Applicants who move forward after preliminary (or first round) interviews are often invited for campus visits.
This provides additional opportunities for applicants to showcase their accomplishments and professional qualities, as well as a chance for the hiring unit to showcase its people and their values in action, and to help potential recruits feel welcomed and see themselves as a part of the community.
At this stage, interview itineraries likely contain both assessment and recruitment activities.
– These activities should provide broad exposure and interaction with people within the hiring unit, SoM, and campus and community allies.
– The search committee chair should be clear with all applicants which components of the final interview are part of the assessment. This could include: a job talk, research seminar or presentation, teaching demonstration, meetings with students and/or trainees, and meetings with key leaders in the hiring unit. Provide finalists with a detailed itinerary of all assessment activities, as far in advance as possible.
– Itineraries for applicants at this stage should be identical in terms of assessment activities, including for all internal applicants. For example, if one finalist is scheduled to meet with a curriculum committee as part of their assessment, all finalists should be scheduled to meet with the same curriculum committee.
– Unlike assessment activities, which must be uniform for all finalists, recruitment activities can be tailored to the needs or requests of specific finalists. Similar to assessment activities, recruitment activities should be planned in advance to ensure that all finalists have similar opportunities for making meaningful connections.
– It is important to maintain clear and open communication with finalists before, during, and after the final interview, and it is important to be honest about the unit’s expectations for clinical service, teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, as well as about issues of funding, space, or other resources.
– A best practice is to interview internal candidates first in order to avoid any potential perception that internal candidates have an advantage from having seen firsthand or gathered information about the other candidates’ final interviews.
Tips for successful campus interviews
– Ask candidates some questions ahead of time to help make their visit more comfortable and welcoming, for example:
How would they like to be introduced/addressed?
What accommodations do they need?
Do they have dietary restrictions or preferences?
What would they like to know/see?
Who would they like to meet?
What questions do they have about the visit and process?
– Provide adequate time for meals and breaks throughout the day.
– Allow for transit time between locations on the itinerary.
– Consider lunch panels with a group of faculty, staff and students/trainees in which attendees share something about their work while the candidate has a chance to eat. This provides broad exposure to the department or division, and avoids putting the applicant “on the spot” for the entire time.
– Provide venues for finalists to ask questions in a casual environment
– Highlight campus-wide and community partners and resources:
UW SoM Office of Faculty Affairs (a resource for new and established faculty with a wealth of information on schoolwide career advancement opportunities, teaching and learning resources, and well-being programs)
UW Medicine Office of Healthcare Equity (open to all at UW Medicine, a resource for education, action and transformation to advance healthcare equity)
Teaching@UW (The UW Center for Teaching and Learning supports instructors at all levels, from graduate teaching assistants to full professors and offers a range of programs, including workshops and consultations)
The Whole U (For UW faculty and staff, a resource for holistic wellness, building community, and perks)