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Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
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Reader query on good things search committees did

In the comments section of our newest "How can we help you?" post, a reader by the name of 'Tom' writes:

Oooh! I have an idea. Let's have a thread sometime where job-seekers can write in with things they *liked* that search committees did. But not snarkily. E.g. I had a flyout once and when we went out to dinner the folks I was with both made sure to order drinks and then encourage me too. That was nice because I sure as hell needed one, and they made sure I felt ok getting one. Stuff like that.

Maybe we could have one going the other way round, too? I imagine there are things candidates do that make search committees happy as well.

Great idea! In this post, let's address Tom's first suggestion: what things have search committees done that you particularly liked as a candidate? Tomorrow, I'll open up a thread on Tom's second suggestion!

I suppose I'll begin. One thing that really impressed me when I was interviewing for my current job was how I was given a good amount of "down time." I had some on-campus visits where I had to meet a dean at 9am in the morning, and then was rushed from meeting to meeting (with the provost, HR, etc.), lunch, teaching and research demos, and finally to dinner. As an introvert who is also decidedly not a morning person, I found on-campus visits like these a dreadful experience. Not that I didn't appreciate having the on-campus interview (I most certainly did!). It was just that at some places the actual visit was the most non-stop-stressful experience imaginable. In contrast, when interviewing at my current university, my first meeting of the day wasn't until 10am, the dinner was the night before my day of demos of interviews, and I was given plenty of downtime throughout the day to recharge my batteries. I really appreciated it. It made the on-campus visit a far more enjoyable experience!

Anyway, what have search committees done that you liked as a candidate?

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13 responses to “Reader query on good things search committees did”

  1. Rosa

    This is a great idea! Here are some things that I appreciated deeply (although I know that not all of them are within the control of search committees).
    1. I was flying in from the UK for my fly out, and they offered (with no prompting!) to bring me in a day earlier so I could get over jet lag.
    2. They paid for everything in advance, rather than making me buy the ticket and get reimbursed for it.
    3. The department chair told me about things like local schools and stopping the tenure clock to have kids, but prefaced it by saying that they told all job candidates this information regardless of their gender.
    4. They took me for a drive around town, showing me interesting areas and areas where a lot of professors lived.

    Reply
  2. snarky puppy

    what a great idea, and then maybe we can all chime in to say how much fun it is to be on the market, never hear from most schools, fee like s**t, waste a whole semester if not more, answer silly questions, pander to SCs who have no patience for our complicated lives, think highly of themselves and act on opaque criteria. Sure, let’s all thank SCs for being so awesome. Sometimes they treat us like people? Wow…

    Reply
  3. Marcus Arvan

    Snarky puppy: As someone who suffered 7 years on the market, I empathize with your feelings. However, I am not sure about the pragmatic coherence of your comment. You seem to be taking this thread to task because of how awful the job market is. But the very point of this thread is to ascertain what kinds of things search committees can do to make the process better than the awfulness it currently is–something which your remarks imply you wish were the case!

    Reply
  4. Amanda

    I don’t quite understand how the little photos work next to our comments. I didn’t make that comment above – but that person has the same little design thing as I usually do.

    Reply
  5. Marcus Arvan

    Amanda: I have no idea how it works myself, but fortunately I don’t think people assume the same figure is necessarily attached to the same commenter. I’ve never assumed it at any rate! All the same, I certainly appreciate why you wanted to clarify it wasn’t you.

    Reply
  6. snarky puppy

    Marcus,
    Criticizing SCs for not treating us like they should would be more on point and efficient, rather than commending them for doing things they should do out of common decency. I stand by my snarkiness—we don’t need to hear how the market can be so cool for the lucky ones when it’s so damn terrible for everyone else. What we need is more fun and catharsis. Horror stories are fun and cathartic. This isn’t fun or cathartic, this is complacent.

    Reply
  7. Marcus Arvan

    Snarky: I have criticized hiring processes and various aspects of the academic job market on this blog many times. There is room for that here, and if you or anyone else would like to publish posts here taking the system to task (in a way that is otherwise consistent with our mission), then I am all for it. But there is a place for encouragement too, and I at least have tended to find that appealing to people’s “better nature” tends to work better than castigating them, which tends to put people on the defensive and not want to engage productively. It’s an open question what strategy–honey or vinegar–works better and when. Perhaps then we should do both. Perhaps I should open up a horror stories thread. Dunno, I’ll give it some thought. I’d be curious to hear what others think.

    Reply
  8. Amanda

    I think on the Daily Nous the pic correlates with a person (or email). Interesting it’s different here.
    Anyway I like it when SC let you know when you were not chosen for or for the position. I think I am notified less than half the time, but it sure is nice when they politely let me know. And of course things can change up until the hire, but it is easy to say, “We have made arrangements for our initial flyouts and you were not on our list. No one is ruled out officially until a hire is made, but we wanted to let you know where you currently stand”. I am sure most candidates really appreciate that sort of note. I sure do!

    Reply
  9. Amanda

    Horror stories can be pretty funny. Maybe they are helpful in calling people out? I think they are mostly just funny – so I don’t know either.

    Reply
  10. Marcus Arvan

    Amanda: Be careful what you wish for. I applied for a position a few years ago and was notified by them 37 times that I did not get the job–the last time over two years later after the job had been filled. No, I’m not joking. It appears to have been an automatic, computerized form letter PFO that got stuck on a loop or something. 😉

    Reply
  11. Amanda

    Ha I guess they wanted to make it clear. You know maybe I’m okay not knowing. Wishful thinking is very powerful and when I close my eyes really tight I sort of believe the Harvard job I applied to two years ago might still be thinking about my application…

    Reply
  12. anonymous person

    hired me.

    Reply
  13. anono

    Second the comment about their paying for stuff in advance instead of having you pay for it and then file reimbursement later.
    When interviewers are kind in their questions/reception of your questions, it makes a big difference. And there’s no reason for them not to be. Some are, some aren’t.

    Reply

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