10 Essential Guidelines to Successfully Chair a Search Committee

A search committee’s decision will designate a new colleague and collaborator, change the composition of a department, and even guide the future of an institution. Such a momentous decision is a privilege to be involved in, yet it is naturally vulnerable to tension and controversy. Search committee members are likely to disagree about the needs and priorities of the department. One overly personal question or line of conversation during a campus visit could put the search into legal jeopardy. Therefore, search committee chairs must carefully plan for all contingencies. This article provides sample search committee materials and synthesizes advice on best practices for search committee chairs from two deans, a human resources professional, and an academic job search book author and consultant.

Below are ten essential considerations for anyone chairing or assisting with an academic job search:

1. Institutional Guidelines and Assistance: Ideally an institution will have written guidelines on every aspect and step of the search process (For an example of hiring guidelines, see Michigan State University’s Faculty Search Toolkit). If there is not a central hiring document, then the chair will need to consult with human resources, the diversity office, the dean or hiring authority’s office, the disability office, legal counsel, and/or other appropriate offices. The search chair may need multiple parties’ approval on everything from the job description and the committee members to the ranked list of which applicants could be offered the position. Also, the chair should not be shy about getting assistance with the search. Dr. Christopher D. Lee, who has served as a chief human resources officer at five different institutions, says “It’s nearly impossible to do the work well without help. The HR department, the diversity office, the appointing authority, some administrative help, and others may be resources to help one do the work well. Not asking for and using others to assist makes the job harder than it has to be.”
2. Professional Requirements, Tenure Guidelines, and Decision-Makers: The chair and committee members should have a firm grasp of the professional requirements for the role (required and desired qualifications), including tenure guidelines. Dr. Kevin Sanders, Dean of the School of Music at Baylor University, states that the chair should meet with the “dean to discuss [the] expectations and priorities of the committee, and how the new hire should align with institutional goals.” In most searches, the dean, provost, or other decision-makers will have the right to reject or overrule the committee’s recommendation.
3. Agree as a Group on Criteria and Rubrics: Dr. Sanders states “A fair process starts at the beginning — with the establishment of clear, objective, and measurable position criteria for evaluating candidates. This should be done before the review of any applications. Committee members need to evaluate candidates with a common understood language, so using a standardized evaluation form or rubric can help assess candidates consistently and fairly.” For suggestions on how to use rubrics to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, Dr. Kathy Oleson, a dean at Reed College, recommends Dawn Culpepper et al.’s article “Do Rubrics Live up to Their Promise? Examining How Rubrics Mitigate Bias in Faculty Hiring.”
4. Fairness and Consistency: Every candidate should be asked the same questions and be guided in how to fill the same time span. Committee members should be reminded that improvising an additional question that goes even a little bit beyond the scope of the original question will give a candidate an unfair advantage. Sending candidates questions ahead of time with a suggested time limit for their answers is an inclusive practice that can help bring out the best in each candidate.
5. Legal Considerations: Anyone involved in the hiring process should be reminded of federal, state, and institutional hiring laws and guidelines, including which groups and statuses are protected from discrimination, and how to treat applicants with disabilities who may request accommodations within the hiring process. Generally, these regulations mean that applicants should never be asked personal, medical, or disability-related questions in interviews. Even trying to assist candidates by directly asking them “do you have a diagnosed or self-diagnosed disability?” forces candidates to disclose private medical information. Instead, candidates should be invited to voluntarily disclose that they have a disability on the initial application form. Those who voluntarily disclose a disability should be informed of what the hiring process entails, that they do not need to discuss their disability with the committee, and that they are entitled to reasonable accommodations in the interview process. Every institution (and disability office) will have different procedures for how to approve and arrange accommodations and how to discuss an applicant’s disability once a job offer has been extended. For some examples of how disabilities may legally be treated in the hiring process, see Stanford University’s Accommodations During the Hiring Process. While this resource is aimed at job applicants with disabilities, it contains many examples and details that are useful to employers.
6. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Affirmative Action: Some institutions may be equal opportunity employers; others may support affirmative action; and others may have a unique diversity, equity, and inclusion statement. Some deans and decision-makers will require that part of a committee’s hiring criteria and/or final report include how the recommended hires reflect diversity and/or affirmative action. Dr. Sanders suggests that “If implicit bias training is available at your institution, consider having the entire search committee participate to raise awareness and provide strategies for mitigating bias. Oregon State University has an excellent series of Search Advocate Workshops that are a terrific resource and are offered online for OSU and guest participants.”
7. Forming the Committee: “If you want a rich discussion of the candidates that encompasses different viewpoints, then assemble a search committee that is diverse in backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives,” Dr. Sanders advises.
8. Give Applicants a Clear Picture: A salary range, start date, submission deadline and procedure, and desired v. required qualifications should all be spelled out in the job posting.
9. Take Time and Coordinate People’s Calendars: A productive hiring process can take a great deal of time; it is no wonder that the classic academic search spans one year. Dr. Oleson says, “Hiring is quite important. For many searches (e.g., tenure track faculty hires), you are hiring a colleague who you hope to work with for many years. Take the time to build a robust, diverse pool.” This might mean advertising on different platforms, including social media, and giving potential candidates a long time, even four or five months, to submit their application. At the same time, it is vital to tightly coordinate the committee and other decision-makers to propel the hiring process forward. Dr. Lee says, “If one doesn’t tie down days and times for the duration of the process, the scheduling of all parties can quickly unravel…[the search] takes too long, and…candidates [are lost].” A sample timeline can be found in Virginia Tech’s search process document.
10. Timely Communication: The timeline for each step of the search should be made clear to applicants. Months after a first interview, an applicant might be left wondering about whether they have been silently rejected, or if the search is simply stalled. That uncertainty might lead a candidate to commit to another job offer or to continuing at their institution. Dr. Karen Kelsky, author of “The Professor is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD Into a Job,” says that one of the “biggest [problems] in academic hiring is “Not responding to applicants in a timely and courteous manner.”

A failure to plan, agree upon criteria, or execute the search process in a timely fashion can, unfortunately, doom a search. One last piece of advice is that an inexperienced search chair should consult with someone at their institution who has conducted a successful search. An insider’s knowledge, and perhaps even sample materials from another search at the same institution, will help a chair conduct a search with confidence.