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[every which way]

I got an offer for an onsite interview--if I will pay my own plane fare and expenses.   The cost between my location and their location is pretty high.  Is this normal at all?   It is a small private college.

[Selene]

Tell them to find another victim!  I would never pay for a campus visit or fly to an interview without assurances that I would be reimbursed.

[me]

It happens, but not very common.  I have always been told I will be reimbursed, and feel pretty much the same as the previous poster, unless feeling desperate.

[Science_Guy]

Don't do it.

If they don't have the resources to fly in candidates then they have no business hiring.

You can use your imagination as to what other resources they don't have.

"Gee, we're pretty cash-strapped right now.  Do you mind paying your own salary for the next six months?  That'd be greeeeaaaaaaaaat."

[Caution]

Assuming this is a 4-year college, the answer to this question depends on how desperate you are.  I personally wouldn't do it, because I think it indicates either a) the university is in absolutely desperate financial straits, and you should think twice about whether you want a job at a university which will probably have a bad salary, terrible benefits, and no job security OR b) they are not that committed to you, in which case you have to decide if you really want to pay the expense of being grilled for a few days for a department that won't show any strong interest in you.  

That said, I do think it is fairly common in community college hiring not to pay plane fare, and it shouldn't be taken as a bad sign under those circumstances.  My guess is that they more often hire people from their geographical areas, so it's not considered such a burden (or it's just impractical).

[Artsearch]

Once I applied for a VERY late opening in midsummer at a rather prestigious school. Their late resignation really sent them into a tizzy, and as soon as they got my file, they called asking if I might be willing to foot my own interview bill ("this late, we have already spent all our allotted search money"); at that point, I was just glad to have the show of interest, especially since the job was in my secondary field and I did not expect to hear from them.  I likely would have done it, but it didn't come to that, as they calmed themselves, waited a bit, and found someone whose background more closely matched the job.

In your case, it isn't all that late, and I would be wary of this arrangement, particularly if they are offering no explanation.

[Needcleaning]

Absoutley. And after you are finished that, could you come over and clean out my garage? I'm in the Northwest, in a bit of a remote location, about an hour and a half cab ride from the airport...

Seriously though, who do they think you are?  

Decline these losers, and do so in writing. CC it to the college senate.

[anon]

Usually, it's the smaller schools and CCs that require candidates to pay their own travel expenses.  It's not because they are trying to screw candidates.  Many of them simply don't have the resources to pay travel expenses for multiple candidates.  I've also heard of schools making candidates pay travel costs but then reimbursing the chosen candidate.

[2 More Cents]

Personally, I wouldn't interview anywhere that wouldn't, at the very least, reimburse all expenses.  In fact, I consider reimbursing plane fare and hotel expenses a bit cheesy.  They should pay for all of that up front and reimburse you for things that can't be prepaid, like meals while traveling and so on.

[ack]

Don't do it.  If you do, you'll contribute to the legitimacy of this nasty little trend, and we'll all hate you for it.  More than that, it is incumbent on you to out them, right here in this forum.  Then we can all send letters to their faculty Senate.  

Go on, give us the goods.

[rattus domesticus]

anon wrote:

> Usually, it's the smaller schools and CCs that require
> candidates to pay their own travel expenses.  It's not because
> they are trying to screw candidates.  Many of them simply don't
> have the resources to pay travel expenses for multiple
> candidates.  I've also heard of schools making candidates pay
> travel costs but then reimbursing the chosen candidate.

Ditto. For cc's this is very common. Almost half of the cc's that asked me to interview last year asked me to foot the bill for travel--and in most cases I lived 2000 miles away from them. And they often asked me to interview within a week or two--which meant airfare was shockingly high! I made a choice to do the ONE that I was most interested in--and it resulted in an offer. (Later I choose another campus, but that's another story.)

My suggestion would be this: If you are in love with the area and the campus, find out from the HR person or committee head how many people are being asked to interview AND if they have a strong in-house candidate. Believe me, most will tell you if you are paying your own way. Then if you know you're one out of four or six or something (rather than one out of 20), then you can make the decision to go (or not).

[SLAC-bound]

While living the pacific northwest, my partner and I had invitations to interview in southern california at a CC (they had two openings).  They weren't paying plane fares, which is typical for CC's in the area.  We might have done it, except that they wanted to interview candidates TWICE - once with the search committee, and 4 days later with the president.  So we were looking at having to buy FOUR round-trips, for positions we'd take only if we both got offers.  We eventually decided we weren't willing to gamble four last-minute tickets on a double hire, so declined.

I assume their eventual hire(s) were either local, or more desperate than we were.

[anon anon]

If you're REALLY interested, offer to do a phone interview or video conference.  If they're not interested in that, you have to ask yourself how serious they are about you.

[Thundering Marshmallow]

Excellent suggestion from anonanon. With videoconferencing and electronic files, you can have a virtual interview on the cheap.

[arty]

Because there is really no way to tell if a search is rigged - even if there is no person in the job currenlty who could be applying, there could be an invisible internal candidate -- a spouse, a colleague new in that town -- I would not choose to pay my way.  It is bad enough to be rejected.  Paying for the priviledge is galling.