An interesting Rejection

At the big American Astronomical Society meeting they have a job center where employers post jobs and you can sign up for on-site interviews. This January I spent a good amount of time staking out the place. There was one job that I had seen posted online but did not apply for because they indicated that they wanted postdoc experience. But they were doing on-site interviews so I figured I might as well sign up. It was a strange interview because the guy was very heavy into research and didn't seem to care at all about my teaching experience. I also felt that I was intimidating him with my social skills (in that I have some). He even at one point said that I seem to be more into teaching than any other applicant, and he thought it was weird. As some background, this is a classic New England liberal arts school with 2,050 students and 8 grad students (their website really says that - I wonder how often they update that grad number). Their mission is undergraduate teaching with a focus on citizenship via community service and study abroad programs. So yeah, I would expect them to be focused on teaching (and service) over research! Needless to say I didn't hear from them and I wasn't too crushed about it. Just today I got a nice letter in the mail from them (a surprise actually, since I didn't officially apply). It says that they were unsuccessful in hiring anyone this year, so I am welcome to try again next year. What a horrible rejection! "We would rather take nobody than take you." The funny thing is that they also tried to hire last year and did two rounds of on-campus interviews unsuccessfully (thanks rumor mill). Apparently I am not the only one who is unimpressed by their faculty's philosophy. Better luck next year, guys!