This interview season was a wild one. I’ve talked to so many different search committees that I can barely remember where any of the proposed positions might be. Honestly, I have applied to so many different places that I couldn’t tell you the first thing about any of the positions I applied for. My mentality throughout the entire process was to apply to any place where I felt my skill set had even a sliver of relevance.

This is both a blessing and a curse. I got to talk to so many different people during my excursions into various educational settings. I could gauge a place’s environmental culture in our brief time together. Some places felt like they could be real fun, and others felt more like prisons. Some committees were really informal, with a free-spirited feel throughout our conversation. Other committees were stodgy and rigid. I can only guess their preferred distance was professional. Then, there was the Guantanamo interview.

That was the interview that broke me. I came out of that ordeal shaking and sweating. I was not a pretty sight. I was exhausted after dealing with that committee I decided to go home and take a nap. I haven’t napped that hard since I was in kindergarten. Thankfully, that interview was during the midpoint of my collective job conversations with various committees. As much as I hated it, it did change the way I approached my upcoming interviews.

For better or worse, I quit caring. I don’t mean in a way that makes me flippant when answering committee questions. My responses to questions are a mix of Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption and Ron Livingston in Office Space. This is in stark contrast to the more rigid answers I used to give in my earlier interviews. Prior to the Guantanamo interrogation, I was a little more stiff. My personality would come through during our conversation, but I did keep my true nature guarded close to the chest.

Now I speak like I’ve been everywhere and done everything. All pretense is gone. I speak in a manner more befitting bad stand-up comedy or terrible blog writing. I am not entirely sure if this switch is doing me any favors, but I figured that if I speak earnestly with the committees interviewing me, they might appreciate someone a little more human than a robotic responder.  I am not sure if it is working, but I am certain that I am sticking around in their memory. It’s an old trick from public speaking classes. If you do something a little bit clever or creative, you are more likely to be memorable to an audience.

While that ninety-minute marathon was pretty rough. I am thankful for the battery of dry questions from dehydrated faculty that woke me up to be more lively in my job conversations. I hope they find the best saltine professor out there for that position. By the way, I hope all your hirings go well.