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    I agree with this. Even though I'm still in the early-career stage, I've seen plenty of searches that ended up with a completely different consensus than what everyone expected going in. The choice seemed obvious on paper, and then seemed obvious a different way after the campus visits. Let your enthusiasm shine and wow them. :) Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 4:31
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    @trikeprof can I ask just what has to happen in the interview for such a change of consensus to happen? Is that common? Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 4:54
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    Not sure how common it is, but it's never impossible. Someone coming across as likable on paper, but not making a good impression in person. An application seeming only borderline, but then the person clicking extremely well with the department. Well-written writing samples and really poor presentation skills. Thoughtful research statement in advance but then no evidence of having actually read up on the department/school. Applications are such a limited way of getting a sense of a person...which is why at the tenure-track level campus visits are so crucial to the hiring process. :) Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 5:06
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    @AnnaB no one wants to hire someone they won't get along with. I've seen two or three people (in one case, on paper, he was far and away the top candidate) that within a few minutes in person we could already tell it wasn't going to work. We had another candidate who by the CV should have had excellent teaching skills and talked the talk in the phone interview. Come the campus interview with sample class, they showed they did not know how to teach. Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 22:09
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    @AnnaB: In some departments different sets of people are responsible for choosing which candidates are interviewed, and which of the interviewees is hired. For example, in my department a small committee chooses the short list, but the entire department (modulo restrictions on rank) votes on which of the short list candidates to hire. And it's quite easy for an entire department to reach a different consensus from a committee. Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 17:29