Georgia Southern University
Search Procedures

Building Diverse Applicant Pools

The Legal Framework

As an equal opportunity institution, Georgia Southern University is committed to nondiscriminatory practices consistent with federal and state requirements and objectives, including Executive Order 11246, as amended, Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1974, Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1974, as amended (#38 USC 2012), Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and their implementing regulations.

Role of the Search Committee

The search committee is charged with making concerted efforts to build applicant pools that include qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds.  The search committee chair develops a recruitment strategy to accomplish that goal. When developing the recruitment strategy, the search chair should remember that although conventional advertising methods are valuable, they are usually not as effective as personal contacts with potential candidates.

Knowing that qualified minority and female applicants cannot be hired unless they are included in the applicant pool, efforts must be made to actively recruit qualified applicants from underrepresented groups through recruitment efforts that are race and gender conscious. The dissemination of the ad is an important element of effective recruitment efforts to build diverse applicant pools. Thus, acting affirmatively in recruitment will require that the search committee do more than simply place ads and wait for candidates to contact the search chair because outstanding candidates may not, initially, apply for advertised positions but may do so after being encouraged and invited to apply by a member of the search committee or a faculty colleague.

Specific Practical Steps for Recruiting a Diverse Applicant Pool:

Search committees should consider using as many of the following options as feasible when developing their recruitment strategies:

a.  Options presented by professional and academic organizations
Professional and academic organizations often include subcommittees or caucuses on women and/or minorities that may provide lists of members who may be invited to apply for the vacant position. In addition, organizations provide opportunities for recruitment through national and/or regional meetings, newsletters, journals and other professional publications, electronic mailing lists, job placement services, and discipline-focused publications through which the position vacancy could be disseminated. Recruitment efforts should include the dissemination of the position vacancy announcement through as many media options as are offered by the discipline-focused academic and professional organizations.
 
b.  Direct contacts with potential applicants, colleagues, and academic administrators
While outlets presented by professional and academic organizations are important in the pool-building efforts, search committees should not ignore the proven benefits of direct contacts with potential applicants from women and minority-serving institutions. Such contact should focus on encouraging applications and/or soliciting nominations from women and members of minority groups. Both members of the search committee and department colleagues can take an active part in contacting colleagues at other universities to solicit nominations of persons from under-represented groups who might be interested in the vacancy. Recruitment efforts can include the distribution of the position vacancy announcement at academic and professional meetings to persons from underrepresented groups. However, be advised that conversations with potential candidates at professional meetings should not be viewed as formal interviews for the position. Direct contacts can also include the distribution of the position vacancy announcement by the search committee to department chairs, deans, graduate coordinators, and other university administrators in the discipline, particularly those at institutions noted for producing relatively significant numbers of graduates in the discipline or related disciplines. This may require some research by the search chairs, with assistance from the Diversity Services Office, to identify those institutions with strong records in awarding terminal degrees to women and minorities. Search chairs are expected to contact, either by personal contact or through a mailed position announcement, any individuals identified by the Diversity Services Office from its databases of female and minority candidates.

c.  Using information from previous searches
Reviewing the results of past departmental searches can be effective in identifying potential candidates for the position vacancy. Question recent hires who are women and members of minority groups, the search committees for those searches, and other individuals involved in the searches about the recruitment strategies used in those searches. Successful recruitment strategies should be repeated. In addition, search committees can contact applicants from previous or related searches who are women and members of minority groups to encourage them to apply or provide nominations. The archived search materials from previous searches can be obtained by contacting the Provosts Office at 478-0692.

d.  Other Options
Search chairs should, when appropriate, explore the options presented through newspapers and publications with diverse readerships and can take advantage of publications and web sites that specialize in the recruitment of diverse faculty members. The Diversity Services Office can serve as a resource in identifying appropriate channels for such efforts.

Departmental and college web sites can be used effectively as recruitment tools; efforts should be made to include information about the department’s and college’s commitment to diversity.

Role of the Diversity Services Office

The Diversity Services Office is charged with, among other duties, assisting with the enhancement of faculty and staff diversity, accomplishing the University’s affirmative action goals, and ensuring compliance with federal and state laws and regulations governing employment processes. As such, the Diversity Services Office will work directly with the search chairs and the Provosts Office in developing effective recruitment strategies and serving as a resource for administrators in the hiring process. When appropriate and available, the Diversity Services Office will identify potential female and minority candidates from databases that it maintains. In addition to the databases, the Diversity Services Office will assist the search chairs in identifying graduate institutions that have traditionally produced significant numbers of female and minority candidates with terminal degrees in the fields being searched.

The Diversity Services Office maintains, on its web site, a list of resources available for use by search chairs in the recruitment process. Those resources include a listing of potential outlets for the dissemination of the position vacancy to reach a diverse pool of potential applicants. Search chairs are encouraged to take full advantage of those resources in developing their recruitment strategies.

The Diversity Services Office will assist the search chairs in reviewing the results of recent searches by identifying searches for which the applicant pools contained female and minority applicants. Research assistance will also be provided in the identification of organizations and professional caucuses targeted toward women and members of underrepresented minorities.

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