Godly Job Applications

Today I wrote a job application. There's a lectureship at UNSW, and I want it. I won't get it, I'm too young. Nevertheless, I think it would be worth their while employing me, and it would certainly be worth my while!, so we'll see.

Anyway, something I really struggle with for these things is knowing how to be godly. The whole point of the application is to sing your own praises, and to infer that anyone they talk to that you've ever come into contact with will do the same.

There are a couple of obvious ones:

Firstly, if you don't honestly believe others would sing your praises, you shouldn't infer otherwise.

Secondly, you shouldn't lie. That's a no-brainer.

Thirdly, you shouldn't promise to do anything you don't intend to do. I said I'd do this and that with students, and that I'd go to OH&S seminars when required, and so if I get the job, I must do those things. I said I would, and so I should.

But the really tricky bit is blowing your own trumpet. On the one hand it's not healthy to think about oneself for so long, nor in such a good light. And it won't do to write a basic overview of what you've done. For instance, with the physics I've done, it's not self evident why these things are significant, nor how many people care. I have to emphasise that this person cared, and this person published it, and these people referenced it. I have to be enthusiastic, and yet I shouldn't be insincere.

It's really tough right? Just thinking out loud...