Strategies for Recruiting Faculty and Academic Staff

• Establish a standing departmental committee charged with thinking about the department’s strategic plans and directions.
• Establish communication and build relationships.
  • Aim to provide a constant, steady flow of potential future colleagues.
  • Develop a process for committee members or departmental faculty to make personal contacts with potential candidates at professional meetings and conferences.
  • Talk with potential applicants during national/regional conferences. Possible meeting times include business meetings, social hours, and informal gatherings of memberships.
  • Write to potential candidates one year prior to their completion of a PhD or EdD program to inform them of upcoming job openings. Letters should clearly state needs and interests of the program and be followed up by telephone calls.
  • Contact faculty at peer institutions and ask to learn more about doctoral students at peer institutions that they are impressed with. Follow-up by calling the student’s advisor to see if they agree about the student’s potential.

Department faculty should send e-mails back and forth letting him/her know that they appreciated the visit.

• Communicate the availability of employment benefits that provide support and flexibility for all faculty members such as career support for dual career couples and domestic partners.
• Communicate the availability of mentorship programs that help junior faculty to prepare for faculty appointments and tenure.

• Include individuals on the search committee with different perspectives and expertise. 
• Members should agree to participate in the recruitment effort, including personal outreach to candidates.
• Consider discussing the following questions:
  • What myths and barriers exist in hiring a qualified faculty member?
  • What other units have been successful making hires and what strategies can we emulate?
  • How can we use available resources on campus to support the hiring of new faculty?

• Consider carefully the language and appearance of ads and announcements.
• Use proactive language to convey that the University of Kansas values Culture and Belonging
• Information about the makeup of the student population.
• Campus and community demographics.
  • Institutional goals that identify commitment to faculty recruiting (e.g., The University of Kansas fosters an environment that is welcoming to all faculty, staff and students.)
• You have something important to sell. Focus on both your department’s and university’s strengths.
  • State that the Kansas City metropolitan area and its amenities are within a short traveling distance.
• Ensure that job qualifications are clear and specific.

• Assemble a packet to send to each candidate prior to the campus visit.
  • brochures about the city from the Chamber of Commerce
  • links to local newspapers
  • a list of attractions/events
  • KU links
    • Department and School
    • About KU
    • Department of Human Resources

Treat each of the candidates you interview personally.  They should go away feeling good about their experience.

• Call the candidate, talk with him/her about their upcoming visit and ask if they have questions.
• Become a voice to them now and a face to them later. They need to sense your sincerity.
• In your discussions with the candidate, learn about his/her cultural and language background and the correct pronunciation of his/her name.
• Prepare faculty and students to be culturally sensitive.
• Airport pick-up
  • Pick-up by a shuttle service is cold and impersonal.
  • Pick-up should be done by someone who can answer questions about what Lawrence and the Kansas City area have to offer in terms of amenities. Many candidates will be coming from larger urban areas and are often nervous about the possibility of transitioning to a smaller community.
  • The person picking up the candidate from the airport should be prepared to make the candidate feel comfortable and relaxed. Candidates are often nervous and fatigued when their plane arrives.
• Hotel accommodations
  • Should provide a quiet, comfortable and clean environment.
  • The hotel staff should be helpful.
  • Wireless internet access is often appreciated. 
• Meals
  • Candidates prefer casual restaurants that are representative of Lawrence and its people over more expensive/sophisticated places.
  • Check on dietary needs and restrictions if possible before making arrangements.
• Job Talk/Research Presentation Expectations
  • Communicate expectations about the job talk in advance with the candidate.
    • Common sources of ambiguity for candidates include:
      • Overall length
      • Balance between actual presentation and questions/discussions
  • Inform candidates of the technology resources available for the presentation
  • Provide candidates 30-45 minutes to prepare for the presentation.
  • Schedule the job talk early in the visit, if possible.

