How to Get That Elusive Academic Job Part 3: Ikebana Practice

1) Heaven
"Welcome to our restaurant madam. I'll be your server for this evening. In this restaurant, we make pancakes."

2) Earth
"We make them the usual way, with flour, eggs and so on. We heat them in a skillet and flip 'em."

3) Child
"Our special tonight is buckwheat pancakes with blueberry sauce."

Get it?

As members of the hiring committee we need to know:

1) what the big picture is in your work
2) how you did it (ethnography, close reading, exploring ideas x, y, z, history...)
3) ONE discovery/original conclusion

We need to know it in PARAGRAPH 1 or 2 of your job letter.

We need to hear it in the FIRST sentences out of your mouth at interview.

A publisher needs to hear it in the elevator.

YOU need to hear it. You need to know what you do. Surprisingly few of us do.