4 months to contact about an interview?

JenF910

I work in higher education and applied to a mid-level position at a private university back in early May. I just received an email inviting me to interview next week. Do you think taking 4 months to invite someone to interview is cause for concern? And that they did so through email?

roar

I think it depends on the university.  DH works in higher ed (also a private university) and where he is, there is a ridiculous amount of bureaucratic red tape to get positions posted, reviewing resumes, etc.  In fact, for his department, he wanted to hire an assistant in June (his last assistant was leaving Memorial Day) and he didn't hire someone until August.  The position was posted way back in April.  It just took time to get the description approved, the position posted with HR, reviewing the resumes, etc. 

When DH contacted candidates for interviews, I think he called AND e-mailed.

BlueRibbon115

I was contacted via email for several positions in higher education. Four months does sound like a long time, but I wouldn't be too concerned.

Labbie

A coworker is interviewing for a newly created position at a local university and they warned her up front that they "move glacially" but 4 months does seem a bit long. I guess it depends on the urgency of the position, the workload in HR etc, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it a red flag.

dalm0m

Maybe they have had the need for a while but just got budget approval.  They also could have hired someone else who didn't work out & rather than re-post went back through the resumes they already had. 

Don't overthink it.  Just go to the interview if you still want the job.

SparrowGreen

When I just saw your post title I thought to myself "Not at all uncommon in higher ed..." and then I opened your post and you were asking about a higher ed position...lol.  In my experience 4 months is (unfortunately) not outside of an average wait time to get called for an interview.  It sucks, but I just deal with it since this is my chosen career field. 

Ready4theParty

Agreed.  It's pretty typical.

JenF910

Im surprised it's so common for all of you. At our school we usually post a job the week after the person leaves and have someone starting in the position within 2 months from the day of the job is posted. And it was the same way at the last school i worked at. So 4 months to just start interviewing seemed long to me!

sunshine608

I work in higher ed and that sounds about right. My current position spanned almost 6 months from posting to interview to hire.

I had a previous one in which it took 4 months to get the position approved from HR and post it.

It also depends on the area/department and their "schedule". 

I've also had a position that everything was handled strictly via email. I actually liked it because I felt it allowed the department to remain in contact and it was easier to keep everyone in the loop. I'm sure it was easier on them especially when sending out the reject emails rather than keeping people hanging.