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[job_hunter]

Hello all,
I am in a bit of a quandary.  I have a tenure track job and am on the market again this year.  I have been lucky enough to secure some interviews at the huge national conference in my field.  Normally, I wouldn’t tell my department chair or colleagues about these interviews until I had reached the “on campus interview” stage.  However, this year several of my colleagues will be attending the conference, and I think that it is highly likely that we will run into one another.  How should I handle this situation?
A few other things complicate the matter.  Most of my colleagues would be cool with me being on the market.  However, I know that a few would not be too understanding.  Also, my chair—who would normally be the first to know—is not going to the conference.  I think that I have a few options: say nothing and let it all work its way out, mention the interviews to the department chair and then my colleagues who will be at the conference, or just mention it to my colleagues and let them know that I don’t want this to get around.  So what should I do? 
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Best
JH

[yellowtractor]

I would say nothing and let it all work out.  You don't know who you'll run into, and if it's one of the big conferences (MLA, AHA), there are plenty of other reasons one might go to said conference.  (I mean, one attends a panel.  Sometimes.)

If you mention it to colleagues, it will get around.  If you mention it and straitly admonish them to keep it a secret, it will definitely get around.

Stick with your first thought, which is to inform your chair when or if you have campus interviews.  (Depending on the local situation, I might not even do that; I might not say anything at all until I had an offer.  But much depends on the institutional culture, as well as your relationship with your chair.)

[ls410]

The only people in my department that know if I get interviews are the colleague writing rec letters and the colleague who is also a neighbor and waters my plants.  Otherwise until I get an offer, the search is private.  Conference interviews are a great and neccessary first step but they aren't a contract.

At my annual meeting, the job interviews are done in an area removed from other conference activity.  So the only way a colleague would see me there is if hu was also interviewing.  The interview clothes could be a give-a-way but you could always change as soon as you're done.

[thisisme]

I would not mention anything and then decide specifically in the case someone really finds out.

[disgruntled]

I would tell them only when A) I'd received an offer, if I wanted to use it as leverage, or B) when I'd accepted another position. Otherwise, it is really absolutely none of their business.

[job_hunter]

Thanks, all.  I didn't expect the consensus.  That must be a sign to keep it all on the proverbial down-low.

[fedscholar]

To add to the consensus, I will add the other possibility. If you are like me, you will build a big air castle about each job you are not rejected for immediately, only to look like an idiot when you don't get it. I would not say a word until you have an offer in hand. No use undermining or just plain making a fool of yourself.

I seem to make it a lifestyle, but it's not one I recommend!

[ann05]

fedscholar, I hear you. Not getting the job is all the more mortifying for telling everybody about the interview.

[friendlyfire]

That must be a sign to keep it all on the proverbial down-low.

I echo yellowtractor et al's advice:  the less said the better ... until you have something more concrete.

[luvstowrite]

I would tell them only when A) I'd received an offer, if I wanted to use it as leverage, or B) when I'd accepted another position. Otherwise, it is really absolutely none of their business.

Yes, chime.

[joebuilderit]

I wouldn't tell them anything either, unless you've got a concrete offer and you want to use it as leverage. If they know you're shopping around, and can't find anything, it'll only offer them the same leverage you may be after.

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~full time teacher, part time camper.