Anatomy of an Interview: The Morning After

The interview proces was so exhausting, I had no energy left to post updates during the trip. Now that I'm back home and have had a decent night's sleep, here's the recap:

Day 1:
Meetings. So many meetings. I think I had individual meetings with 13 different faculty members. I'm pretty sure by the time I reached dinner I was no longer witty or charming, and perhaps no longer completely coherent, because I was just so damn tired. Upon returning to the hotel I intended to do a run-through of my talk, but I was so exhausted that I barely mustered up the energy to put on my pj's before falling into bed.

Day 2:
More meetings, although far fewer (only 8!) and broken up by my job talk and a tour of the new building that will house the new faculty. A little backwards, as my meetings probably would have been easier had my job talk already happened. But I will say that I didn't really have the chance to get nervous before my talk because I was so busy with meetings. The nerves hit a little when I noticed the camera in the corner of the room filming my every move. There's something about knowing that your talk will be recorded that ups the anxiety.

Miscellaneous notes:
Because I was fortunate enough to drive to my interview instead of fly, I was able to pack a ton of stuff so that I could be prepared for any situation (the weather has been changing pretty rapidly here lately). I packed granola bars in case I needed a snack, and had a pair of flats in my laptop bag in case my heels got to uncomfortable as the day wore on. But there were things I didn't think to bring that I will now know to take in the event that I get other interviews in the future. 1) A nail file. Maybe I was extra clumsy due to the sleep deprivation, but somehow I managed to break three nails during my trip, which is usually a rare occurrence for me. 2) Throat lozenges!!! Basically it was two days of non-stop talking. My throat is now so sore and by day 2 (when I had to give my talk) my throat was already feeling pretty croaky. Next time I'm taking a jumbo-sized bag of lozenges with me to save my voice.

So, is interviewing for a faculty position stressful? Hell yes. But at least I think I managed to not make an ass of myself and impress a few people, so it could have been much worse.