A while ago I published a post aimed to assist nursing mothers navigate campus interviews. I hope that post was helpful. However, I don’t think we should put the responsibility for an equitable process on faculty candidates. As faculty within the institution we should take that responsibility. Today I thought I’d focus my attention to supporting faculty members who serve their departments through the search process.
The faculty members most intricately tied to the search process, of course, are those who serve on the search committee for that specific position. Departments vary in how they expect other faculty members to be involved in the process.
Committee Member considerations
All of the search committees I’ve been involved with aimed to have a standardized interview process across candidates. Usually training and guidelines like these developed at Harvard suggest this process.
We know that equal is not the same as equitable. Therefore, we must build processes that are equitable while looking equal.
Search committee members play an important part in creating equitable processes. They can analyze the processes and schedules to ensure they will not disadvantage specific populations.
Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Provide Sufficient Time for Breaks
Make sure the schedule has sufficient down time for candidates to have privacy to regroup and rest. Interview processes can be mentally and physically taxing. There are a range of reasons that a candidate may need additional time for rest. They may have a chronic medical condition, they may need time to pump milk or nurse an infant, they may need quite time to calm anxiety or reset to ward off over stimulation.
Provide Safe Meals
Most campus visits include several group meal opportunities. Ensure that all of the locations you’re considering (including the hotel breakfast bar if that is where they’re to eat breakfast) have vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, peanut, shellfish, and egg free choices. Candidates will not want to seem picky by turning down your options, and even worse you don’t want them to arrive at the meal location and have no choices for the meals.
You may also want to provide candidates with restaurant information in advance so they have some choice and can ensure their safety and filling meals.
Reduce Travel Distances
When at all possible consider how to reduce the distance needed to travel between interviews, presentations, and teaching locations. If this is not possible consider how to reduce the impact of distances by providing golf-cart (if that’s a transportation mode on your campus).
Provide Time for Interpreters to Meet with Candidates
If your interview process will include interpreters (either for Deaf candidates or for Deaf faculty members) ensure that the interpreter has access to the candidate materials in advance. The interpreter should have time to meet briefly with each candidate to ensure effective communication and ease of the interpreting process.
Communicate your Commitments Early
Candidates often are not comfortable asking for accommodations for fear that it will impact their changes at employment. Having committee members consider these points and remove potential barriers provides more equitable footing for all candidates.
Once a candidate has accepted an on campus visit, you should provide them with information about the process and schedule as early as possible. Providing information about the schedule, selection of meals, and other accommodations helps the candidate feel comfortable and that your institution will be a welcoming place to work.
In addition ask the candidate needs other adjustments or accommodations . And then enact those adjustments.
Department Faculty Member Involvement
Even if you’re not on the search committee you may be expected or required to attend some events with each candidate. Some departments require all faculty to attend all events. In other cases, you may get an invitation, but you’re not really expected to attend.
Your position type impacts which events are required, expected, and optional. Tenured and tenure-track faculty generally are heavily involved and lecturers may not to be involved at all. In other institutions the hierarchy is much less pronounced and all faculty, regardless of tenure-track status are involved in the same ways. To make matters more complicated these expectations may be unspoken.
If you aren’t sure what to attend ask a senior colleague or your department chair.
As a newer faculty member or just new to on campus interviews (Hello, COVID) you may be wondering what your role is in this process. Remember the interview process is a 2-way street. Just as the department attempts to determine if the candidate is a good fit, the candidate attempts to determine if the department is a good fit.
As you interact with the candidate, consider how their work and interest fit with your department. Also consider how the candidate can enhance the department.
Internal Hiring Decisions
I’ve served on a range of search committees. Usually the committee gathers feedback from all constituents who met the candidate via a feedback form. The committee uses the feedback to make the final determinations about which candidate to offer a position to.
In some departments each tenure-track faculty member may have a vote in the decision for who to offer the position. In other cases, the search committee makes the final recommendation. The Dean reviews the recommendation and makes a final decision.
So, as a faculty member in the department your specific role and the weight of your input into the decision will vary based on the culture of your employment context. Consider how to improve the process. Anyone can bring up suggestions for improving the process.