Cattle Call

In more than a year of sending in resumes and filling out online applications (on and off) I haven't had a single interview. Overall, it's been for the best. If I had been hired for a full-time position, I wouldn't have had the freedom to travel while my mom was sick, to be with her when she passed away, or to handle her estate. Between my writing job and my essay scoring job (and my other odds and ends), I make enough money to live. The problem is that I really need to be around people in a work environment. And I do miss teaching. Picking up a class or two would be good for me in many ways. Yesterday I got an email from a local college, where I had last applied in April, inviting me in for an interview, sort of, with two days' notice. Here's what it said:

You’re receiving this e-mail because you previously expressed interest in adjunct teaching opportunities at [name of institution, which I removed].  After reviewing your credentials we’ve determined you meet the qualifications to teach one or more disciplines here at the college, and we’d like to invite you to our Adjunct Recruitment Fair.  Please join us at the Advanced Technology Center in Room 140 between 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14^th.  The address is _______ (see attached map).  We recommend you park in lots 9 or 10 (accessed via Broad Street).  Please remember to bring copies of your resume.

It isn't that I'm ungrateful to be invited in, but I have to wonder why it isn't an actual interview. Obviously I'm qualified to teach there. I taught at this particular school for two years as an adjunct and was offered a full-time position there, which I turned down in the hopes that I would get on full-time at the university (where I had also adjuncted for two years); I did. So here I am twelve or thirteen years later, reapplying for the same position I couldn't wait to get out of then. But my circumstances have changed, and the position I thought would be better wasn't. Or rather, it was for awhile, and then it wasn't. This interview really does have a cattle call feel to it, an inspection of whether I (and however many other people were invited in) are presentable enough to put in a classroom. It's a little demeaning, but I'm going to play along. I hope I make the grade.