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[filmcam]

I have just observed an interesting thing:

I know in at least two cases that SCs tend to not release the information of onsite candidates. I have insiders in both places and learned that the list of onsite candidates were finalized weeks ago. Unlike most places just posting the abstracts of the candidtats' talks after SCs made the decision (I  know most place put the names and affiliations there with topic TBA), they only reserved a few colloquia as " Faculty search", and only post the abstract online a day before the the talk.

What is the SCs' consideration in this case? Is there any reason to not releasing the candidates' indentities until the final moment?

Thanks!

[tuxedo_cat]

This is just a highly variable matter -- it may not be a decision that is even up to the SC members.  There may be dept. protocol, HR protocol, webmaster for the dept. webpage has the flu and didn't have time to post the talks, who knows.

Try not to parse too much of the job search process.  It's a lot more transparent than it could be, and it will probably never seem entirely fair to whoever gets turned down.  But I think it's fair to say that most SC members are highly aware of the fact that this is a tremendously stressful experience for all job candidates, and we will probably try to do things to avoid creating more stress for anyone we're bringing to campus. 

I personally think it's best not to publicize the talks outside of the campus community, as it gives the competing candidates one more thing to fret over and obsess about.

[leobloom]

I am writing this in response to the latent, not explicitly stated, issue: you probably have been following some searches from which you received no feedback, and you heard about campus interviews being scheduled for other candidates, including the research talks. And yet you haven't heard from these search committees.
My point is that if you haven't been notified about your presence on their campus, and if the talks are to happen soon, you should drop the pursuit and assume you're out, at least for the moment. Energies lost in pursuit of lost causes are a terrible waste. Face it, it makes little difference to your goals whether the job talk abstracts are posted now or next week.
Focus instead on your research, on other applications, or maybe on expecting to hear from other places you've applied to, but they're in the black hole as of yet (past the application deadline, but have not heard anything about the outcome.) Or simply on other facets of your life.

[biop_grad]

And from my perspective as an interviewee, I certainly would prefer not to be known across the entire campus/world that I'm on the market.

[imawakenow]

This is just a highly variable matter -- it may not be a decision that is even up to the SC members.  There may be dept. protocol, HR protocol, webmaster for the dept. webpage has the flu and didn't have time to post the talks, who knows.

This.

That said, I'm not sure what your question is, OP.

If you're asking a "why" question, then the answer is no one except people on the SC and in the departments can answer. If you're asking a "what happens" question, then you've already answered your question--some departments post the names of job candidates on their Web sites, while others don't.

To agree with t_c again, I don't think you should read anything into the practice.

[filmcam]

Thanks a lot, guys!

Seems I really should stop over-guessing the interview process. Your words helped a lot since this is the first time I seriously look for a job.

Many thanks again for your replies!