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[Professor Broke]

I've been invited for a campus visit for an assistant professor in the humanities position at a large university in the Northeast. The location is a 3.5-hour train ride or four-hour drive from my house. The university is not willing to pay for the trip. If I want the interview, it is at my own expense. They're bringing in eight candidates.

They don't want to pick me up at the train station either. I was told to take a cab!

Why should the candidate pay? Isn't this a bad sign? I can't afford to come at my own expense.

-Professor Broke

[aNon]

I wonder if their reluctance to pay means that you barely made it in the candidacy pool and they have exhausted their travel funds.

If I were you I would find a way to go (borrow money, get a ride from girlfriend/boyfriend) and try to dazzle them in the interview. Don't make this travel money an issue -- remember you are also interviewing about your personality and general disposition -- not just academics.

I admit that I personally hate two types of candidates: sicklies -- you ask how they are doing and you get their whole medical history -- and cheap skates who nickle-and-dime you about everything. I really don't want them in my department. Particularly the latter. Today it is a $5.00 cab ride from the train station, tomorrow they will be bagging filters from the coffee maker for their home, and it will always be something ... it will never end.

Good Luck.

aNon

[Also broke]

I think this is a very unusual situation. Had you stated that this was a community-college position, then that would have been typical, but this is not standard for a university. It's probably a sign of their financial situation (bad).

Are they at least paying for your hotel or is that on your own dime, too?

[Prof. Broke and Exhausted]

Dear aNON,

Call me cheap. I could spend the time and the money if I really wanted. However, this will make my 6th campus visit after attending two conferences on both coasts (which by the way I paid for). All others have paid for the campus visit, and I have neither time nor money to waste. If they want me to come, it will be on their dime. I also have no desire to work in a department that cannot run a proper search. They have told all candidates that money may or may not be available. They're working on it. I also have some good offers on my plate right now. I'm not desperate.

-Prof. Broke and Exhausted.

PS: I draw the line at taking home coffee filters, but have been known to collect an excessive amount of pens from time to time ... .

[Nick de Plume]

I disagree. It has been standard practice for schools to pick up the tab for campus-interview candidates. Even if you are the last on the list, that doesn't mean you are any less qualified or desirable necessarily. If the others are being paid for, so should you.

There are two types of schools I hate: The complainers who always have a crisis going on and an excuse for why they can't help, and the cheap skates who expect high levels of performance, teaching and research, but don't want to spend the money to make those things possible. :)

Nick

[David Evans]

Dear Professor Broke:

If you have other offers on the table and aren't desperate, there's simply no way you should bother with this interview.  It's an expense of spirit and a waste of shame. The only exception would be if there's something so spectacular about this job that you simply can't resist pursuing it, in which case, of course, you should just suck it up and prepare for a lousy experience.

However, if the university treats their job candidates this way, imagine how they treat their faculty ... .

Best, David Evans
Chair, English, Speech, and Journalism
Georgia College & State University

[Anon V]

I was invited to an interview this year. The e-mail stated that they would pay for the hotel, but I was expected to pay for the plane ticket, and they would reimburse me only if I was selected for the position and accepted the job (this was the first time I have also encountered this -- out of 10 interviews in the last 2 years).

A co-worker pointed out to me that this could potentially be a very bad sign if this is occuring during the interview -- i.e., will they help with conferences? or if you wished to purchase materials to teach a course?

When the school contacted me for the interview I enthusiastically stated that I would be delighted to interview  but that financially I was very strapped and would be unable to pay for the plane ticket, so unfortunately I did not plan on interviewing ... . They immediately offered to buy the ticket. Perhaps you can try the same strategy, and they will pay for it.

[Pippin]

It is very unusual, although not unheard of, for a four-year college to ask the candidate to pick up expenses. Whether or not to gamble on a one-in-eight chance is up to you, but be forewarned that money will probably not be forthcoming in the future, either -- for travel to conferences, for sabbaticals, or even for office supplies (including a computer.) Can you live with that?

[Dr D.]

