Much of this information has come to me from my colleague Anne Krook. B. Your Audience and the Question of Time. Your interviewers will likely be the chair of the department, the chair of the hiring committee and its other 2-3 members, and perhaps some other faculty who either happen to be at MLA or who happen to work in areas similar to your own. Both are comparatively rare, and 4-7 people is usually what you can expect. Most interviews run 30-45 minutes, but a few may be as short as 20 or as long as 75 minutes.
Committees often aim to be mixed in gender and in faculty rank.
This means that many times, with a little homework, you can make educated guesses about who will be interviewing you before you walk into the interview. It's likely, however, that not all of the people who read your letter, vita, sample, and dossier will be at the interview. It's also very likely that at least some of the interviewers will not have had time to read your material carefully. You will need, therefore, to convey a good deal of information about your work quickly, clearly, and efficiently. Remember that as much as you want them to like you, they want you to like them as well.