I will repeat this crucial point in later posts in this series, but the worse thing you can do is make the inquirer believe you need to leave your institution because you did something wrong there or you are just a malcontent. The lateral process represents a pulling-and-pushing dynamic. You never want to be too far on either side - pulling away too much or pushing too hard to get in the door. So saying: "This is my dream job. I would leave my spouse for it," even if true, is something better to keep mentally in the upstairs compartment.

One's real or faux enthusiasm is sometimes hard to moderate, especially when most people who call you from the appointments committee will heap praise on your credentials and make it seem that you just successfully lateraled over the phone. Don't buy into it. This is a long process and the first contact is essentially a feeling out process where the interested school wants to express the genuineness of its interest, explain to you, preliminarily, why their school rocks, and also to make sure you have basic social skills and won't have to be stuffed in a closet once they hire you. On your side, you must act appropriately flattered by the professed interest, ask not too sensitive questions at the outset (like: so how are you going to solve that student diversity problem of yours?), and talk knowledgeably about the school without giving your hand away. In other words, basically act like a mensch.

During this first contact, some schools will ask to meet you at the AALS meat market in D.C. Some will invite you to do a phone interview or ask you to do a preliminary interview at their school, while others will cut right to the chase and ask you to do a fly-back/job-talk interview. Still others will just chat you up and may never be in touch with you again in this lifetime or send you a polite reason for why they rejected your candidacy when you inquire by email or phone on the progress of your candidacy (here's a hint: if they don't contact you again, it is not an oversight or mistake. Rarely does following up (too much pushing) lead to a good result). That being said, I have known some committees to wait months before getting back in touch with a candidate. In any event, if you haven't heard anything by March or April, chances are you're looking for nothing more than a podium-filler visitorship (which could be something you might be interested in).

In any event, the take home point for this post is to find a nice balance between pushing and pulling during this early stage of contact and for the love of everything that is sacred on this entropotic earth, DON"T ACT DESPERATE!!!!

PLEASE!!!