors. When they actually retire, the department often tries to build diversity by not hiring yet another white guy to take his place. So I was theoretically prepared to get rejected about 125-150 times. In reality, any non phone interview rejection in year five from what I considered a crappy school was somewhere between a fleck in the eye and a thumb in the eye. I will share with you the best two pieces of advice I ever got: In undergrad- from my painting professor, if I realistically had any shot: "You will get a job, if you can stick with it long enough and are willing to move. If you are not willing to move, it will be tough. Look at Anthony. (Anthony got his BFA from Carnegie Melon when he was 19 and his MFA from yale when he was 22. At that point he was in his young thirties and could only get adjunct work because he wasn't going to move from the Boston area, where his wife was a doctor.) However, if you can keep at it, weather the rejections, and learn from them- you will get a job. Don't take the path if you aren't ready for a long trip." More recently from the chair at the Mississippi college: "Now son, make sure when you go up there, they see your sense of humor. You are a funny man. But you didn't show a speck of that in your interview. I hired you because I believed in your references. Still, I would I have hired you faster if I had seen that sense of humor. Once you get to the interview, you know the person can do the job. It is simply a matter of fit and 'Do I want to work with this person'. It is no fun to work in a university art department, where stupid things happen all the time, with someone that can't laugh." This was huge for me. I was always a little self conscious about my age and lack of experience that I always tried to be (too) serious in the interviews. I thought I was showing them that I would be hard working and professional. What I was really showing them was that I would be a dreadful bore of a colleague. Remember, if they are interviewng you- they like what they see on paper. Now you act like yourself, and trust that they will like the person. Make them laugh, because they are surrounded with enough "academic asshats" already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Lisa your going to do great! Good Luck!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted February 26, 2008 Author Share Posted February 26, 2008 Could you tell how stressed I was earlier? I misspelled "morning" in the title to the post! Egads. Anyway, thanks all for your kind thoughts and prayers. The interview went very well and I expect to receive an offer for the job. I was interviewed by three board members, the principal, and the current art teacher. Then, the art teacher gave me a tour of her room and we chatted for a while. They alluded to the fact that I would most likely be employed there this fall, but they need to formalize the offer!! We've even talked salary and benefits already. *Happy dancing around the living room* You all are amazing, I could really feel a sense of peace and calm come over me after I posted. Whatever you did, it worked. Blessings, Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Doing a happy dance with you! I hope you get it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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