There's no reason for them not to pay for the travel, and it's unprofessional for them not to pick you up. It is true that it gets expensive to bring in people, but, first of all, eight is way too many. They should have narrowed it down to two or three. In a search we did in my department, we interviewed three people, and then wanted to interview a fourth. We had little money left, but we were able to get the travel and lodging money from another source, and we were able to feed them (and drive them around). We selected modest (but interesting and tasty) restaurants to wine and dine them, we were not able to reimburse faculty-member meals, but we did treat the candidate (and were reimbursed for that). So, yes, it was on a budget, and the person we brought in was hired, and I think we managed to do it in a way that was not tacky!

[Jim Monroe]

Any school unwilling and/or unable to pay for basic interview travel expenses is probably a poor place on which to bet your career. I suggest you forget the "offer" and move on.

Jim

[Asst. Prof.]

Nick,
 
I couldn't agree more with your post! I have to believe that aNon wrote his or her message with tongue firmly in cheek.

[HV]

Don't go on this interview. This is a red flag.

[aNon]

It is very disturbing to see this attitude of entitlement in young Ph.D.'s ...

Prof. Broke and Exhausted wrote, "Call me cheap. I could spend the time and the money if I really wanted."

Spend the money or move on! Nobody is twisting your arm to go to the inteview. In business there is a saying: You have to spend money to make money. If you are not willing to spend a few bucks to go for a job that you will probably hold for the next 20-30 years then ... .

Prof. Broke and Exhausted wrote, "However, this will make my 6th campus visit after attending two conferences on both coasts (which by the way I paid for). All others have paid for the campus visit, and I have neither time nor money to waste. If they want me to come, it will be on their dime."

You are obviously not an economist, otherwise you would have heard about supply and demand. Do you think that in a market with over 300 candidates for each position they can't find an equally (if not better) capable candidate that won't fight them over a cab fare? They already have seven other people!
 
Prof. Broke and Exhausted wrote, "I also have no desire to work in a department that cannot run a proper search."

Huh? You should abandon the ivory tower dream then. There are very few departments that run a "proper" search, and many less that run "proper" day-to-day operations, so you are in for a big surprise. If you don't believe me, read this newsgroup.

Really, best of luck to you.

aNon

PS: Glad I am not running a search committee this year ... . On a second thought, perhaps I should write a book: "The Prima donna Candidate" ...

PPS: Whoever took the pens home please return them to the department. :))))

[Rana]

aNon: Every campus I have visited during my three-year job search, and every one that my friends and colleagues have visited, from tiny nearly-broke ones to huge universities, paid for the final candidates' travel and lodging expenses during an on-campus visit. This is how it works. Even the places that were weird, rude, unprofessional, etc. paid for these things.

You talk about 300 candidates competing for the position, but at that point this is not the case. At the time a campus interview is offered, we should be talking 3-4 candidates, maximum.  

If an institution cannot afford this basic courtesy, they should do phone interviews first, or wait until they have funds. One of the places I applied to did this; they were polite, funny and interesting people and I would have loved to work with them. (They were prepared to offer me the job, but their state's budgeting didn't work out.)

You seem to think that people are "entitled" or spoiled or whiny for wanting this sort of basic courtesy. Fine. Do it your way, and all that we have left is a bunch of desperate people grasping at any straw they can to avoid drowning, while their employers and "colleagues" make them itemize the expenses of everything but the air they breathe, and make them beg for the privilege. Lovely. I'm glad you enjoy working in such an environment.

Me, I'd rather work for a place that demonstrates it wants me there, respects my abilities and credentials, and treats me like a potential colleague rather than a waste of precious resources better spent elsewhere.

I too am glad, for my friends' and colleagues' sakes, that you are not on a search committee.

[D. Dulgar]

Yeah -- go Rana. I'm definitely with you :)

If candidates allow search committees to treat them in less than professional ways, it will become common practice -- and then we will have no one to blame but ourselves (if we haven't at least spoken up -- or spoken with our feet).

aNon seems to be taking the path of least resistance, and I'm sorry for that. I am definitely not a "high maintenance" candidate. I understand explicitly that I am 'one of many' in this current (glutted) job market, and I am working hard to be the flexible, interesting, and hard-working colleague departments are constantly searching for.  

But I would still never say it was OK to be treated in a way that was unprofessional, weird, or simply cheap ... (and snide, to boot, aNon).

In line with the earlier posting from "Dude" (which made me laugh), here's one for aNon:

"Attitude adjustment ... dude"