Best Practices for Faculty Recruitment: Education & Toolkit, some components refreshed for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Why is there training about faculty recruitment? Sometimes, new research or new internal data helps us update, streamline or do a better job preparing and conducting the search and hiring of new faculty. Sometimes, it has been a few years since a department was hiring, and other times we have search committee members who are new to recruitment. It is important to remain up to date and operate with the same information, and have shared expectations for the work ahead. 

What Training, Support and Resources exist to prepare and guide faculty recruitment?  There are several sources of preparation. 

  • Deputy Provost for Faculty Affairs & the Faculty Affairs Team (documentation & approval, electronic applicant system, etc.)
  • Search Committee Chairs- instructions and internal resource drive
  • Best Practices Workshops (valid for two years)
  • Recruitment Conversations
  • ADVANCE Faculty Recruitment Toolkit
  • Consultations with ADVANCE
  • College-specific "kick off meetings' and hiring guidelines

Who should attend the Best Practices workshops? ADVANCE Best Practices workshop participation is required for members of search committees, unless they attended last year (if the last time you attended was AY2023-2024 or earlier, please sign up).   Any member of a search committee is definitely welcome to join, as are the staff members supporting faculty search, members of departments who are going to hire a new faculty, department chairs, and associate deans. 

When are the Best Practices Workshops? AY25-26 Workshops will be announced and posted on the ADVANCE events as well as campus events pages.  RSVP at least one week before the date you will attend with this form. 

  • Friday, September 19, 2025 1-3pm, UC 375 Board Room
  • Tuesday, October 14, 2025 10-12, HST L-185 Community Room
  • Thursday, November 20, 2025, 12-2, UC 375 Board Room

What are Recruitment Conversations? "Recruitment Conversations" are office hours with a particular theme. Recruitment Conversations are ideal for someone to brush up on the latest information and ask specific questions no matter the last time they completed a full Best Practices Workshop.

Recruitment Toolkit

For a Search Committee to be a high functioning team, they should be set up for success. 

  • Convene a diverse search committee whose members understand processes and best practices.  Best Practice Workshop attendance is expected every other year because information is regularly refined with new research and processes important for all search committee members to understand and apply.
  • Establish a clear charge to the committee.
  • Ensure search committee members and supporting staff understand their roles and expectations for participation.
    • Search Committee Chairs (or co-chairs) have a critical role in ensuring the process runs efficiently, equitably, and successfully.The experience of being on a search committee should also be inclusive and respectful.
    • Develop a shared understanding of broadening participation, inclusive excellence and a commitment to mitigating bias throughout the process.  Consider how the hiring unit understands and applies the Principles of our Equitable Community - to the search process and the hiring criteria. (See the sections below on Know Your Data and Understand Unconscious Bias)
  • Decide up front how to handle missing information and agree to only review complete applications; be consistent in requesting missing information for any requirements. Reviewing incomplete files should be discouraged, and if missing application components are noticed, they should be handled consistently across all applicants and component types.
  • Ensure colleagues and even students are informed about what the position entails and how they will give feedback.
  • Determine how your transparent and equitable recommendation and decision making processes will take place.

Cornell ADVANCE: Reducing Stereotypic Biases in Hiring

Cognitiver Errrors- Handouts by JoAnne Moody

From UC Hastings WorkLife -Bias Interrupters  Identifying and Interrupting Bias in Hiring

Unhook Pedigree and Potential

  • Over-reliance on pedigree as an indicator of potential as the side-effect of screening out ethnic minorities and people from non-middle class or upper-class backgrounds
  • A study from the Computer Sciences

Videos about unconscious bias and schemas (each is ~5 min.)

Remember recruitment is a verb. After a search is approved and the preparation documentation is completed, faculty recruitment can be thought of as having three phases: Outreach (active recruitment and advertising), Hiring (consisting of evaluating, interviewing, making the offer), and Yield (negotiation, finalizing the offer, and the outcome).   

The Recruitment Outreach Plan describes the strategy to be taken to attract a broad, diverse, talented applicant pool. Consider what the job ad says as well as where and how you advertise and socialize the available position.  Accordingly, it also requests the rubric(s) to be used to evaluate the candidates against the job criteria, and it requests benchmark demographics report.  The University paperwork asks for recruitment outreach plans which name scholars who will be contacted about the ad. It also asks for universities or departments who will be contacted. This is the minimum level of outreach to active scholars from historically excluded backgrounds and to make steps to move beyond network homophily.

