Conducting Effective Faculty Searches

Suggestions from the 2014 Heads and Chairs Workshop discussion

• Find out whether each candidates has any dietary restrictions or preferences
• Think creatively about how to follow regulations. If you are constrained in terms of interview process by your institution, let the candidate know that it is required by the institution, but that you will make it as pleasant as possible. For example, if you must have a proscribed set of questions asked in a group setting, can you ask them at a departmental party?
• Obey the law: don't ask illegal questions. Make sure everyone on the search committee knows what questions are illegal, and that they are never legal (even at "informal" events).
• If there's information that some candidates might be interested in, make sure that you tell it to all of the candidates. For example, you can mention your institution's policy on spousal hires, while making it clear that you don't want to know whether it's relevant to them.
• Act pre-emptively to make it easier to hire one half of a dual career couple:
  • Work with HERC: Higher Education Recruitment Consortium
  • Join the Dual Career Network
• By the time a candidate comes for a campus interview, you know she or he is qualified. You're trying to figure out whether he or she will be a good fit.
• Give your students opportunities to meet with the candidate, and listen to their impressions.
• If you offer the job to someone, make sure it's someone that you believe can be successful. And work with them to make sure that they are asking for the resources that they will need, to be successful.