Possible Dilemma. Advice please

[SizzlingSeptember]

If you were had interviews for posts at two different universities and were successful for both, how would you play it? So:

Uni A - already work there part-time. Interview is first. Say, you're successful but you know you have another interview lined up a week later at Uni B, for which you've got a very good chance.

Uni A head of dept will likely (probably informally) ask if you've applied for Uni B job. He's on the interviewing panel but you see each other a fair bit whilst you're teaching/in meetings, etc

Do you say yes to the first job offer, not sign anything until you know the outcome of interview for uni B? Or, do you come completely clean if HOD of Uni A asks before/after interview if you've applied for Uni B post, risking Uni A not giving you the job/withdrawing the offer/putting pressure on you to advise if you're taking uni the first job offer?

You don't, at this stage, know which uni you'd like to work for.

I'm many years outside academia, now in the private sector when the good (and some of the weaker ones, too) are perfectly open about considering other offers.

As interviewers, we ask them to confirm when they will have made their decision.

We are always short of good candidates, though.

As a HoD, I would not directly ask a candidate I was due to interview if they'd applied for a job elsewhere; that would not be appropriate.

However, this situation is not uncommon, and as stated by PP, candidates do reveal that they are in the running for other positions, either at interview (when asked whether they would take the job if offered) or when offered the job. It shouldn't disadvantage you in any way. I've also been in the position of being the "runner up" in this situation and being left hanging for a few weeks while the first choice candidate went through the selection process for the other job (they didn't get it).

GCAcademic - are there not too many variables to consider to honestly answer that question at interview though? For instance, what about salary - which is rarely if ever discussed? It's not like you can reply at interview 'well it depends on how much you'll pay me'. IME, pay is sorted out afterwards, at which point you might decide you don't want the job despite having said 'yes' to that question previously at interview

I've sat on many academic interview panels and it isn't unusual for candidates to say that they have other interviews when we ask them how long they would need to give us a decision if we offered the post. It doesn't worry us and it makes it clearer that we need to keep in mind who we would offer to next if turned down.

Obviously, there is a limit to how long people can wait for a decision, a week or maybe two is fine, a couple of months, no. Ideally, you would want to go into the second interview with an offer from the first, tell the second interview panel you are sitting on an offer, and hope for a quick decision from them.