DrM_14

Dr. Kelsky,

Thank you for your reply and advice. You may absolutely use it for a Chronicle Vitae column. I look forward to reading it.

Dr. Kelsky,

Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions. I am an avid fan of your blog and I am almost done with your book, which is just great.

My question is what can a candidate do to overcome the concerns of hiring committees over whether a candidate will stay in a position once they are hired in that position? I am from a large city in the Northeast, and I received two on campus interviews from small, teaching-centered public institutions in the Midwest and West. Both jobs went to candidates who were from the areas where the schools were located--they received their PhDs from a university in the area and/or adjuncted at a school in the region. One of the committee members for the west coast job even expressed to me that the other members of the committee were wary of hiring someone from the Northeast since the last person they hired from the area returned after a few years, forcing them to do another search. As a response, I tried to convey my interest in relocating form the Northeast, as the job and area were both desirable, and that my family and I want to leave the Northeast for a more inexpensive area (which is very true), but apparently this was not a sufficient answer.

Beyond expressing knowledge of and enthusiasm for the college/university and the community where it is located (which I did throughout the interviews), is there anything more one can do to overcome these issues? While there certainly might have been other reasons why I did not get the jobs, I returned from campus from both times feeling that this was an issue--in my opinion, and in the opinion of others on the committees, my job talks and teaching talks went well. Thank you for your time.