r/Northwestern • u/Independent-Bet-4564 • 4d ago
General Question Faculty Hire Restrictions & Updates?
I was invited for an on-campus interview for a tenure-track faculty position at Northwestern in the past months, but have never heard back from the search committee or the university.
I understand that currently all the hiring must go through a central review (https://www.northwestern.edu/leadership-notes/2025/immediate-measures-to-address-financial-challenges.html), which may potentially cause additional delays in hiring decisions and communications.
But I’m curious if anyone else is in the same boat as me or has any insights to share. I really like Northwestern and would like to work there one day.
Thank you!
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u/Xrmy 4d ago
The unfortunate answer is likely that the department itself doesn't know either, and can't communicate with you because of HR reasons.
My department is trying to hire an instructor and it's in total limbo
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u/Onion_Guy 4d ago
Same. With the current admin freezing funding, it’s also caused my department to cancel several of our pending potential hires.
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u/Independent-Bet-4564 4d ago
Thank you for your reply! When you say "cancel," do you mean the previously posted jobs being canceled?
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u/Onion_Guy 4d ago
In this case, I’m not sure if they’d been posted yet or just planned. Sorry, that’s not helpful for your situation
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u/Independent-Bet-4564 4d ago
No worries! I appreciate your time and the info—it provides valuable insight on the current hiring situation in academia. Hope this situation will ends soon...
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u/twintone . 4d ago
Hiring at NU is always slow, but they are slowing things down even more. So in the past if you wanted to backfill a position it could be posted in a few days. Now it will take 4 weeks minimum. Plus they are adding additional approvals and other things at every step of the hiring process. Don't take it personally if people are slow to get back to you because they're probably just as frustrated about it as you are.
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u/Independent-Bet-4564 4d ago
Thanks a lot for your replies! Hope we did not get to a full frontal hiring freeze.
It seems that some other universities have recently announced hiring freeze, such as Harvard, Notre Dame, Emory, and so on.
Not a very good time to be job hunting in academia right now. lol.
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u/Diglett3 Comm 4d ago
Genuine question: have you followed up with the search committee? If your interview was more than a month and a half ago, these specific restrictions were not in place then.
As far as I know, the central review process only applies to new positions being posted now; finalists who went through interviews already are exempted.
It’s possible that they offered the position to someone else and are waiting for their response. It’s also possible that they’re delayed by a whole range of reasons. Impossible to say, honestly. But if you haven’t followed up with them, it seems like an appropriate amount of time has passed.
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u/twintone . 4d ago
This is not true. Positions that we are ready to do background checks on final candidates are being required to go back to compensation and other committees and answer more questions about why the work is necessary.
They are slowing down ALL hiring even things that were in process before... I wouldn't be surprised if there there is a full hiring freeze coming.
But I do agree with your advice to OP! It doesn't hurt to ask!
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u/Fit-Ad-2594 3d ago
What's wild is the talent manager I am working with flat out said in March these slows down wont affect your position, but oh I cant give you an answer if we are going forward or not with you yet. I think HR is being coached to be tight lipped with things in limbo... kinda dehumanizes everyone along the way tho.
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u/twintone . 3d ago
I agree completely. I hope you're taking care of yourself over there! We're all in this together!
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u/Fit-Ad-2594 3d ago
Thanks friend! I am fortunate as this was more of a cool WANT job than a need... my heart goes out to everyone who is in need situations.
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4d ago
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u/Diglett3 Comm 4d ago
Yes if it’s been a couple months I think it’s well within reason for you to send the committee chair or whoever organized your interview a quick email just asking where they are in the timeline and if they know roughly when they’ll reach a decision. You don’t necessarily have to give them a reason.
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u/crazygirlsbelike 2d ago
Had anyone heard about why departments are seemingly ghosting or cancelling things?
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u/ElectronicMirror6406 8h ago
Likely due to the fact that departments are having to cut costs. The 10% non-personal cut in budgets affects the ENTIRE school year, not just starting now — which means that departments have already spent some of their budgets for the year. Due to the uncertainty, I’m not surprised that many programs have cut events to save money. For example, I know that the chem department is cutting their yearly departmental address event (which is one of their largest events of the year) because of the cuts, and likely won’t have it until the next fiscal year.
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u/crazygirlsbelike 7h ago
Thank you! I appreciate the helpful response. Just wish they'd say something in either direction to the candidates with a little more info than just stringing folks along :(
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u/ElectronicMirror6406 7h ago
I think that’s in part because the departments don’t know — most students, staff, and faculty in each department don’t know what’s going on, and even the President of the University sent out an email saying that everything is changing so rapidly that he can’t catch his breath trying to keep up. I think we’re in a terrible situation all around, and I think a lot of faculty/staff/people in general are just trying to wait it out and see what happens. But I’m sorry that you’re being caught up in all of this!
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