Time between invite and interview?

Time between invite and interview?

guestanon 07 Dec 2016 17:38

How much warning do schools typically provide between inviting candidates for the campus interview and actually conducting it? I'm new to this process and have had a couple of phone interviews. I want to carve out a good amount of time to make a job talk, and am trying to get a sense of whether I can wait until I get a campus invite (if I do), or if I should be starting now. I could always edit the talk later if I don't get invites this year, but I also have other things that I could spend my time on right now…

Thanks!

Re: Time between invite and interview?

DocJ 07 Dec 2016 20:30

The timing between a phone/Skype interview and something on campus varies, but in my experiences usually occurs within 1 to 3 weeks of one another. I've experienced situations with up to 6-ish weeks between the two, but suspect those were circumstances where the process was just slow or I was a "second tier" candidate over the top picks. With the winter break period, there is a chance any recent phone interviews will lead to very rapid on-campus interviews, as in sometime next week or around the 19th. I'd recommend getting your talk together now. It's one of the most important things in your academic career.

Re: Time between invite and interview?

guestanon 08 Dec 2016 15:03

Thank you for your response! I'll definitely get started.

Re: Time between invite and interview?

juniorfaculty 10 Dec 2016 03:18

Candidates should probably go into the application process with a version of a job talk ready (or at least a really good dissertation presentation that won't take too long to edit/fix for a job talk.) When you get your first phone interview, definitely prepare a talk (but perhaps without school-specific details or anything you couldn't use in a future year just yet).

I would definitely prepare a talk in your case. There is a very low chance you'll have a super fast request for an interview because at most schools classes are finishing this week or next week at the latest. Typically campus interviews aren't during finals because they want you to meet some students. So you probably have some time. But putting the calendar month aside, often when you're notified for a campus interview, it happens a week or two later. There's not a lot of time. If you're applying to a place that prioritizes teaching (even just a bit), you will likely need to do a teaching demo. THIS is what you want to prepare after the invite (not before because the guidelines are so variable). You don't want to be working on your research talk much between invite and interview.

Re: Time between invite and interview?

teaching_prof 13 Dec 2016 06:20

if the search starts earlier in the fall, I'd say 1.5 weeks would be the shortest turnaround time from phone interview to on-campus interview. our committees are encouraged to be thoughtful of airfare booking (7 day advanced booking) due to budgetary concerns. if we have "local" candidates, we try to bring those out first to allow for more days between phone and on-campus interviews.

my committee is finishing phone interviews this week. we plan to bring finalists out during the 3rd week of January once our semester starts and candidates can interact with students (teaching focused).