B3 · Branch B
The faculty interview process
First-round, campus-visit, and second-look. What each round is actually evaluating and how to keep the committee aligned across them.
Key takeaways
- First-round is a research-fit screen, not a teaching screen
- The campus visit is the highest-information event of the search
- Job talk + chalk talk + one-on-ones answer different questions
- The committee debrief should happen within 24 hours
A faculty search has three named rounds, and each one is evaluating a different thing. Conflating them is the single most common search-committee failure mode.
This chapter walks the rounds end-to-end: who attends what, what evidence each round produces, and how the committee turns three rounds of evidence into a defensible ranked list.