Faculty members need to come to a clear understanding of what they're actually looking for before the position is advertised. Otherwise, universities may waste time and money bringing in candidates who don't meet their needs. Most academic units advertise in the fall semester preceding the year in which they intend to fill a vacancy. In a highly competitive job market, the search process should start early, including obtaining administrative approval and preparing advertisements. Even a slight delay can leave departments at a disadvantage.
Many disciplines have annual conferences where faculty candidates are screened.
By contrast, some programs forgo conference screening, invite candidates to the campus, and prepare job offers before conference interviews begin, thus removing outstanding candidates from the market. Candidates are often impressed by this strategy. Making job offers before competitors have begun to interview reduces your chances of negotiating potentially higher salaries to meet competing offers. The disadvantage of this strategy is that some excellent candidates may elect to defer an early offer in the hope that they will receive other offers. Each institution has to figure out which strategy is best, but we still recommend an early search process.