Make It a Hurricane, Before I Go Insane

I have to say, I'm sort of amused by how so many candidates--including me--freak out about what we're going to wear to interviews we hope we have. It's not just commentors here. It's people in this thread at the Chronicle, and way back in this old forum too.

This must be one of those things civilians find bizarre about the academic job market. By the time we're interviewing for jobs, we don't even know how to dress ourselves. And then, instead of just figuring it out like sane human beings, we go bat-shit crazy.

But the bat-shitiness doesn't just come out of nowhere. I can feel myself seizing on the clothes issue because it's one of the only god-damned things I can control about this process. Everything I've worked towards for years, everything I want for my professional life--everything--comes down to a process that seems as indifferent to my efforts as the tide to a king's order that it not rise. So I freak out about what font to use on my CV and what to wear for interviews.

That, and I start prepping for interviews like a motherfucker.