[CAUT] CAUT Endorsement (was Re: Job Opening, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Barbara,
	Your history is a good example of what is really effective: the tech  
on the spot lobbying, communicating, making changes. That is really  
our front line of attack, and having this forum makes it happen much  
more and better, as we learn from one another's experiences.
	About qualifications for hiring, I think that academia would love to  
have something concrete to help them. Yes, looking for and trying to  
hire the local with a good reputation is one avenue. Finding someone  
you want to hire and writing the job description around that person's  
qualifications and history is another common one. But that assumes  
you can actually find such a person (and that person is willing to  
apply for the job or contract). And what does that local reputation  
really mean? I have seen a lot of cases where a fast and smooth  
talker got a big reputation quickly, and was entrusted with work he  
or she wasn't qualified to do.
	Bottom line, nothing we do is the silver bullet. Each step is (we  
hope) a step in the right direction, with various uses and  
potentially positive effects. This particular project can be used to  
promote PTG (and RPT) and raise awareness of piano maintenance  
issues, by administrators as a tool to find qualified techs, by  
current techs to try to upgrade their jobs and pay, by all of us to  
raise and measure our skill levels relatively objectively . . .
	Is it worth the trouble? I guess time will tell. Airing the concepts  
involved will be a healthy thing for us to do. Doing it in a very  
concrete way, coming up with concrete tests, makes it much more real,  
and makes the conversation much more meaningful, instead of the  
random bull session that we usually engage in. I guess if I were a  
betting person, I would probably put the odds somewhere below 50% for  
this to come to fruition - I'm a skeptic and a realist, along with  
being an idealistic crazy person who apparently doesn't have enough  
to do <G>.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Oct 12, 2007, at 8:05 AM, Barbara Richmond wrote:

> Well, if you need something to keep you busy.
>
> Some of you old-timers may remember when I was on staff at Illinois  
> Wesleyan.  When I started there I had been a tech for 8 years and  
> was one of those "home" tuners.  Yet, I got the call and was told,  
> "I hear you're the only game in town."  I started out on a  
> contract.  When I handed the director of music and piano faculty  
> the Guidelines, the director's response was that it was a self- 
> serving piece of propaganda. He wanted to know what other similar  
> schools were doing.  Well, that wasn't going to work, was it? To  
> sell IWU's school of music on a full time position (90  
> instruments)  I had to write reports using "IWU's" numbers and  
> data, explaining what in meant in terms for "IWU."  After 5 years  
> and umpteen reports later, the position was made full time and the  
> rebuilding and piano purchasing plans were approved.  I was there  
> one semester with full benefits and then my husband accepted that  
> job in Texas....
>
> Anyway, the point is, they didn't give a you know what about my  
> qualifications (RPT, assistant to God, whatever).  What counted was  
> the work I did and that I could explain in terms that they would  
> understand how they would benefit from the proposals I made.
>
> If it were up to me, which it is not, I'd concentrate on upgrading  
> skills and finding ways for individual techs to communicate  with  
> their faculty and administration (including making reports &  
> proposals specific to one's institution).
>
> BTW, I know the story behind a former job ad from a major  
> institution.  A faculty member, or some faculty members wanted a  
> certain technician, but according to law, they had to advertise.   
> So, they wrote the qualifications to match that certain technician-- 
> RPT, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music.  It turned out that the  
> "wanted" technician found something else he wanted more, the  
> surprise was there was another tech out there interested in the job  
> that had those qualifications.  What I do know,  is that when a  
> professor from that major institution came to visit at IWU, he told  
> one of my faculty that he wished they had pianos like ours at his  
> school....  I was sort of surprised because I was wrestling with  
> mid 70's S&Ss.  It's crazy out there...
>
> Man, I've got to get to work.
>
> Barbara Richmond, RPT
> near Peoria, Illinois

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