Well, here at VSU we're beginning a hunt for a Provost/VPAA. I'm sure
the headhunters and VSU search committee will vet all the applicants. I'm sure
the finalists will have outstanding resumes. But, resumes go only so far as I
discovered when VSU was hunting for a new President way back 2012 and the
finalists for the position had meetings with a group of interested faculty.
What I learned was that if you want to get a good sense of how people feel and
think, if you want to get insights into who they are, ask them to tell you
stories, personal stories. Why? Well, stories put flesh on the bones of fact.
They live in the most intense and sacred places and moments. They're the
primary text upon which everything else is commentary. They're containers for
meaning. They're canvases on which is painted inner landscapes. They offer
insights to the way a person sees the world. They reveal a person's social,
personal, and professional identity. They are poetic truth of personality that
go beyond Joe Friday's bland, "Just the facts, ma'am." These are some of the
"tell me about" stories I would ask of any applicant for any position to recite:
• Tell me about which of all the positions you've held was your
favorite. Why?
• Tell me about which of all that you've done in your life you feel is
the most important. Why?
• Tell me about what do you enjoy the most. Why?
• Tell me about what do you enjoy the least. Why?
• Tell me about what do you do for fun, what feeds your soul. Why?
• Tell me about something you've done that was creative.
• Tell me about a problem with a student (colleague, faculty member,
etc) that you needed to solve. How did you solve it? Why did you solve it
that particular way?
• Tell me about a situation where you didn't have anyone telling you
what to do, but you had to go do it. What did you do? Why did you do it that
particular way?
• Tell me about something complicated and complex, something you know a
lot about, in plain and simple language, without jargon, using only clear and
crisp and complete terms, so I understand it.
• Tell me about who you are. Forget and make no reference to all your
personal roles such as father, friend, husband (wife), son (daughter), forget
and make no reference to all your professional roles, your past and present
titles, forget and make no reference to your degrees and all your positions,
forget and make no reference to what you have, forget and make no reference to
all that you have done. Just tell me about who you are.
• Tell me about the one sentence you want others to say about you at
your eulogy.
There are a bunch of other "tell me about" stories I could ask. And,
coming to think about it, we ought to use these "tell me about" stories, and
more, to interview ourselves.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta, Ga 31602
(C) 229-630-0821 /\ /\ /\ /\
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/ \ / \
/ \/ \_ \/ / \/
/\/ / \ /\ \
//\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/
\_/__\ \
/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" - / \_
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