FACULTY RECRUITMENT PROCEDURES CHECKLIST
(forms and guidance available on the Dean’s Office Search Committee Resources website)
Establishing and advertising the position:
____ Dean and Department Head and/or Program Director discuss the nature of the faculty vacancy or possible new position.
____ The Department Head and/or Program Director convenes the department and/or program to prepare the proposal for retaining a position vacated or for adding a new position.
____ The Department Head and/or Program Director submits the proposal for review by the Dean and in the case of a tenure-line position, by the College Resource Council, Cabinet, and the President.
____ If the position is approved, the Department Head and/or Program Director appoints a search committee and in the case of a tenure-line positon, recommends to the Dean three nominations for an outside member on the Search Plan Worksheet. The Dean approves the outside member. Generally committees include three to four department/program members, including the committee chair, and an external member.
____ Prior to the beginning of the search, the chair of the search committee meets with the college diversity liaison to review the Guidelines for Diversity in Faculty Employment.
____ The search committee and its chair draft a position notice and complete the Search Plan Worksheet to be approved by the Dean. The search plan will include an account of specific efforts to seek diverse candidates, including names and contacts for appropriate professional listings, publications, national databases, minority fellowship programs, graduate student organizations, etc. Dean’s Office staff will prepare final copy to include all standard language for position notices and will place ads in The Chronicle, professional journals or websites as appropriate.
Reviewing Files:
____ All applicants will apply on-line through Luther’s applicant tracking system, Hiretouch at https://luthercollege.hiretouch.com. Once the job is posted, the search chair and committee members will receive an email with login information and some guidance about how to navigate the system. Applicant files can be accessed at https://luthercollege.hiretouch.com/admin, using your Norsekey (username+@luther.edu) and password to login to HireTouch. Contact the Dean’s Office staff if you have any questions about the HireTouch system.
Establishing finalists:
____ The search committee conducts Skype/Phone interviews with the top candidates, typically no more
than 12. The ITS Multi-Media Center can assist with the technology needed for these interviews.
____ The search committee prioritizes candidates and discusses its recommendations with the full department and/or program involved. HireTouch has an evaluation tool for reviewing candidate files. Please let the Dean’s Office staff know if you would like to utilize this feature.
____ The search committee chair will fill out a form through HireTouch (JOBS>select your job>FORMS>On-campus Interview Approval Form) to provide the Dean with the names and rational of the top 6 candidates and a combined committee ranking of all candidates. (See Candidate Ranking Form example.) When necessary, the Dean will work with the committee prior to inviting finalists to campus to ensure that a broad range of candidates was given opportunity for consideration.
____ The Dean approves 2 candidates for on-campus interviews for tenure-track searches; for non-tenure track searches, 1 or 2 on-campus interviews will be approved.
____ The ATP Committee must be involved before the campus interview if there is consideration of a candidate’s appointment at a rank higher than Assistant Professor.
____ Search committee chair checks the Dean's, and in the case of tenure-track, the President's schedules (to eliminate days when either are not on campus or otherwise unavailable) before contacting candidates for on-campus interviews. On-campus interviews with Dean and President are scheduled through the Dean's Office staff and the President’s Office staff.
NOTE: For scheduling considerations and cost efficiencies, please allow a minimum of 3 weeks between contacting the Dean for candidate approval and on-campus interviews.
The on-campus visit:
____ Prior to candidate arrival, all search committee members should review the Interview Questions Guide.
The on-campus visit should include the following:
____ a meeting with the Dean
____ a meeting with the President--provide the letter of application & CV 3-5 days prior (tenure-track only)
____ a meeting with the Department Head and/or Program Director, and a closing meeting with the Head/Director or the search committee chair
____ a meeting with departmental and/or program faculty, who should be given the opportunity to respond, usually through completing a written form, to each finalist
____ a formal talk or informal conversation with faculty about the candidate’s scholarly work
____ a classroom presentation to students (faculty may be present), who should also be given the opportunity to respond, usually through completing a written form, to each finalist
____ an informal discussion with students, who should be given the opportunity to respond, usually in written form, to each finalist
____ an opportunity to attend chapel, at the discretion of the department and candidate
____ a tour of the campus (can be done by the Admissions Office trained student staff)
____ a tour of Decorah
NOTE: Whatever is done for one candidate must be done for all; on-campus interviews for any one search should all have the same elements.
Housing and meals:
Dean's Office staff will assist Search Committee Chair in making arrangements for housing candidates and providing guest meal tickets. Payment Voucher forms for reimbursement to candidates for their travel expenses and to members of the search committee for expenses incurred in entertaining candidates are available on the Financial Services website.
Prospective faculty should be entertained at reasonable College expense. To facilitate focused conversations, the search committees should limit the number of people attending dinners to four. Note that the College does not reimburse for alcoholic beverages.
Concluding the search:
____ Final recommendations of the search committee are submitted in written form to the Dean via HireTouch (JOBS>FORMSCommittee Hiring Recommendation). The Dean will confer with the search committee chair on the details of the appointment, and the Dean will then discuss these terms with the candidate. An appointment letter is issued to the successful candidate upon his/her spoken agreement.
____ The search committee chair will be informed by Dean's Office staff when the signed appointment letter has been returned.
____ After the College has received a signed appointment letter from the candidate chosen, the search chair will call those who interviewed on-campus and who have not been chosen, that the search has concluded.
____ A Faculty Search Report (see template) needs to be submitted to the Dean’s Office following the completion of the search.
(updated Fall 2016)