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[risa1230]

Hi, I just received a phone call for an interview and I was given two days to chose from. Whats the best day/time to pick? Should I be first on the first day or last on the second day or what? Thanks for the advice! Oh, they left a message, so I haven't called them back yet.

[london1]

My preference is to interview early in the process, although not the very first interview if you can avoid it.

[risa1230]

Thanks! I want to interview when the SC is still pretty fresh and not burned out on doing interviews, yet I don't want to be so early in the process that they forget who I am by the time they get done interviewing.

[losemygrip]

I prefer last because then I'm fresh on their minds as they deliberate.

[risa1230]

Good point! But, will they be so sick of interviewing by then that they'll barely pay any attention---I'll just get lost in the among the group of other interviewees?

[sibyl]

You never know the "best" day for any particular committee, and you can't control it.  Pick days that are good for you, and do the best that *you* can do.

[offthemarket]

If possible, I prefer the middle slot.

When the first candidate arrives, the search committee is still forming its idea of what they want in a candidate.  Aside from the formalized questions asked of every candidate, the other issues gel as candidates show up.  Search committees want to be able to compare candidates.  If you're the first candidate, then you're providing the initial template for comparison.  If you are a later candidate, then I think there are better odds of infer from the committees which criteria are important to them, and you have the ability to show how you're different from the other candidates.

If a search committee doesn't have its act together, then being the first can be annoying in terms of transportation, scheduling, and awkward moments.

Being the last candidate, though, the committee is tired of the search and getting their excitement up about you might be more difficult.  On one of my recent interviews - the last of four - committee members commented that they were yearning for a home-cooked meal rather than eat out all the time.

That said, I don't think timing is critical to the process and if a middle slot is less convenient for my schedule I'm not going to try to bend things around it.  I agree with sibyl - "you never know the 'best' day.. and you can't control it." 

[aria8]

I agree with sibyl.  Pick what works best for you.  You know what time of the day you're strongest and what day/time you'll be less harried.  The rest is just speculation.

[iomhaigh]

I'm in the pick days that work for you camp.  I scheduled around conferences and dates when I simply could not miss the classes that I was teaching.  It was hard to do that without sounding like an utter high maintenance pain in the tush, but I had teaching assistants when I was on the market, so that made my life easier.  I did fib a bit about when I was getting back from conferences & other interviews so that I would have down time between trips, though. 

Protect yourself and your energy levels -- that's all you can do.   

[brunhilde]

Interesting. When I read this thread, I was thinking whether to go for a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday interview slot, not about whether it is first, second, or third in the order of interviews. I don't think I care about the order of interviews. I think I was first in the visit I just returned from. I'm not sure of my order in my first visit.

I do prefer Thursdays (meaning fly in on Wednesday, fly out Friday afternoon). I've now had two campus visits, one on Wed, one on Thursday. I flew back yesterday (huge delays at airports which only added to my desire in getting home). I am still exhausted and have a ton of little things I need to take care of today, but doing so will make me feel less productive as I try to write on Fridays. When I had a Thursday interview and flew back on Friday (still with many airport delays), I had Saturday which is usually my rest day, to recuperate and take care of backlog emails and such.

[newfac2007]

I prefer to go first. That way, I can do well, set the tone, hopefully get some allegiance from some faculty, and also color the lens through which they see the remaining candidates.

Of course, the order in which I choose to go also depends on how many candidates there are and how spread apart the interviews are.

[mrhistory]

I like going last.  Thej *I* have less time between interview and decision to wait through, I've always had some idea (however vague) of how committed they already were to a previous candidate from comments someone invariably makes, the have their interviewing priorities sorted out and even refined by what they like and don't like from 1 and 2 (again, often more clues) and you leave the last impression for good or ill.

Personal preference and I have to say that of offers recieved  I've been in every slot but I am comfortable in the #3 spot if its available.

[harsh_critic]

Pick the day/time that puts you on top of your game. That is all you have control over.

Don't worry about gaming how the SC will see it. It's a losing game to make predictions about a specific SC, despite the stereotypes you can discern about a generic SC. If you put your best foot forward and you are the best, you will likely rise to the top anyway.

[nailman]

Personally, if I were on an SC, I would always vote against the candidate who chooses the first or last slot. :)

No, I agree with the poster who said to pick whatever works best for you. It's probably more likely that you won't get the job because you stressed out worrying too much about which day to pick than that you won't get the job because you didn't pick the right day.