Friday, August 11, 2000

Should I Tell Them?

This month we'll deal with some situations in which applicants may wish to control the point during a job search at which potentially sensitive information becomes known to an employer.

You might hope to defer the time an employer learns about something in your professional history because you feel it may put you at a disadvantage.For example, one reader asked:

I was just denied tenure at my university and will be starting to search for a new position. My question concerns the cover letter -- how much detail do I go into about tenure denial or do I not mention it at all?

Mary: Thanks for starting us off with an easy question. If your C.V. notes, as it will almost have to, that you've held an assistant professor position at an institution for several years, that information, plus the fact that you're now job-hunting, will suggest to readers that a tenure denial may have prompted the search. In today's market, that can happen to the best of people. Don't waste space in your letter discussing anything but your strengths in relation to the position for which you're applying and what it is about it that you find attractive.

Julie: If you're invited for an interview, there are certain circumstances under which you might want to introduce information about the tenure situation. Let's say you were unanimously recommended by your school and department but were turned down at the provost's level, following the announcement that a state legislature was going to cut university funds by 10 percent. You might choose to communicate that information if it seemed relevant and appropriate at some point during the interview.

Mary: Rest assured that you are not alone on the job market. You can be sure that many full professors who now sit on search committees were themselves once denied tenure. In fact, as you undoubtedly know, there are institutions that rarely tenure their junior faculty members. In addition to questions on your research and your teaching, be prepared to answer questions about the tenure process you went through.You will probably get some.

A reader has a similar concern about her C.V., which may give a misleading impression:

Can you tell me what someone's chances are (especially someone who is now over 50) for getting another academic post if she has been given tenure but denied promotion to associate? Does this look awful on a C.V.?

Mary: Interestingly, on a C.V., this situation won't look much different from the one described above. Since generally promotion to associate professor and tenure are given at the same time, a vita that shows a continuing term of employment at assistant-professor rank may lead a search committee to imagine that the candidate is looking because she was denied tenure.

Conceivably in the cover letter you could say that, while you have tenure at your present position, the current opening appeals to you (for whatever reasons you care to provide). This might make sense if you're applying to an institution most people would consider less desirable than or equivalent to the one where you're now employed. It would be redundant if you're applying for a position that seems an obvious improvement on your current one.

Julie: If you're offered a position, an issue you may have to deal with is whether you're willing to give up tenure in exchange for what you consider a better position. Unless you're leaving a tenured position with the rank of associate professor, there's a good chance a new institution will offer you an untenured position, although probably with an earlier review than if you were a brand new assistant professor.

In the above examples, candidates were concerned about revealing information they felt might be negative. Sometimes candidates search for a tactful way to present information that they believe may be helpful:

I read "minorities encouraged to apply" in a lot of job advertisements that I see. But I am not so sure if the advertisers mean it. I'm an African-American with a Ph.D. [in a science field] looking for a job. So far, I have only hoped that they would know who I am from my name. I have not been comfortable saying "I'm a minority," for fear that it might be misinterpreted.

But I wonder if there are less obvious ways of letting them know that I am a minority. Would you advise being direct? Will that have any disadvantages?

Mary: This is a tough question, and I hesitate to give an absolute answer. In general, I think being a member of an underrepresented minority group is helpful in getting an interview, because most institutions are trying to improve their faculty diversity and often pressure departments to include minorities in their interviews.

On the other hand, a department is usually focused on getting a candidate of whatever background who can best meet its departmental needs, to say nothing of whatever degree of bias may come to the table with individuals in the department. So I think there's a chance that a C.V. or letter that directly says, "I'm a minority candidate," may help in getting an interview but hurt in getting a job. Interviewers may feel that person isn't presenting him or herself solely in terms of their professional merits.

Julie: People we've worked with have often dealt with this issue by including on their vita awards or memberships that are associated with their background. This obviously is an option only for people who have such awards or memberships. If you don't, as part of a cover letter or statement of teaching philosophy, you might include something about a desire to make science accessible to minority students. This makes sense only if it's true and you're applying to a college that has a significant number of minority students.

So you really have to look at your own background and interests to figure out a way to suggest that you might be African-American. Chances are good that you'll figure out a way to do this that you're comfortable with.

Mary: Does the candidate's professional society have a minority caucus? Many professional and scientific societies do. That might be a good source of advice from fellow scientists in your field.

Sometimes candidates would like to know how information is likely to be received before they decide what to reveal during a job search:

My career plans have always been undergraduate teaching in a liberal-arts setting. I'm almost done with my Ph.D. at a well-respected institution, I have teaching experience, and I'm about to embark upon a research postdoctoral fellowship at a totally different but also well-respected institution. I have a problem, though. Or rather, the world has a problem that affects me quite a lot. I'm a lesbian. I'm also, more importantly from my perspective anyway, a feminist.

I am getting my Ph.D. at an institution that likes lesbians on the books but isn't so nice to them in real life. It doesn't make any claims about feminists one way or the other, but I notice there aren't any nearby as far as I can tell. I get angry thinking about all of the places I cannot apply to, and how few colleges there are that actively want people like me (as opposed to institutions that tolerate us).

How can I find out which colleges really like feminists (and even lesbians!)? And should I even apply to places I suspect would not like me at all -- after all, the job market is pretty tough out there, so should I plan to have a closeted, frustrated feminist life in the future?

Julie: How can you find out if an institution is truly friendly to lesbian and gay faculty and staff members? Talk to colleagues at other institutions, stay current with news sources such as The Chronicle and look at university Web sites.

Does your scholarly association have a feminist group? A lesbian/gay/bisexual group? People there will be able to help you deepen your impressions of individual institutions and help you find more people to talk to.

Check on the campus Web site to see if there's a lesbian/gay/bisexual faculty and staff association. If board members are listed, note what departments they're from. You can even sometimes read the literature of conservative critics who will make lists of the most liberal or most feminist institutions.

Mary: It may make sense to characterize a four-year college as "feminist" or "anti-feminist." It's rarely possible to categorize entire universities. At most large institutions, departments have their own microclimates, and it's these that usually make faculty members happy or unhappy.

When the subject of research is people or culture, departments may more easily be characterized in ideological terms than in fields, such as science, where the subjects of inquiry are usually less social. If you're looking for indicators, however, a quick way to determine which institutions may adhere to feminist ideals is to see which ones havestrong feminist-research centers.

Julie: It may also be helpful to make a distinction between an environment that truly values the diversity of its faculty members and that treats individuals with respect and one in which everyone agrees about feminism or much of anything else. A climate in which people are treated respectfully and are free to vigorously disagree with and try to persuade each other is a healthy intellectual environment.

Mary: You also raise the issue of how open to be about being a lesbian. Candidates we've worked with have made different choices, but the most common path seems to involve making initial contact with a department around common professional interests and sharing information about yourself as you choose, once you have a better sense of the people you'll be dealing with. When you have a job offer is the time to dig deeply to learn as much as you can about whether a department or institution is a place where you feel you can openly be yourself.

Julie: Finally, remain positive about your abilities and skills and open-minded about institutions until you've had a chance to take a look at them firsthand. You'll expand your own range of options if you accept that most employers, being human, like to hire people they're comfortable with. One way of making people comfortable is to seem to be just like them. Fortunately, there are many other effective ways to achieve the same result.

Approach people as if you expect them to be fair and open-minded, and look for points of commonality as you talk to them. You truly never know. We've both had lots of experiences with people who've gone off for interviews at places they expected to be dreadful and ended up accepting jobs at those same places because they thought they'd have a great group of colleagues.

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