Step 1: Search Committee and Position Descriptions

Form(s) Required: Request to Search form

Formation of a Search Committee

The Department Head or Director¹ of a unit in which a vacancy has occurred recommends a Search Committee to the Dean or Director for approval. Every effort must be made to secure diversity in the composition of the search committee unless it is impractical to do so. There is no required number of members. Departments may have “standing” search committees. As a general rule:

1. Women and minorities should be included as members of the search committee.
2. All internal searches for an academic unit Department Head should appoint someone from outside the department to chair the search committee.
3. Committee members from outside the hiring unit may be included.
4. All Upper Level searches must have a racially diverse search committee.

Because of the unique nature and location of the Extension and Experiment Station positions in the Institute of Agriculture, requirements for search committees and search committee composition may vary according to ability and appropriateness of staffing such committees, and according to other requirements for hiring imposed by State law.

Developing a Position Description

Departments should strongly consider convening the committee prior to submitting the Request to Search so the committee can help develop the position description; however, it is acceptable to submit the Request to Search prior to the convening of the committee.

A properly constructed positions description is critically important. It establishes the criteria to be used for all advertising as well as for the evaluation of applicants. The position description will be used as the basis for the Request to Search form (discussed in Step 2), and must include all required and desired qualifications. As an example, if an advanced degree, specific field of expertise, professional certification or experience in a particular field is necessary to perform the job, the position description should so indicate. At the same time, narrowly-focused requirements that are not critical for the performance of the job should be avoided as they tend to unnecessarily exclude applicants who might otherwise be qualified for the position.

Position descriptions should generally include the following:

• Name or title of the position.
• Employment classification of the position, i.e., administrative (with/without faculty rank), faculty ("Assistant", "Associate" professor), or staff exempt.
• Duration of the appointment and anticipated starting date.
• Salary range or notation stating competitiveness.
• Required² and Desired qualifications for the position. In cases where advanced degrees are expected, a hiring unit may designate time parameters for receipt of the degree (i.e., Successful candidate must have Ph.D. at the time of appointment”).
• Specific job duties, as appropriate.
• Preferred deadline for receipt of applications. It may be useful to include the statement that “Review of applications will begin on (DATE) and will continue until the position is filled.” This allows the committee to consider applications received after the preferred deadline.
• Request for a cover letter, resume or vitae, and references (either names or written references).
• Contact person with name, address, and telephone number (usually the Search Committee chair is listed as the contact person).
• Upper Level Searches must also include in the job announcement the following statement: “Applicants should have a demonstrated commitment to and knowledge of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action.”

Common problems with position descriptions include:

• A designation of a set number of years of experience such as 5 years. This requirement would mean that an applicant with 4 years and 11 months of experience would be unqualified under the terms of the description.
• Extremely limited degree requirements (although this may be appropriate, depending on the position). In one instance, the type of degree program required was so limited it would have disqualified graduates from programs at Harvard and Stanford.
• Failure to indicate whether “experience” includes student or graduate-level work.

¹Titles of the administrator initiating the search may vary from unit to unit. The titles “department head”, “director”, “dean”, are not meant to be exclusive. All units, including the Provost’s office and the various Vice Presidents’ offices are also governed by these procedures.

²Applicants who do not meet the stated required qualifications cannot be considered for Principal or Alternate candidate status.³ Stated rank, title, and/or “required qualifications” cannot be waived without re-advertising the position and inviting all former applicants to reapply.

³As a general rule, this document uses “applicants” to refer to all persons applying for a position while “candidates” refer to those who are considered in the principal or alternate pools.