One of the duties of a full time member of staff that is completely new to me is being present at an open day! Of course you can’t work at a university without seeing the groups of A level students being herded round by student representatives, parents hovering in corridors trying to find out about the prospects for their offspring should he or she choose your university, when really, all the teenager is interested in is how many bars are walkable from the dorm!
So, if like me, you hadn’t anticipated playing an active part in these show-and-tell occasions, here’s what I have been told to expect. Take heed, you may find yourself applying for a job with such hidden extras as part of your duties. (I am somewhat over-emphasizing this of course…it won’t be that bad, honest!)
More experienced members of the team are on board to showcase our department and university; in this new environment where students are customers they really have to ‘sell’ the place to students and their parents. Many departments have applications that far outweigh the number of places, but this is not the case for all. We are keen to attract the brightest and the best of course, but it’s also about ‘bums on seats’, if you’ll pardon the expression.
My job on the day will be to sit in my office, looking like a busy lecturer at work (I won’t have to try too hard…I will be busy: there’s never a minute when marking, student records, student counselling, course design, writing papers, planning research ventures, planning funding applications, helping colleagues, does not intrude). I wait while parents and their children tour the building looking for a friendly academic to interrogate. I’ll tell them about the courses I run, the teaching methods I use and the personal development units available to help their son or daughter get a job after uni. Apparently little Johnny or little Jane sit there in silence while their parents ask all the probing questions, aware that in a few short months it will be I who will act in loco parentis. I have a feeling it will be a bit like having 20 job interviews in one afternoon! Perhaps I will have stiff drink on Wednesday evening….wish me luck!
