Interviews

Just taken a few days off since the show-round and interview process for the job of Anglican Chaplain at Sunderland University took the best part of two days once travelling was included. Basically it may be a while before we know since they are not going to make a decision until they have seen the references and they hadn't yet asked for those so I reckon it could be about a week to turn that round. It is a difficult way of doing it that they have chosen in terms of keeping candidates on tenterhooks for ages about their interview. I think I shall feed that back to them afterwards regardless of the result. Certainly, in processes I have managed, we have taken up references for all shortlisted candidates at the same time as we have asked them to interview which means that the post-interview discussion can include references. We need to make sure that such processes are humane for the candidates. I wonder whether there was a clerical error or whether, perhaps, they decided to change their approach half-way through? I hope that it wasn't that they didn't think about the pastoral effects for candidates having to be 'on alert' for ages. I hope too that it may be that they are also going to give proper feedback for candidates too.

It's a very interesting set-up they have there and I would be very interested to be part of both the university set-up and the Minister team. Not sure How well I did at interview: the questions I was asked were very good many times though one or two of them a little obscure, and, of course the difficulty with all questions about roles and jobs is [speaking as someone who has done quite a bit of interviewing and seen myself and colleagues asking less-than optimal questions] that they can be very vague and waffly: I kept wanting them to ask more specific questions than "How would you handle administration?". Better was "What approach would you take to the first few months ....?"

There was one question which I realised afterwards was for me so obvious that I missed its significance. It was about the fact that the university serves a traditionally working class area and what difference did I think that made. Since I have spent most of my ministry in working-class areas I had missed that they were really punting this question to people who were applying to a university chaplaincy post with middle-calss presuppositions about academia etc. So I wish I'd just said that I have spent most of my ministry dealing with working class communities and that I believe that WC people are just as capable of thinking and achieving but that the way that things are set up makes it harder for them to access, I've been involved in a university where 'widening participation' and also as a tutor to less traditional students: I know about this. I think my answer probably touched some of the main bases but in a waffly way; shame.

Coincidently, getting off the bus in Durham, I met the Industrial Chaplain who would be a colleague of whoever is appointed. He made it clear that he thought that on paper and in person I was the strongest candidate in a strong field of candidates. However, while his opinion has been solicited he is not part of the decision-making team. So that is encouraging, though to be honest, I have heard that a few times in the last nine months; 'second again' would be a hard emotional state to be in for a little while.