How long after last candidate interviewed did you hear something?

Summary:

I know it varies on the school, but people who've done campus interviews, how soon after the last candidate interviewed did you get a call telling you what was going on?

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How long after last candidate interviewed did you hear something?

Anona (guest) 09 Feb 2011 16:09

Thanks! Would love to get a sense of the range…

Anony (guest) 10 Feb 2011 02:50

Two of my informal notifications of impending offers came in 13 and 14 days, respectively, after the last candidate interview. Both involved a departmental vote that took an extra week after the SC meeting.

If you want a ray of hope, I know someone on a SC now who is frustrated because the departmental vote had to be pushed back 2 weeks because of weather and scheduling conflicts. They won't be able to extend the informal offer notification to the top ranked candidate until 3 weeks after the last interview.

anon_1 (guest) 10 Feb 2011 20:33

I had a somewhat unusual situation:) I was contacted almost 7 months after my interview. They really tried to recruit their top choice with whom they negotiated for several months (!) after the interview. After their negotiations fell through, they went back to their other interviewees. My interview was in March and they contacted me in October. Hope nobody has to wait for that long:)

search committee member (guest) 09 Feb 2011 16:41

At our institution, we will typically call the first choice candidate 2-3 days after the last campus visit. The main sticking point is getting approval from the dean, but our dean recognizes the need to move quickly in academic hiring, so the turnaround is usually less than a day.

Anon (guest) 09 Feb 2011 17:18

Informally within a day; formally within a week.

Anon_clinical (guest) 09 Feb 2011 17:59

I agree with the others. The top candidate is offered very soon after the process concludes (within a week typically; as it sometimes requires search committee and potentially faculty to meet and make the recommendation, then the Dean to sign off).

If they tell you not to expect to hear for awhile then I would assume you're not the top choice. I've had both experiences, one where they said I shouldn't hear for awhile and when I did finally hear someone else had accepted. In another I was verbally offered the job within a week of my leaving campus.

Anona (guest) 09 Feb 2011 18:59

Thanks, everybody! :-) This is super, super helpful!

Anonymous (guest) 10 Feb 2011 00:16

When I didn't get a job: about 4 weeks passed when I heard through the grapevine that they had an offer out (I had already figured that I didn't get it). As it turned out, the department was so divided on their preferred candidate that they had to meet several additional times, so almost 3 weeks had passed between the last interview and the offer.

When I did get a job: the last interview concluded on a Friday and I was contacted the following Tuesday (via e-mail from the department chair). The department had met on Monday and it took 1 day to get the approval of the Provost. This was at a SLAC.

anonnie (guest) 12 Feb 2011 06:41

Just to add to the list of experiences, I was the last candidate to have a campus interview, and was just contacted (today!) that I'm being offered the job, exactly 2 weeks and 2 days later. They had told me to expect to hear after 2-3 weeks, so I'd say stick with whatever they told you to expect. It's obvious some schools work fast based on the "few days later" responses already posted, but some definitely work slower!

anon (guest) 10 Feb 2011 02:27

A related question: How common is it for a school to bring someone out for an interview and then never get back in touch?

anon (guest) 10 Feb 2011 13:14

If you mean "never" in the literal sense I would sincerely hope that this would not ever be the case. Not uncommon to take quite some time for them to make offers to other folks or whatever else might happen, but if they interviewed you I can't imagine them not getting back in touch at some point to let you know.

Anon (guest) 10 Feb 2011 16:16

I've interviewed at 3 other places (aside from where I got an offer) and NONE of them contacted me at all. I got an informal rejection letter from one and nada from the other two (still waiting on reimbursement from one of them too).

Anon_clinical (guest) 10 Feb 2011 19:26

Yeah, that is just terrible etiquette. Even a formal rejection letter seems ridiculous after a campus interview. One woudl hope they get to know you as a person at least a little bit and would thus treat you as one. Not knowing how long its been since them perhaps they are still in protracted negotiations with another candidate?

anonentity (guest) 10 Feb 2011 17:48

If I heard nothing after an interview, particularly a campus interview, I would just contact the SC and ask.

Anon (guest) 10 Feb 2011 19:38

It took me 8 weeks to get up the courage to email the SC once, and they had JUST signed things with the candidate that they hired that day. Sometimes it takes them a good long while to actually get things done…

Anon (guest) 10 Feb 2011 19:48

Anon_clinical: Well, 1 of the remaining 2 there was a post on the Wiki that an offer was accepted….and the other one it looks like they're dipping back into the pool.

At this point I don't care because I found a job, but it is rude.

searchchair (guest) 11 Feb 2011 02:05

Not everyone is this awful. I always call the two interviewed, but not hired, candidates immediately after the offer to the chosen candidate is finalized. I personally don't find email or snail mail acceptable for the finalists.

An-on (guest) 11 Feb 2011 18:31

searchchair, on behalf of applicants everywhere, thank you. That is classy of you to do.

More on hearing anything at all after a campus interview: it does happen, in my own experience & from what I've heard from friends. I interviewed at one place last year and several people in the department had given me positive responses to my interview & credentials, so I think I was seriously considered for the position. I contacted the department chair a few weeks after I knew (from the wiki) that someone else had received & accepted the offer. From my perspective, this request was partially to make them "tell me to my face" (well, e-mail) that they had hired someone else. I already knew the job was gone, but I thought it was unprofessional for them to not follow up (unless pressed) with the other candidate(s) they had interviewed & seriously considered. So yes - follow up with the search chair or department chair, but in my opinion it shouldn't have to come to that.

anon- social (guest) 11 Feb 2011 19:47

I've actually interviewed for a job, been voted for the job by everyone but the department chair, vetoed by the department chair, and never contacted until a friend from the department called 4 months after the interview to say that she had supposedly tried to call and E-mail me without receiving an answer. My phone and E-mail addresses had worked when she called to offer me the interview and details about the trip and I received no messages, junk mail or missed calls on either office or cell phone. Clearly I was relieved I didn't end up going to work at a school where she would be my department chair.

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