The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Interview

I am always amused, and sometimes horrified, by the stories candidates bring back from their on-campus interviews. It’s clear that institutions have a wide variety of interview practices, and that the range of skills and inclinations in planning and executing those visits is astounding.

I have often said here that candidates enhance their chances by consistently striving to be positive, professional, and courteous when they visit a campus. No where is the asymmetry between hiring institutions and job candidates more clear than in the stories of how poorly candidates are sometimes treated when they visit a campus.

I have heard more than one candidate tell of being dropped off at a motel on the outskirts of town with no restaurant in sight, no offer of a meal, and no suggestion of how to obtain one. I’ve heard others describe how they were used as target practice in their job talks by bickering colleagues. Ensuring that candidates are comfortable, properly fed, and treated with dignity doesn’t seem that hard, but it must be as it’s far from universal.

Still, some departments do know how to treat candidates. At my first job, I had a colleague who would say, “I want every candidate, even those we don’t hire, to feel positive about the experience of visiting campus and to continue to think of us as friends and colleagues thereafter.” He was remarkably successful in that approach, and we maintained positive relationships with many unsuccessful candidates, which I still view as a small miracle given the tense and often poisonous atmosphere of the job market. His philosophy is worthy of emulation.

What have you experienced in on-campus interviews that was either exceptionally positive or negative?