Are there always phone interviews for screening?

[Guest]

I always have assumed that a school would not bring people out unless they first screened with a phone or other interview. However, some schools are suddenly posting that campus visits are scheduled without any info on short or long lists first. Any insights? I'm more familiar with Econ job market, where all schools do screening with in person interviews at professional conference.

[curious]

I was curious about this as well- mainly because per the wiki link, a school that appeared to be a little funds restricted requested more materials, skipped over phone interviews and one person has indicated they have an on campus interview.

[no]

No, schools don't always do phone interviews first. Of the 4 on-campus visits I did last year, none did phone interviews first. Although I would guess that phone interviews are more common for smaller universities/departments without a lot of funds available for the search.

[Guest]

Wow, again, based on close friend's experiences in Econ, I'm really surprised at having no screening. Said friend says top 4 on paper are almost never top 4 in real life.

[woah]

I had 3 interviews last year (at R1s) and none of them did phone interviews either. When I've had friends do phone interviews it typically seems to be at SLACs or smaller/regional universities -where schools perhaps have less funding for interviews.

[woah]

Just thought of something else - for 1 of my interviews last year, the school called my advisor before inviting me for an interview as a "check" I guess. The other 2 schools didn't do this.

[anon]

Most SLACs and regional colleges hold phone interviews; larger R1/R2 universities generally skip this process and invite candidates immediately to campus.

[directv]

I had four fly-outs, none at Ph.D.-granting departments (BA or MA only) and none had phone interviews.

[Guest]

It really depends on the University. I'm at an R1 and the new policy here is that at least 10 applicants must be interviewed by phone before final selection of on-campus interviews is made.

[unclekarl]

Phone interviews primarily rule people out in my experience, and generally do not get one hired. I can see where it would be useful, particularly if a candidate would be expensive to fly out [if Hawaii is hiring, it makes sense to screen before flying someone out]. That being said, I don't like them! I would rather do a video conference, where I can see people's faces instead of talking to several people while staring at the wall in my office.