Search and Screening Guidelines

Search Committee Guidelines

Role and responsibilities

The committee may assist with the search process by recommending wording for advertisements and proposing appropriate advertising venues. In its screening role, the committee reviews the applicant pool in two or more stages, arriving at the individuals to be recommended to the hiring official. The membership may be drawn from the department only; in specialized cases, members also might be selected from other departments and sources external to campus to best serve the needs of the University.

 

The committee members become familiar with the position requirements and preferences. The hiring official provides a written or verbal charge to members with a search committee chair presiding. That chair commonly has voting privileges like other members, but in certain cases may be appointed to lead the committee without voting.

 

The committee members assess the EEO Summary after Round One, when they have determined those candidates meeting minimum qualifications. Self-identification of protected class status, by race and sex, is indicated.

 

A diverse pool of qualified applicants should be reflected on the log or the pool may need to be supplemented. If the search has reasonably reached the appropriate applicant pool but the applicant pool is not diverse, the search may proceed. If broader recruitment actions would reasonably let the university achieve its goal of diversity and inclusiveness, it should be re-opened to enhance the pool.

 

When the pool is appropriate for consideration, the committee should continue applying criteria as written in all advertising and posting.

 

The hiring official may assign the committee to perform the preliminary reference checks. The names of those to be contacted may be supplied by the candidates or developed by members. References may be sought from any person who has job-related information about the candidate. The committee will use the results as a screening round. Their votes may be positive or negative to advance each candidate.

 

Three or more reference checks are standard for UCF faculty. Two or more must be phone references. Committee member are strongly encouraged to call non-listed references to develop a balanced profile of candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. In A&P, two or more phone references from a supervisor are required; others may supplement this requirement. Documentation of this step should be produced by each participating committee member. This may include use of the Telephone Reference Check Form. Such documents will be included in faculty files, or uploaded as attachments to the on-line file.

 

Committees normally are asked to participate in the interviewing of candidates during the campus visit. The format for recommendations might be written comment sheets, decisions/votes at a later meeting, or discussion with the hiring official, among other methods of communication. If written records are created, they should be uploaded to on-line files.

 

The committee is responsible for collecting documentation of each action taken. This includes criteria applied, action taken on each applicant, and the result of each action (votes to advance, or decline, candidacy; procedures in place; pertinent conversations with applicants during the process). These documents are uploaded to on-line A&P files.

 

Style of the search process

Technological aides can be useful to increase members’ participation in decisions at many steps. Options which are noted below as “approvable” are not required by the EO/AA office. They are offered as possible strategies that may be chosen without need for prior approval.

• Emailed committee scheduling is approvable.
• Emailed “attachments” of minutes circulated for committee review are approvable.
• Website posting of the printed ads, or publication of brief ad wording with a reference to a university homepage posting, is approvable. At least one advertisement must be published on a site external to the university (this may include a website). Other recruitment might include phone calls, discussions at conferences, or other verbal exchanges.
• Conference-call or video-call arrangements for members at another location for one meeting are approvable. (However, face-to-face participation normally is considered the definition of a “meeting”.) This flexibility applies only to meetings where the off-site member can participate fully. If the agenda for the meeting includes such actions as a campus interview, or exchange of reference-call results, off-site participation is not sufficient for including that member in a decision-making action.
• Video or telephone “screening interviews” of candidates by committee are approvable. Note: they do not replace a personal interview for finalists.

 

Stages of the Search: Expectations for Screening

Round One for faculty or A&P always screens for minimum qualifications as specified in the advertisements, recruiting materials, and job announcement.

 

Faculty ads may indicate criteria that can be measured during screening, such as “degree expected by August 20__.” If Ph.D. candidates are acceptable in the applicant pool, use of the wording quoted above is strongly encouraged.