Remember to

  • Use a versatile job ad.  Broad position descriptions (rather than narrow disciplinary focus) and welcoming language are a national best practice for attracting candidates.
  • Consider asking applicants to provide a statement on their planned contributions to Lehigh's Principles of our Equitable Community.
  • Encourage applicants to apply even if they don’t meet 100% of the criteria – research has found that men tend to apply when they meet only 60% of the criteria whereas women only apply if they meet 100%.8
  • Place the job ad in outlets visible to diverse scholars.  The University posts the ad on HigherEdJobs.com and the internal Lehigh University Human Resources pages. In addition to disciplinary journals, determine how else to reach scholars from historically under represented backgrounds.
  • Rethink how you network. Everyone should have a role. Will you use social media? What will the members of the department do? Who will do personal invitations for seeking applicants? Will contacts be made only at conferences? Ideally, the long term networking has been in place to build trustworthy relationships with a range of scholars and institution types in order to attract a diverse applicant pool. Develop a plan to do both long term and near term networking and outreach to promote the open faculty position to the personal networks of all committee members and especially beyond. Contact ADVANCE if you have questions about this (especially forward thinking networking).
  • Monitor the demographics of the pool as applications are submitted. 

In order to have a diverse and excellent pool, candidates must first apply for consideration.  Actively recruit broadly and use these tools and practices:
 

Write a job ad that corresponds to the charge and has clear yet broad criteria up front. Do not seek to clone colleagues who are expected to retire. 

Use the Faculty Hiring Job Ad Template. Draft ads will be reviewed for assuring compliance with requirements for hiring a foreign national.

Don't think narrowly, advertise in multiple places, including outlets geared towards scholars of historically underrepresented identities.  

Advertise through Lehigh's Alumni networks, including BALANCE and Lehigh Alumni Pride Association, LANA- contact Alumni Relations.

Decide when and how to ask for the applicant's experience and commitment to inclusive excellence. "A Contributions the Principles of Our Equitable Community" Statement may be requested as a stand alone document or you may wish for this information to be integrated and evidenced in the other application components.  If you plan to ask during the screening interviews of semi-finalists, candidates should be aware this line of questioning is imortant to their role (and thus this expectation to contribute to the inclusive excellence of Lehigh should be part of the ad language.  You may like to reference this document in the ad language so it is clear what Lehigh will do when such a statement is requested: Applicant Guide: Statement on Contributions to Lehigh University’s Principles of Our Equitable Community.

Here is a brief guide for members of search committees describing the purpose and interpretation points for such statements. 

Periodically, Lehigh University employees and affiliates who serve on faculty search committees or involved in the hiring decision making process, may find themselves with a conflict of interest about an applicant or candidate. It is a best practice for such conflicts to be disclosed and for the individual to remove themselves from the deliberations and decisions related to the situation if there are past or current relationships that create a conflict of interest, or could have the appearance of creating a conflict of interest. In general, a conflict of interest would exist if an individual is in (or has the appearance of being in) a position to influence either directly or indirectly a decision that could lead to personal gain for the individual, their immediate family, or any third party to the detriment of the university’s integrity and its missions of teaching, research, service.

Under no circumstances should a member of a search committee provide a reference letter for an applicant.

See the Lehigh University Policy and Definitions of Conflict, Disclosure and which relationships are described. The following list, although not exhaustive, illustrates types of relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest or an appearance of a conflict of interest:

  • a marital, life partner, family, or personal relationship with the individual(s), or their immediate family, being reviewed;
  • a past or present sexual relationship with the individual being reviewed;
  • an advising relationship (e.g., the faculty member having served as the candidate's PhD or post-doctoral advisor);
  • sharing of a common grant or being a close collaborator on a number of common projects with the person being reviewed;
  • a direct financial interest and/or relationship;
  • any other relationship that would create personal gain or the appearance of personal gain

Conflicts of interest shall be disclosed to the search committee and committee chair, department chair, and Dean. It may not be necessary to recuse an individual from the entire committee. The Dean will review the disclosure and will, with guidance from the Provost’s Office if needed, determine if the faculty member should recuse themselves during some or all of the search process and decision making.

Research shows bias creeps in when important decisions need to be made and when time is scarce. Evaluation stages of faculty hiring typically fit both criteria, and it is useful to build in strategies to minimize unintended negative consequences of bias in the evaluation process.   Thus, the following resources can be used as evidence for those biases and as tools to intervene along the evaluation process. 

While it is not required to ask applicants to prepare a statement on their Contributions to Lehigh's Principles of Our Equitable Community, doing so means your search will include amongst its position criteria the capacity to contribute meaningfully (because of knowledge, skills, and plans) to our principles. This statement is an opportunity to for the applicant to describe how they are prepared and will expect to contribute effectively to a learning and research community that holds these principles at its core. 

