Building a pool of potential candidates is one of the most important factors in creating and maintaining a diverse faculty.17 In that a diverse faculty or staff cannot emerge from a homogeneous pool of candidates, it is critical that the pool reflects the skills and attributes of the whole population of qualified candidates.
A: Ongoing Process
Too often, the pool of candidates can be reduced as a result of where the job advertisement was placed and how the job description was crafted. To maximize the chances of success, building the pool of candidates should be an ongoing process that takes place even in years where active recruitment for new faculty and staff is not planned.
The EVC Office provides techniques and methods that might be used to recruit a diverse pool of applicants for faculty and staff positions. Please review the Diversity Recruiting Tip Sheet at https://executivevc.unl.edu/faculty/leadership-development/tipsheets/recruiting-diverse-faculty.
Positions posted on the UNL employment site are also posted at Indeed.com, NEWorks.nebraska.gov, Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), DiverseJobs, Inside Higher Ed, and HigherEdJobs
B: Resources to Build and Maintain a Diverse Candidate Pool
Make use of your networks
Networking should be an ongoing process that builds relationships with institutional and community contacts that have the potential to assist in for diversity and inclusive excellence. The momentum of relationship building operates on consistency, strategic focus and frequent/systematic engagement, even in years that the unit is not actively seeking to hire. Helpful suggestions include:
Faculty:
Foster a relationship with:
- Graduate students and interns. Ask faculty and colleagues from other institutions to identify promising job candidates from their existing graduate students and/or interns. Build relationships with these students prior to the time they are on the job market. Ensure that these individuals have positive experiences in their programs so that they become future ambassadors and offer/provide support for efforts to build a diverse and inclusive applicant pool.
- Your current faculty. Faculty have broad engagement with colleagues at other institutions through professional organizations/associations in their disciplines. Brainstorm and discuss with current faculty about potential contacts they can enlist to promote position vacancies.
- Listserv/Social Media. Explore the use of listservs and position listing services of organizations that serve underrepresented groups in your discipline or field of study.
- Minority Serving Colleges and Universities. Identify and develop relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Institutions that serve Native American and Indigenous populations, etc. that graduate student in your discipline.
- Postdoc Positions. Explore the use of a post-doctoral experience to enhance diversity and inclusion.
- Your current faculties' co-authors from other institutions. They have developed collaborative value with your existing faculty and can act as liaisons to broaden your networks.
Staff:
- Current employees across the university can use their networks and professional networks to help recruit those possessing desired skills, knowledge, and abilities.
- Foster relationships with current interns, guest speakers, community members, etc. to broaden your networks.
- Consult with current faculty to identify promising job candidates from their existing graduate students and/or interns.
- Post to local, regional and/or national community resource centers’ social media, websites, etc. See Appendix VI.
Conferences
Recruiting and networking at conferences is an ongoing process. Maintain a list of associates from general and specialized conferences in your field. Put your department "on their radar" by asking them to apply for a position; or inform them about how your department might appeal to them in the future. Also, identify promising advance stage PhD students of faculty and invite them to provide a presentation or participate in department symposia.
- Professional Organizations with Recruiting Capabilities
A comprehensive listing of potential recruiting sources and outlets is provided in Appendix VI of this document. This is not an exhaustive list, so please use your networks to identify and determine outlets that may be more associated with specific disciplines. Look for discipline specific listservs that will promote a diverse candidate pool. National and Local Agencies for Underrepresented Groups
Advertise with national and local community agencies that serve underrepresented populations to attract a diverse pool. A list of these agency contacts is included in Appendix VI.
17 Bilimoria, D . and Buch, K . K . (2010) . The search is on: Engendering faculty diversity through more effective search and recruitment . Change, July/August 2010, 27-32 .