Also having been on both sides of the fence, I have interviewed at places where the employer paid for my travel and some where they did not. The difference between those interviews was that the one who did pay had notice long in advance of the previous person leaving and could budget for travel expenses.

When hiring, I pay for candidate travel if I have any money available - a rare occasion. I have hired with only a long-distance telephone interview and ended up with one of the best employees I have ever had the pleasure of supervising. Yes, the interview was somewhat stilted and awkward because of the limitations of telephone communication but we were still able to get very good responses to critical questions and the candidates professionalism shone through. We were also able to get a very good feel for the persons communcations skills and their ability to overcome the challenges of the situation. For this particular hire, we conducted all of the interviews via telephone because all of the top candidates were long distance candidates. It's not something I would like to do all of the time but it can be workable when necessary.

Elizabeth Moore

Dr. Elizabeth A. Moore
Curator of Collections and Archaeology
Virginia Museum of Natural History
1001 Douglas Avenue
Martinsville, VA 24112

----- Original Message -----

From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Audra Oliver

To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]

Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 11:52 AM

Subject: Re: long distance job search

From both sides of the fence, I haven't found that museums disregard distance candidates, nor have I found them uniformly generous regarding candidate's expenses. Some will pay for travel expense or part of it, others let candidates assume this cost (it's tax deductible if that's any consolation). Although few people will hire on the basis of a telephone interview, I know of at least one instance where that has happened. In another instance, the museum could not fund the candidate's travel but could send the staff person out to interview the candidate. Video conferencing is another possibility. Some will arrange for screening tests at the candidate's local employment office, others allow internet testing/applications.

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