Open uni interview- I’m appointable now what?

[Rick22]

hi
I had my associate lecturer interview at OU, I passed and now I’m appointable they said. What happens now? Do I have to wait for students to enroll? Seems a bit weird no? Any help would be welcomed haha

It’s likely to mean that you’re now on their list as suitable for BL (visiting lecturer) employment as and when they need it.

Unless you were interviewed for a specific post?

So I applied for an Associate lecturer post, passed the interview. Now they are saying we have to wait to see if there are any students enrolled in the course to see if they need me? Lol I can’t count on this as a source of income it seems. Very weird way of doing things

Do you have any experience of academic work as a doctoral student? What’s your experience of doing research ? That will give you an idea about how these posts work.

and speaking of research, there’s another thread in this very section of MN giving a lot of detail about the hourly-paid posts in the OU.

I've been at the OU for a while - the system is quite different to other unis. As appointable - you are on the list to take a group of students for that course. Depending on final student numbers you may or may not actually be appointed. There is no kind of visiting lecturer or equivalent - but it's not uncommon to be offered a one-year contract rather than permanent. I have been appointable for some courses that I was never actually offered in the end. The decision process for appointments is labyrinthine and not at all transparent!

PS - Associate lecturer posts at the OU are not hourly paid - they are salaried like other unis. There are other bits and bobs that come up separately, e.g. summer exam marking.

Thanks for clarifying that @Acinonyx2 OU is different, but the concept of not being employed if there aren't enough students is fairly widespread!

At my place, they made a rather clumsy attempt to shift all VLs onto annualised contracts, but it tanked somewhat, and didn't quite achieve what they wanted it to achieve. Unintended consequences & every good deed being punished ...

The OU is actually in the process of moving to new FT contracts which are more secure and like 'normal jobs'. Process has been, er, not smooth though so salary details can get confusing.

Ok good enough, I have another interview with them next week for another module. Let’s see how that goes, Would be pretty sad if I pass both interviews and still get no job 😂

Hi all, sorry I know this thread is like 2 years old but I’m appointable with the OU for a practice tutor role. They said they’re waiting for students to enrol and will keep me on file for 12 months, but in the interview they said intakes are June/july/october and I said I could start in June. When do they let you know? Thanks :)

I've worked as an AL at the OU for several years. I think I was made appointable in March (but it was several years ago so I'm not sure) and didn't hear I had a tutor group until the September for an October start. For me it was all a bit of a mad rush getting used to the system and processes before the students. So in my experience you certainly could still hear you're needed for the June intake.

Hey! Thank you! :) I interviewed last Wednesday and found out today, so fingers crossed as I’m quite excited after the interview haha! It’s for nursing as a practice tutor so hopefully they’ll have a group for me. They did ask how many groups I would like and when I could start so fingers crossed for June! Thank you :)