How do professors follow up on job applications?

Question

My husband is a history professor and he has applied for a new job. He sent his application in 2 weeks ago and I keep telling him to follow up with the committee to check his status. He says that in the Academic World follow up is STRICTLY prohibited! He said that he will not call and that I should not call either. Can someone tell me if this is true? Why can't my husband call the Chair of the hiring committee and follow up on his application or to show interest in the position being offered?

Answer 1

One does not "follow up" when applying for jobs in academia. The job search, application, and interview process is simply unlike that in any other profession. There are rules. One rule is Do Not Pester The Committee. They are working like dogs to narrow down their top candidates.

The search committee chair will call him if he is shortlisted.

"Shortlisted" means identified as one of the top three candidates. Shortlisted candidates then travel to the college, present what is called a "job talk," interview with the committeee, and then sit around and wait until decisions are made.

All applicants, by virtue of submitting their applications, have shown interest. Calling the search committee chair is Simply Not Done, except in one circumstance.

This one circumstance is: If he receives another offer from another university, and is given only a certain period of time within which to accept or decline, then he may contact the first search committee chair and say he has another offer. He may then inquire about that committee's timetable. That's it.

If it is a position that begins in Fall 07, if he does not hear from the committee by May, he can safely assume he did not get the position.

Answer 2

Based on what my professors tell me (some of whom are on hiring committees), you should NOT call the school. This is not because they don't want to hear from people but there's often hundreds of applications for one job. I know a recent philosophy professorship at my school brought in 450+ applications and history I'm sure would bring in lots of applications too (not as a slight to your husband but a specialization in history often translates to a teaching position of some sort like philosophy) and the school would be swamped with calls if everyone called. If you were to call, they'd probably say they wouldn't know and then later find the application and put it in the "reject" pile.

If they don't get back within a month, you can pretty safely assume that they have or will interview other people. They just don't have the time (and money to some extent) to send out 440 letters saying the job went to someone else.