Effective outreach and recruitment is critical to a successful search. Where women or people of color are under-represented within the discipline or job group of the search, we have a specific obligation as a federal contractor to engage in a good faith effort to correct that under-representation. That effort begins with an outreach and recruitment plan that includes efforts specifically targeting women and/or people of color.
Outreach and recruitment include a very broad range of possible activities – advertising in print media, advertising in electronic media, posting with professional and academic organizations, posting with women’s or minority caucuses of professional and academic organizations, sending notice to departments at universities with programs relevant to the position, personal contact with colleagues who might know of potentially interested and qualified candidates for the position, posting with services primarily serving women and/or people of color. All possible avenues should be explored. It is very important that all avenues that are pursued be well documented in the search file.
Specific suggestions for effective faculty outreach and recruitment strategies:
On-Going Outreach
Successful outreach is best approached as anactive and on-going process rather than an effort limited to a particular hiring process. To be successful in attracting and retaining a diverse faculty, a department needs to develop an on-going strategy. Suggestions for such an on-going strategy include:
Establish a department outreach and recruitment committee to identify potential candidates for future faculty positions and bring them to campus as guest speakers in connection with special events.
Encourage faculty, through contacts with colleagues, to identify minority and women doctoral students and post docs; invite them to give seminars and encourage them to apply for positions at UO.
Watch for women and minority students in the doctoral pipeline at professional meetings:
attend sessions at annual meetings where minority and women scholars are giving papers;
make a point of introducing yourself after the presentation;
let them know about your program and about any present and future searches;
stay in touch with students whose area of work is potentially relevant to needs of the department.
Offer post docs to bring in minority or women graduates as visiting researchers.
Consider women and minority candidates with strong potential but limited experience for visiting or other limited-term appointments as a way of exploring the potential while also providing experience that might contribute to making the candidate competitive for a later tenure-track position.
Offer public programming (conferences, workshops, meetings, productions) likely to interest members of underrepresented groups. Make every effort to announce such events in ways that will reach members of underrepresented groups.
Involve faculty in campus programs for minority and women undergraduates.
Involve current women and minority faculty as “magnets” in outreach.
Maintain contact with potential women and minority scholars who might be a fit with departmental needs in order to effectively convey UO’s interest in those scholars and to nurture interest in UO on the part of the those scholars.
In all outreach materials, identify a contact person and provide that person’s phone number and email address so that potential candidates can call and ask questions. Make sure that the person identified is both available to answer such questions and able to do so.
Immediate Outreach
When you have the opportunity to conduct a faculty search, develop a comprehensive outreach and recruitment strategy.
To the extent possible, plan searches to coincide with the availability of potential women or minority candidates identified through the department’s on-going outreach efforts.
Define positions to emphasize, within the context of the department’s programmatic needs, areas in which women or minority scholars are most likely to be active and available (based on above efforts).
Ensure that diverse perspectives are represented on your search committee, both among faculty and students at such point as students have an opportunity to meet candidates and provide input.
Consider outreach and recruitment in the broadest sense. Consider both print and electronic postings likely to reach the broadest possible audience of potential candidates, including women and minorities. Send notice of the position to appropriate professional and scholarly organizations; contact colleagues at universities with programs relevant to your needs, especially those with significant numbers of women and minority students, and ask about imminent or recent doctoral recipients.
Ask all department faculty to identify professional caucuses or organizations that have a particular interest in feminist or ethnic minority concerns relevant to your discipline; contact them for advertising your position or suggesting potential candidates.
Check with the department’s outreach and recruitment committee regarding potential candidates they may have identified through their on-going outreach efforts and send notice of the position to any candidate the committee may suggest.
Send position descriptions and invitations to apply or to suggest potential candidates to:
Universities with terminal degree program in your discipline, particularly those with significant enrollments of women and minority students.
Lists of Ph.D.’s solicited from comparable institutions.
Members of relevant professional organizations (some sell membership lists and labels)
Members of relevant minority and women professional or scholarly organizations (some sell membership lists and labels)
Doctoral candidates listed in the Minority and Women Doctoral Directory and other directories that describe individual potential candidates.
Relevant journals targeted at underrepresented groups.
On-line bulletin boards or other email advertising.
Distribute position announcements at annual professional/scholarly meetings and conferences.
Use career services offices of professional organizations.
Encourage all faculty to do personal networking: write letters, make phone calls, and send email notes to senior scholars, including women and minority scholars, both on and off campus who could help identify qualified minority and women candidates.
Follow up on all suggestions regarding potential candidates with personal letters, phone calls and email.
Describe efforts by the department to infuse and integrate diversity in its programs, the diversity of its student body, and efforts to build on current accomplishments in communications with those from whom you have requested referrals and with potential candidates.
Describe cross-disciplinary opportunities that may exist both within your department or between your department and others at UO that enable candidates, including women and minority candidates, to connect with others across department lines.
When candidates come for on-campus interviews, make certain they have the chance to meet with other scholars consistent with their expressed interests.
Ensure that all interviewees have an opportunity to talk with minority and women students in the program.
The Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity has developed a Recruitment and Outreach Resource Guide to assist with outreach and recruitment including: lists of universities with significant women and minority student enrollment, sources of print and electronic advertising, professional and scholarly associations, and women’s and minority organizations in many disciplines.