• Good turnout is necessary. It provides reassurance that the faculty care about both the candidate’s research and the selection of their colleagues.
  • Provide challenging but constructive questions and feedback. The department is being evaluated by the candidate and being reputation-conscious is critical.

• Meetings with the Department Chair.
  • Provide an overview about support for travel, research and teaching on campus.
  • Provide an overview of research and teaching support on campus.
  • Provide an overview of the types of workshops on campus for grants, teaching, research (e.g. CTE and the Hall Center.)
  • Provide an overview of employee benefits that provide support for all, including possible career support for dual career couples and domestic partners.
  • Communicate the availability of mentorship programs that help junior faculty to prepare for faculty appointments and tenure.

• Meetings with the Faculty.
  • Provide an honest assessment of the professional advantages and disadvantages of coming to KU.
  • Avoid asking trite questions like “why do you want to come here?” or “what brings you to Kansas”. 
    • A better alternative is to ask specific questions about the candidate’s intended contribution to the department. This allows them to confidentially articulate their current and future plans and helps clarify the department’s expectations about the candidate and the search as a whole.
    • Follow-up e-mails are appreciated.

• Meetings with Graduate Students.
  • Graduate student turnout at the job talk is almost as important as faculty turnout. Potential faculty members want to know they are going into an environment where graduate students will be productive under minimal supervision.
  • Arrange for candidates to meet with the graduate students as a group. Challenging questions about research and teaching are evidence that graduate students are well-prepared and will be good assistants/ seminar participants/ co-authors. However, graduate students should avoid irrelevant questions and to be safe, they should be informed of questions candidates are protected from by law.
  • The department should clearly communicate expectations and traditions surrounding faculty-graduate student interactions. This is especially critical with regard to workload, potential co-authorship, and the sources of graduate student financial support.
  • Potential faculty members want to know they are going into an environment where graduate students will be productive under minimal supervision.

• Other Interview Considerations.
  • Include a tour of Lawrence, perhaps after breakfast with the candidate. Tailor the tour to the candidate’s interest. For instance, if there are children involved, show some of the schools, the Arts Center, the Indoor Aquatics Center.
  • Get to know each interviewee. They should all go away from their campus interviews feeling good about the experience so that even if they are not offered the position, they can become friends and supporters of KU.
  • Include at least a few minutes of unaccompanied time to walk around campus and/or Lawrence. The campus and community will each “sell itself” if the candidate is given the opportunity to explore.

• After each interview, send a thank you note to the candidate.

• After each interview, call the candidate to talk about their visit and ask if they have questions.

• Call again to let the candidate know where the search stands. If the person is your second choice, let them know and ask if they are willing to wait. 

• After the person is hired, continue communication. Make them feel welcome.
• Personally call or email all finalists not selected as soon as the candidate selected has accepted the position offer. Follow-up with a formal letter routed through the Dean’s Office to be attached to the official online offer letter.

• Inform the newly hired faculty member of Relocation and Dual Career Services 
• Extend suggestions for everything from vets to dentists to daycare.
• Make arrangements with IT staff to have computers and other equipment ready before their arrival. 
• Offer to make arrangements to get their computers up and running before their arrival.
• Check with them about library reserves for their classes when you check with them about book orders.
• Ensure that they have assistance learning the norms of the office (making copies, phone, etc.)
• Department chairs and faculty should provide guidance about
  • priorities of new faculty events;
  • forms of internal financial support for travel, research and teaching on campus;
  • research and teaching support on campus;
  • the types of workshops on campus for grants, teaching, research (e.g. CTE and the Hall Center);
  • Early in the semester, discuss the annual review process. Connect them to examples of what an annual review package looks like.
  • Departmental norms on course rotation and new course creation. Also, some discussion of how much input faculty members have on location, times, days of teaching and the norms of teaching summer school – is it required, how it is compensated, etc.

Learn from your experiences. Assemble a list of do’s and dont's and share them.