EEO/AA Recruiting and Hiring

Developing a Diverse Applicant Pool

One objective of the search process is to enhance workforce diversity. Diversity is a broad term that includes the common interpretation of gender, ethnic and cultural differences, but also includes philosophical and pedagogical approaches.

Search committee members should make every attempt to assure that the pool of applicants includes qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds. To that end, search committee members should develop a specific recruiting strategy to attract diverse candidates.

Increasingly, networking is viewed as one of the best methods of advertising. Search committee members must recognize that their participation in the process includes far more than screening resumes and interviewing applicants. Every member should develop his or her own personal advertising campaign, which should include personal contact with friends and colleagues outside of the University who may be of assistance in advertising our positions.

Other activities that may be considered include, but are not limited to

  • Target newspapers in areas with large urban populations for release of the job advertisement
  • Identify 15-25 colleagues (3-5 per committee member) from diverse backgrounds, to contact personally for the purpose of encouraging applications or soliciting nominations
  • For Faculty searches, send letters to department chairpersons/center leaders and deans of the top 5 -10 universities preparing doctoral candidates in the discipline of the search
  • Contact faculty at the institutions from which search committee members graduated to seek names of potential candidates
  • For Faculty searches, write to women and minorities one year prior to their completion of a Ph.D program to inform them of upcoming job openings. Letters should clearly state needs and interests of the program and be followed by telephone calls.
  • For Faculty searches, write to women and minorities who have just completed their Ph.D programs (The Minority and Women Doctoral Directory is available in the Affirmative Action office.)
  • For Faculty searches, consider women and minorities who have performed successfully as lecturers, instructors or research associates in the department and at other institutions
  • Attend and encourage other individuals who will be attending conferences, particularly ones that attract large numbers of women and minority attendees, to combine your visits with recruitment efforts for present and future positions.
  • Maintain contact with women and minority BSU graduates who may go on to finish their graduate degrees at other universities. They may be future candidates for positions at BSU and they may also have women and minorities among their colleagues who are potential candidates for open positions.
  • Women and minority candidates must also feel that they would be truly welcome at the institution; that they will find a place in the university committee. Encourage other staff including other minority/women staff members to meet informally with candidates to give them a sense of the institutions. It also helps if the deans, other academic administrators, department heads, etc., make themselves available to meet with the minority and women candidates during the recruitment process.
  • Contact nominees who have not responded, within 15 days from the date the nomination letter was sent, to encourage application.
  • Do not make the following kinds of assumptions about candidates:
    • that a member of a particular racial group would not feel welcome in the community
    • that a woman who pursued her degree part-time is not a serious scholar
    • that military background would make one less acceptable in the classroom or as a colleague
    • that an individual with a long work history might be “out of touch” with current research or methodology
    • concluding that an individual who looks like an excellent candidate will be heavily recruited and therefore make no effort to recruit him/her
    • Also, do not make assumptions about a person’s willingness to move, their spouse/partner’s willingness to move, etc., or the candidate’s willingness to accept a lower salary then he/she is currently earning. Let the candidates decide these issues for themselves.
  • Distribute job advertisement information to professional organizations, including diversity organizations such as the National Society for Black Accountants
  • Place advertisements in journals frequently read by diverse populations
  • Request that the Affirmative Action Office place your ads in some or all of the following media:

Last reviewed July 2007