3 reasons your faculty searches aren’t yielding diverse candidates

We’ve identified three common mistakes that can be overcome to encourage historically underrepresented candidates to apply for postings at your institution,

In a typical academic job search, the search committee posts an advertisement online, the committee chair emails their friends and colleagues to let them know of the job opening, and then the committee waits to see what happens. This assumes, often incorrectly, that the best candidates will not only find their way to the job listing, but that the advertisement itself will be enough to attract a diverse pool of candidates.

The most successful search committees rely on active faculty networks to identify and create relationships with talented underrepresented candidates both before and during the search process.

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This resource is part of the Increase Faculty Diversity and Inclusivity on Campus Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.

Reason 1: Failing to follow up after informal faculty networking

Cultivating potential applicants can be challenging and there are some common mistakes to avoid. Faculty often attend conferences to network but don’t actually write down or record the names and contact information of promising candidates, making it difficult to remember those candidates when a search starts. If faculty do collect contact information, they may not know what to do with those names when they return to campus. Even if contact information is systematically tracked, there may be no formal process for initiating outreach.

Solution: Have faculty review a departmental database of high-potential recruits before every search, and invite prospective candidates to apply. This helps to ease future searches and build your departmental network.

Reason 2: Underestimating the power of institutional affinity

In addition to relying on…