Faculty Jobs: Sample Assistant Professor Job Search Timeline

There's a fantastic sample academic job timeline at the end of this reflections on assistant professor job search, so I thought I'd fill out a bit of my own timeline here, as well. Knowing what other people's timelines were gives a good feel for what to expect. It also shows that it's a good idea to have your application materials ready by October, and that you should begin immediate preparation of your job talk. The speedy arrival of the interviews really surprised me! Of course, if you don't plan to apply anywhere until December, then the schedule can be adjusted. But there are plenty of deadlines in October and November, so procrastinate at your own risk.

Generally, there were several waves of application deadlines: [mid-]October, [mid-]November, early-December, and later. More selective institutions typically have December++ deadlines, but that's not always the case. I applied rather liberally to nearly any school in the northeast with less than 3 class preps per semester, so this left me with a rather wide spread of ~30 schools, with deadlines all over October, November, and December, resulting in the timelines below.


K College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 10/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 10/19/16
Remote Interview: 11/7/16 (delayed due to schedule conflict)

E University
Application Deadline: 10/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: None
Remote Interview: None
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 11/16/16
On-Campus Interview: 12/8/16
Unofficial Job Offer Phone Call: 12/16/16
Job Offer Deadline: 1/9/17 (declined 1/9/17)

A College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 10/10/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 10/13/16
Remote Interview: 10/17/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 10/21/16
On-Campus Interview: 11/10/16 (delayed due to schedule conflict)
Unofficial Job Offer Phone Call: 12/20/16
Job Offer Deadline: 1/9/17 (pushed until 1/19/17, due to being one of my top choices; declined)

E Institute
Application Deadline: 10/15/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 12/2/16
Remote Interview: 12/15/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 12/21/16
On-Campus Interview: Declined, due to other offers

A University (comprehensive)
Application Deadline: 10/24/15
Remote Interview Invitation: 11/3/16
Remote Interview: 11/8/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 11/17/16
On-Campus Interview: 12/9/16
Unofficial Job Offer Phone Call: 12/19/16
Job Offer Deadline: 12/23/16 (pushed until 1/6/17, as they were in my top two) (pushed again until 1/12/17 and declined at that time)

O University
Application Deadline: 11/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 1/27/17
Remote Interview: 2/9/17 (declined 1/27/17 due to accepted offer)

R College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 11/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 11/17/16
Remote Interview: 11/22/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 11/29/16
On-Campus Interview: 12/12/16
Unofficial Job Offer Phone Call: 12/23/16
Job Offer Deadline: 12/28/16 (declined 12/28/16 due to other offers)

B College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 11/10/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 11/14/16
Remote Interview: 11/16/16

M College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 11/14/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 11/28/16
Remote Interview: 12/8/16

D College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 11/18/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 12/1/16
Remote Interview: 12/2/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 2/6/17 (delayed due to first search failure)

U University
Application Deadline: 11/28/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 2/4/17
Remote Interview: 2/10/17 (declined 2/5/17 due to accepted offer)

Y College (liberal arts)
Application Deadline: 12/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 12/12/16
Remote Interview: 12/14/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 12/19/16 (accelerated due to existing offers)
On-Campus Interview: 1/3/16
Unofficial Job Offer Phone Call: 1/12/17
Job Offer Deadline: 1/20/17 (Accepted)

L University
Application Deadline: 12/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 12/9/16
Remote Interview: 12/14/16 (a second one 12/20/16)
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 12/21/16 (accelerated due to existing offers)
On-Campus Interview: 1/11/17
Withdrawn after accepting an offer

R University
Application Deadline: 12/1/16
Remote Interview Invitation: 12/6/16
Remote Interview: 12/14/16
On-Campus Interview Invitation: 12/20/16 (accelerated due to existing offers)
On-Campus Interview: 1/17/16
Withdrawn after accepting an offer

O Institute
Application Deadline: None listed (applied 10/10/16)
Remote Interview Invitation: 12/21/16 (first round, with insinuation of there possibly being a second round of remote interviews)
Remote Interview: 1/9/17 (declined 12/28/16 due to existing offers)

T Institute
Application Deadline: None listed (applied 10/8/16)
Remote Interview Invitation: 2/9/17
Remote Interview: 2/13/17 (declined 2/9/17 due to accepted offer)

It should be noted that academic institutions do not send rejections. Not at the applications-stage, nor the phone interview stage, nor the on-campus interview stage. So I simply left out the non-responsive locales to which I applied, leaving just the above. This is out of ~30 total applications.

A Special Note on Declining Offers

The most professional way to decline an offer (as instructed by my academic career coach) is to decline over the phone, and then follow-up via email. I did this rather inconsistently, only when it made sense. Whatever works.

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BYOV Posts on the Faculty Job Search

1. Overview of the Assistant Professor Job Search
2. Applying for Academic Positions
3. Remote Interviews
4. Packing for On-Campus Interviews
5. On-Campus Interview Lessons Learned
6. Sample Assistant Professor Job Hunt Timeline
7. Reflections on Negotiation
8. Descriptive Statistics of my Job Search
9. Deciding Research or Liberal Arts