Scuttlebutt has it that among the recommended for Round Two interviewees is a gal with an art-history degree. If true, this means:
1) She’s being brutally strung along simply b/c she’s a minority who applied, but will be squeezed out in round two (because it would be blatantly illegal to hire her: art history is a completely separate field from history itself).
2) She’s being advanced over top of people who were legally qualified for the job simply b/c she’s a minority… aka this college district is “going Dallas,” and putting its applicants through an affirmative-action filter.*
Either way, if scuttlebutt is true, this would officially be suckage. Since none of the department hires were allowed to advance to full-time status this last year b/c the department’s lily-white and they wanted a new round of interviews (and I must be at pains to point out that this is legit, aka, “demonstrate to me that you’ve hired the best from your applicant pool and that your department isn’t pulling some hiring bullshit based on race”), either is credible.
Which means that in spite of having gotten glowing reviews last year, there’s a very good chance that I’m going to be back to putting out resumes. I’m good in a classroom, but don’t have the certs that a corporate trainer requires, so this would mean either admining, or else trying to put together a business plan and start a business. Unfortunately, the entire process is opaque, with nobody willing to say anything to anybody officially because of the legal liabilities involved — I could be just totally hunky-dory for another year, or I could be SOL in favor of an art-history instructor. And because that process is completly opaque, 10 days on after an interview I’m still completely and utterly clueless.
“38 and career-less” sucks bilge water through a cocktail straw.
3) Oh, yeah, and option #3. The rumor mill is full of shit, and she’s got a regular history degree, or else more than one master’s degree, one of which is in mainline history.
But being forced to depend on said rumor mill is No Fun(tm).
*While it’s technically illegal to discriminate on race in hiring, Dallas County’s humanities programs only hire via the Visiting Scholar Program, which is a diversity program explicitly dedicated to improving the percentage of non-white professors. It’s an open secret that straight white males need not apply for full-time positions in the District, and on some campuses this extends even to the adjunct positions. I’ve had a dept. head at Northlake, for instance, blatantly lie about the qualifications required to teach in order to keep me out of the department (this while I was already employed not only for DCCCD, but also for two other districts).
Happycrow's Eyeball Factory 
convivialdingo
/ June 1, 2009Damn… that blows.
happycrow
/ June 1, 2009Well, I’m employed through the summer already, which puts me well ahead of the curve on a lot of folks. And I might still get the gig. Found out late today that I’m in the batch moving forward.
And the problem is real: I’ve worked for BofA and seen them more-or-less run minorities out of the interview process, and then make fun of folks behind their backs for having an accent. If I’d had a camcorder back in ’04, I’d have wound up the EEOC story of the year. So the diversity angle is real… but if this gal DOES have the wrong degree, and she’s being sent forward on the grounds of “hey, this is the best minority applicant we got,” that’s not doing her a favor, either.
I blame the 15th amendment. If the bastards had written it without giant loopholes, my great-great-grand-ancestors could have hashed this problem out, without all the minefield of contradictions we’re having to walk through today.
happycrow
/ June 2, 2009HAPPILY… the rumor mill turns out, once again, to be full of it. So, awesome.
convivialdingo
/ June 2, 2009Glad to hear that!
JimDesu
/ June 2, 2009Texans making fun of people for having an accent; now that’s what you call irony… 🙂
Keeping fingers crossed.
happycrow
/ June 2, 2009They were investment bankers, JimDesu: what do you expect, character and integrity? UNOFFICIAL word is that I wowed them on the teaching sample, and basically my job now is “not to screw up.” 🙂
convivialdingo
/ June 2, 2009Haha, Too true.
Mike
/ June 2, 2009Good deal man. Good luck.
I can totally believe it about the accents. My wife is having issues with that right now at her job. Her immediate supervisor got moved in to “get seasoned” since she had no experience in this area. She was a bud of someone higher up the food chain who was watching out for her. She has been riding my wife on her communication ability, both written and verbal.
Funny part: what they are getting her on is that fact that her proper English (she was an English Major in college) doesn’t sound proper in Oklahoma. Same with some written stuff. So my wife has been getting written up by a couple of rednecks for not knowing redneck english. How is that for suck? I also think it has to do with them knowing that she is going to be leaving eventually due to me transferring and they don’t want her to vest anymore benefits.
happycrow
/ June 2, 2009Doesn’t surprise me at all. By comparison, these were overpriced frat-boy in badly-fitting khaki pants making fun of applicants who were from India (or Mexican, take your pick).
Mike
/ June 3, 2009Sounds like a dead ringer. That is one thing Tamara is liking about the army. The army family is one of the most open minded groups of people you can find when it comes to not caring where you are from. So many people who have lived in so many locations (all over the world) and have families that reflect that. A look at the comissary is enough to show it in just the food types you can get.
And then you come back to “open minded America” and deal with morons like my wife’s boss…