Illustration 2: "Taking the Candidate to Dinner"

It is important to think ahead before candidates arrive for interviews. The following two illustrations demonstrate the importance of planning for campus visits.

Illustration 2: As a member of the search committee, you are charged with taking the candidate to dinner. You pick up Dr. Toni Michaels at her hotel and head for dinner at a nice local restaurant. During dinner you have a great conversation about each other's research successes and failures. Then the candidate switches the conversation into the personal realm and asks if you are married and have children. When you share that you have two children, she begins to ask questions about schools, family benefits, and University support of working parents. During this conversation, you learn that the candidate is a single parent with 3- and 8-year-old daughters. She expresses that her children are the most important part of her life and that she is constantly seeking ways to balance family and career.

What do you say? What is appropriate to discuss and what is inappropriate to discuss?