  • Consult the guide for evaluators about the Statement on Contributions to Lehigh University's Principles of Our Equitable Community it helps explain the purpose  and evaluation concepts of requesting the statement.
  • Ads that request a statement, should direct the applicant to: Applicant Guide: Understanding the Purpose of the Statement on Contributions to Lehigh University's Principles of Our Equitable Community for a Lehigh University Faculty Position. Doing so makes it transparent to applicants what Lehigh will do with the statements they submit.
  • If you have asked the applicants or finalists about their experiences and contributions to creating an inclusive and equitable classroom and research environment, consider that you should not review these statemetns last as a tie breaker, rather they can be part of the holistic evaluation, integrated across and into how the applicant will do their faculty work. EAB published a summary about outcomes related to the stage of review of such statements. 
  • Remember, the search committee won't know the identities of the candidates. Make it transparent to all candidates that they will be asked questions of this type. Be tuned in that scholars from historically excluded groups should not be made to feel as though your department is relying on them to do the work of changing culture and climate, curricular or other change related to addressing institution transformation in support of the Principles of our Equitable commuity.
  • Candidates may ask their interviewers questions about individual, department, college and the university commitments to inclusive excellence, so be prepared.
  • RUBRICS on which to assess Contributions can be tailored to your needs. Consider starting with:

  • Ideas for Interview Questions : suggestions to ask the semi-finalists and/or finalists about their awareness, commitment, knowledge, experience, and future plans may include, but are not not necessarily limited to, considerations of the following:

    • What does it mean to have competencies and plans to contribute to the Principles of our Equitable Community, and how would you develop and/or apply your your knowledge and skills to our university?

    • How has your individual path equipped you to engage in work among your students and colleagues which fosters or embodies the Principles?

    • How do you encourage those who may be under-represented in your field to become involved? Why might this be important?

    • How do you address and incorporate strategies that include varied identities, viewpoints, and experiences in your research, teaching materials and methods, and service?

    • How have you worked with faculty, staff and others to foster the creation of an environment that’s welcoming to all in the classroom, in the curriculum, and in the department? 

    • In what ways have you integrated learning about historical and contemporary systems that shape both barriers and opportunities for members of different groups as part of your professional development? How do you explore factors and practices that foster thriving and welcoming learning and research environments? 

    • Is the candidate at ease discussing issues related to the Principles and their significance to the position, or is there reluctance? 

    • Does the candidate address all the members of the interview committee?

    • If there is a teaching talk or proposed syllabus, is there evidence of inclusive pedagogical practices (diverse authors, universal design, inclusive case studies, etc.) in the materials?

    • Are there concrete examples and experiences to apply to Lehigh’s context? Are they rooted in perceived deficits or can they change practices, norms, policies and systems to be more inclusive and equitable? 

Once permission to interview is granted, whether offsite, by phone, or the final on campus interview, there are guidelines on how to execute an effective interview process. Remember some questions are illegal, and the candidates are interviewing Lehigh just as much as Lehigh is interviewing them. 

  • Guidelines for Interview Questions is a useful reminder about questions that are and are not OK to ask. Remember these apply even at off-campus meals and in virtual interviews. Share these with everyone who will interact with a candidate.
  • Some or all parts of interviews may be conducted with remote technology. Here are tips about maintaining consistency and equity in virtual interviews from HERC and UMBC. Review best practices for inclusive online meetings and presentations and LTS Knowledge Base for using Zoom.
  • Provide the candidate a copy of or a link to the Resources and Information for Faculty Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Support and Success and other materials important to understanding the college, departent and program.  Ideally this should be shared before the candidate arrives in town; if physical copies are used, you can have it available at the hotel upon check-in. 
  • Aim to conduct a structured type of interview so that all candidates experience similar questions, meetings, breaks, interview duration, etc.
  • Choreograph the interviews: determine the question set, question order, who will ask which questions. Do remember some common questions will be helpful across candidates and there will be candidate-speciific questions to ask as well. This shows you've read and understood each candidate's work
  • Interview, whenever possible, in pairs.
  • When developing the final interview agenda, provide the candidate the option to interact with other offices and people. For example, the list may include faculty from interdiscipinary programs, contacts across various campus affinity groups, etc. Share this list to the interviewee when building the schedule with their input. 
  • Roll out the red carpet, allow ample time to travel from one location to another and for meals and for bio-breaks. Have a plan to escort the candidate from location to location. 
  • Consider the timing of the candidate's talks: one suggestion of scheduling the research talk early in the day may reduce repetition of standard information by the candidate and builds on shared experience by attending the talk. 
  • Ensure individuals on the agenda (and who will give evaluative feedback) are aware of the position description, are knowledgable of the criteria for hiring, have read the candidate's CV, and are aware of illegal questions.
  • Be sure everyone interacting with the candidates uses the correct name pronunciation and pronouns of the interviewee. If you aren't sure, you can ask and include the information in the materials used by all those meeting with the candidate.
  • Ask if there are dietary, mobility or other accommodations necessary for their visit. It is not appropriate (and is potentially illegal) to ask WHY they need this accommodation.
  • Request to Schedule the Meeting with Faculty Recruitment Ambassadors-  This 30 min meeting is called the "Faculty Success, Diversity, Inclusion Resources Meeting". This session, which is not evaluated, provides the candidate an opportunity to ask any question to a pair of prepared Faculy Recruitment Ambassadors, and to learn about key University & Diversity-Inclusion-Equity Resources. To arrange this meeting, use the link on the Ambassador Information Page, and await confirmation. These should be scheduled no sooner than a week before the date of the interview, and ideallly as far in advance as possible when the dean is scheduled to meet the interviewees.

