On-Campus Visits

[Anonymous]

After the APA interviews, departments contact their top candidates to arrange on-campus visits. Is there a standard time-frame for this process (e.g. within two weeks of the APA)?

Is it normal that the SC's first have to report to the dean (or whomever) before they can schedule fly-outs? Will hiring departments try to move more quickly than normal so as to avert the possibility of the position being canceled? What other significant factors affect this phase of the hiring process?

Input from SC members would be especially appreciated.

[superawesome]

Most committees meet to discuss flyouts in the first week or two of January. Flyout invites begin to roll in around then and keep coming until around the end of February. It is not uncommon to have the Dean approve the finalist list before calls are made (e.g., there might be diversity concerns that need to be addressed). I know flyout invites that happened the last day of the APA and invites that came in mid-March, but Mid-Jan through Mid-Feb is the most common time to get an invite.

[IheartDescartes]

The places I interviewed with all said to expect word by late January.

[improfound]

Also note that what people say and what happens are two different things. A committee may tell you that they will get back to you in late January. But deans (and some SCs) take their time, extending the process far beyond what you are told originally.

[marketeer]

there seems to be a bit of an arms race this year, with departments contacting people for flyouts even earlier than usual. A number of the places I interviewed with were trying to finish up their flyouts by the end of january, maybe first week of february. usually getting contacted by that point is pretty fast. I think this has to do with getting offers out to people faster, so that candidates may not have time to hear back from other places that are interested before having to provide an answer. this way schools don't get stuck with their second or third choices having already accepted an offer somewhere else if they get turned down the first time.

I know of at least two places that made decisions after the interviews, while still at the APA (guess they didn't need to okay it with the dean).

[zump]

I doubt very seriously that departments are hastening on-campus interviews to compete other schools. At least this isn't the primary reason. The reason we are hurrying things along is to get a university signature on a contract before funding for the position is pulled. Probably many other institutions are in the same position. And that in turn creates the "arms race" mentioned above.

[anon]

Are many schools still deciding on which candidates to fly out?

Of my job interviews at the Eastern APA, five schools have not been mentioned yet in the "campus visits" section of the job wiki.

If people have info about jobs not yet posted on there, please update the wiki.

[Ted]

Several of the places I interviewed with said they would not meet until spring semester started. For many schools, that is not until this week.

[anonymous]

Once the fly-outs are completed, is there a standard time-frame for departments to make an offer, or can it vary considerably from one school to the next?

[docs]

Usually, 2 weeks is the maximum. Of course, SCs [and their deans/provosts] are happy to get an answer within the week.

If you have a special problem, you should ask about a longer period.

[anonymous]

docs,

My question wasn't about how long a candidate has to either accept or reject an offer. Rather, my question concerned the stage in the process prior to that, i.e. the duration of time between the on-campus visit and the notification of an offer. Presumably, assuming multiple candidates have been invited to campus, the last of the fly-outs has to be completed before an offer can be made. I was just wondering if there was a standard time-frame between completion of the on-campus visits and the (first) notification of an offer.

[philgirl]

In my experience (three flyouts), SC's made an unofficial offer within a week of the last on-campus interview - and an official offer usually followed a few days after that (some SC's wait to tell you until its official, others as soon as the dept. decides).

I don't know if this is standard or not, but it has been made clear to me that SC want to make decisions as quick as they can (usually) because they want to get good candidates and it takes time for offers to be accepted, etc., especially if their first choice says no.