You do not ask if there is an inside candidate.
I don’t care if you strongly suspect that there is, and have good reason to believe the whole damned search is a completely pointless charade because they obviously already have somebody chosen….it doesn’t matter.
You cannot, and you must not, ask if there is an inside candidate.
Why? Because it’s just Not. Done.
More pragmatically, if there is an inside candidate they will NEVER disclose that (not least because of legality issues). And if there isn’t one, you just look like an ill-informed, paranoid ass who put a search committee member in an unbearably awkward position.
A smart job seeker does not, under any circumstances, ask if there is an inside candidate.
And, incidentally, inside candidates don’t have the superpowers that many of you think. Inside candidates frequently don’t get the job. Read this post, “What Inside Candidates Persist In Doing Wrong,” on why.
I was quite certain that my current job (nonTT research) had an inside candidate the way the job ad was written–a mishmash of very specific research interests and qualifications, but I applied anyway and put forward my best effort in the application and interview. I think it made me much more relaxed for the interview and I saw it more as an opportunity to practice my interviewing skills. Every job search that occurred in the departments I was in as a grad student or post-PhD visitor had some recent PhD, VAP, or similar status applicant in the department who was just certain they were (or should be) an inside candidate, but I’ve only seen that actually pan out once among the 10 or so searches I’ve witnessed inside a department.
this post is amazing.