One may well wonder about any of these issues, but the failure (by either applicants or readers of files) to take an application as an honest expression of interest in an advertised position is simply acting in bad faith, I think. Decisions about whom to interview should never take such concerns or questions into account.

[In the interests of full disclosure, I am on the market, applying for exactly one job, and thus possibly perceived as not "really" on the market. I am seriously thinking of not attending the "interview convention" in my field, in part because the expense of going for exactly one potential interview seems ludicrous, expecially since the position I'm applying for is closer to my home than the airport is. And I am as serious about trying to get the job as one can be.]

We’ve done some phone interviews and many video conference interviews, almost always for one year positions. Then again, my department never makes a long “shopping” list which is then winnowed down to a short “real” list: the interview is the interview. When it’s for a t-t position, we fight for (and get) permission to interview all of our candidates on campus. When the position’s limited term, things are often different and on-campus interviews aren’t always possible.

I’m okay with phone interviews but I’m positively enthusiastic about video conferencing interviews. You can get a real feel for someone’s teaching ability if that’s a top priority, or see how they are at presenting research in a more conference-based format. You can also bring in outside people to answer the interviewee’s questions in the face-to-face format such as the librarian and staff members.

Video conferences also permit many faculty members to see for themselves what’s going on in the “open” part of the interview. We also invite our undergraduate and graduate students who aren’t part of the formal interview process to attend: their reactions are valuable.

The caveat is that video conferences usually require the candidate have access to a facility from which they can teleconference (though, in the age of Skype, more people are able to organize this from their own computers!) and that may still be a hardship for someone who’s in a remote location or dealing with a five or six hour time difference.

I would caution against people judging phone interview candidates, however: in some cases I’m familiar with, we did phone interviews because people had medical problems that prevented their travel, or made it very difficult. (Late-stage pregnancy in December and January is a very understandable reason not to want to fly off the week after New Year’s!) You may not know all of the reasons that prevent people from getting to a particular east-coast (typically) city for a particular weekend in January. TR, I hope your phone and conference interviews went well and get you some great candidates to bring to campus!

(And, Ortho–yes, I saw the review, and I was very pleased. Thanks for mentioning it!)

So–who else has wisdom to share? (Maybe I’ll post the story of my personally disastrous phone interview here later…)