During the final interview (i.e. the 'campus visit'), candidates should have on their schedule a 30-minute confidential, non-evaluative meeting to learn more about the University, the region, and to ask any questions they may have. 
The resources below should be shared prior to their visit, and will anchor the discussion.  When the pair of Faculty Recruitment Ambassadors meet the candidates, the candidate's interest in any of these topics can drive the discussion. 

After the search committee makes its recommendation, usually the department chair and dean are involved in negotiating and closing the search. 

  • Documentation must be collected, including the number women and underrepresented minority candidates who were part of the process at each stage of the search (full applicant pool, semifinalists (long list/phone interview), finalists (short list/campus visit), final offer, accepted/declined). 
  • Use the form(s) described in the Checklist to properly finalize the search and submit any explanations for declined offers. 
  • Negotiation: remember that there can be stereotypes and biases associated with negotiations as well. Provide candidates full information about graduate student support, travel stipends and other components of the start up package. 
  • Attend a Lessons Learned session and share what worked and what helps us do better. 
  • Follow-up in a timely manner, even for people who are no longer being considered for the position.

Once an individual accepts a Lehigh position in writing, keep in touch with them to support their transition. 

Much has been written about onboarding; keep these principles in mind. The department chair should keep in touch periodically between the time the offer letter is signed and the through the initial period on campus. 

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/05/02/ways-colleges-can-meet-needs-changing-faculty-demographic-opinion

https://www.facultydiversity.org/cultivate-belonging?utm_content=98841139&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-1924050589

 

Some items below straddle retention or student recruitment, though they have lessons important to faculty hiring.
  • White-Lewis, D.K., O’Meara, K., Wessel, J. et al. Making the Band: Constructing Competitiveness in Faculty Hiring Decisions. Res High Educ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09779-6
  • O’Meara, K., Templeton, L. L., White-Lewis, D. K., Culpepper, D., & Anderson, J. (2023). The Safest Bet: Identifying and Assessing Risk in Faculty Selection. American Educational Research Journal, First published online February 1, 2023. [PDF]
  • Culpepper, D., White-Lewis, D. K., O’Meara, K., Templeton, L. L. & Anderson, J. (2023). Do Rubrics Live up to Their Promise? Examining How Rubrics Mitigate Bias in Faculty Hiring, The Journal of Higher Education. [PDF]
  • White-Lewis, D. (2021). Before the ad: How departments generate hiring priorities that support or avert faculty diversity. Teachers College Record, 123(1). [PDF] [Video]
  • White-Lewis, D. (2020). The facade of fit in faculty search processes. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(6), 833-857. [PDF]
  • Fries-Britt, S., & White-Lewis, D. (2020). In pursuit of meaningful relationships: How Black males perceive faculty interactions in STEM. The Urban Review, 52(3), 521-540. [PDF]
  • O’Meara, K., Culpepper, D., & Templeton, L. L. (2020). Nudging toward diversity: Applying behavioral design to faculty hiring. Review of Educational Research, 90(3), 311-348.  https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654320914742
  • O’Meara, K., Fink, J., White-Lewis, D. (2017). Who’s looking? Examining the role of gender and rank in faculty outside offers. NASPA Journal about Women in Higher Education, 10(1), 64-79. [PDF]
  • Liera R., Ching C. (2019). Reconceptualizing “merit” and “fit”: An equity-minded approach to hiring. In Kezar A., Posselt J. (Eds.), Administration for social justice and equity in higher education: Critical perspectives for leadership and decision-making. New York, NY: Routledge. [LINK]
  • Bastedo, M., Bowman, N., Glasener, K. & Kelly, J. (2018) What are We Talking About When We Talk About Holistic Review? Selective College Admissions and its Effects on Low-SES Students, The Journal of Higher Education, 89:5, 782-805, DOI: [LINK]

Look at this list of citations, https://larremorelab.github.io/facultyhiring/ Organized by Waterman Prize winner Daniele Larremore. He describes this as "...a place to collect the reserach and data from faculty hiring network studies. There are lots of studies on faculty hiring. They use a variety of different methods and have deep roots across various fields."

Lehigh ADVANCE hosts this toolbox of resources to enhance faculty recruitment processes, practices and the diversity of the outcomes, with special attention paid to issues of interdisciplinary faculty. Additionally, each year we host workshops for search committee members.