Sunday, November 16, 2008

A question with no right answer

Reading this post, especially the bit about the "gotcha" approach to a job candidate, reminded me of the worst. question. ever, asked by one of our faculty members in the question time at the end of a recent job talk.

"I was just wondering," the faculty member began, as the (young, clearly nervous) candidate smiled tentatively, "whether the reason you cited my book in the reference list on your handout was just because you found out that I'm on the selection committee?"

3 Comments:

ScienceGirl said...

Ouch. What did the candidate answer?

Unknown said...

off topic - didja see this? http://jezebel.com/5090780/i-can-has-dizzertation

StyleyGeek said...

She blushed and stammered and then explained how the book WAS relevant. She did quite a good job, but it was still a mean question.

Shrinky - that's awesome.