For senior-level searches, confidentiality can be the source of high anxiety for both candidates and search committees. The risk for everyone is high: Candidates worry about being "outed"; committees worry about breaking the law. In this column, I will focus on several factors affecting this complex issue.
State Laws
Open-meeting laws -- legislative requirements that public institutions make significant decisions in public -- vary from state to state. Although some states permit a search committee to go into closed session when individual candidates are being discussed, other states require all meetings to be open to the public, including the press. Some state laws make even a president's private correspondence public.
But often the expectations about what committees can and can't do are unclear. In some cases, open-meeting laws are being tested in the courts, making it difficult for a candidate or a search committee to understand the ground rules.
Even within the same state, searches may be handled differently from institution to institution. That is because the stance of the local press is so variable. If the press has a generally good relationship with the institution and doesn't want to investigate the search process, reporters may stay away even though the law would give them broad access.
If, on the other hand, the press has a historically contentious relationship with the institution, reporters may cover the search process aggressively, exercising their right to be in meeting rooms, even with video cameras, or to position themselves outside meeting rooms, interviewing committee members before and after meetings, and candidates as they come and go to interviews. Once candidates have been identified, reporters may go to their home institutions, interview colleagues, and even attend meetings that are open under the laws of the candidate's state.
How should you navigate these turbulent waters? Do your best to anticipate how the process will play out, and make a decision about what level of visibility you can tolerate. If the search is using a consultant, he or she may be able to tell you what to expect based on past searches, or may be able to speculate about the role the press is likely to play.
Pressures on Search Committees
Senior-level searches, particularly for a new president or chancellor, often attract intense interest. Faculty members, staff members, students, the student press, and even trustees want to know the latest news and may put pressure on search committee members. They want to be reassured that all is going well. And they often like to feel that they have information that not everyone is privy to.
Although committee members are usually cautioned repeatedly by the committee chair or the consultant that divulging any information about candidates is a serious breach, leaks may still occur. Some committee members may be careless (telling only one best friend, for example, who is not himself bound by any confidentiality rules and who passes the word along). Or they may want some glory along with participation in the very important selection process, reveling in their access to important information. Or they may lack the skill to say, "I'm sorry, but I just can't discuss that."
For all those reasons, and in spite of the best efforts of consultants and search chairs, committees sometimes leak. Candidates must consider this possibility, and decide whether they are comfortable having their candidacy known. You can seek and weigh promises of confidentiality but there are no guarantees.
Avoiding Lame Duck Status
If you are a candidate considering whether to take the risk entailed by any search, think carefully about why confidentiality is important to you, what you can do to protect yourself, and whether this particular search is worth the risks. A candidates whose current position involves significant line authority (for example, making decisions about tenure and promotion, budgets, or downsizing) may be especially concerned about becoming a lame duck.
If your constituents are balking at your decisions and learn that you are a candidate elsewhere, they may hold the line and hope for your early departure, making it even more difficult for you to do your current job. Candidates who are unsuccessful in several searches may fear that they will lose credibility as a result. They may fear simply that their references will grow weary of taking phone calls from or writing letters to search committee members.
Those are very serious concerns, and there is no panacea. Think, though, about alternative strategies. Before entering a search, be very sure that you have realistically assessed your preparation and suitability for the position. Do not take the risk of visibility when your odds of getting the position are low. (If you aren't sure how to evaluate your preparation and suitability, you might take a look at an earlier column in this series.)
Think about the search timetable and try to determine when the committee will be making its first cut in the candidate list. There is rarely much public interest in a search before that point. If your candidacy does survive the cut, the consultant or search chair may be willing to give you an appraisal of your candidacy. If at any point you sense that you may be dropped from the candidates' list, you may wish to withdraw from the search. That may help you to save face with anyone who might learn that you had been a candidate.
Some very-high-profile candidates are able to gain a kind of deniability in the search process. In extreme cases, a résumé may be submitted by the candidate's nominator; the candidate then allows the committee to review her résumé, but if news of her interest leaks out, she can say that someone else provided her name but that she never sought the position. It is important, though, to remember that only the strongest candidates are likely to be allowed to use this kind of approach. Some search committees may refuse this variation entirely, no matter what your circumstances.
What else can you do to protect yourself? If word is going to leak out that you are a candidate for another position, there is probably a short list of people who must hear the news from you, not from any other source. That list might include your boss, your closest colleagues, and your staff. Plan the list carefully, but don't necessarily use it unless you have to. It would be unfortunate to tell these people one day and to be cut from the candidate list the next. But if you are able to keep these people informed, you will at least be able to explain your interest as well as your continuing loyalty to your current institution.
Do You Really Need Confidentiality?
We all know that networking is a key strategy in job seeking, and if you don't tell anyone about your interest in a new position, how can you use the strategy effectively? For some candidates, interest in another position does not create problems. If youve been in your current position for 10 years, or youre ready for advancement but your boss isn't ready to move out of the way, or youve had an honest disagreement with colleagues or supervisors that makes you need to move on, or youve been downsized out of a job -- you may be quite comfortable with others knowing that youre looking for your next opportunity.
I would caution against broadcasting your interest indiscriminately because that may harm you in the eyes of search committees. They often believe (usually correctly) that the best candidates are those who are not looking for another position because they're so successful in their current jobs. Put together a list of the contacts who can be helpful to you, and consider the best way of making your availability known.
There is no doubt that if confidentiality is important to you, searches are full of hazards. But if youre determined to move on, youll need to take the plunge. The more information you can gather, and the more carefully and honestly you evaluate your chances of success, the more you can minimize your risks.
Jean Dowdall is vice-president at A.T. Kearney Executive Search, which handles searches for senior academic administrators. In the last year, she has assisted with searches at Northern Arizona University, Rowan University, and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. She has also been a faculty member, dean, vice-president, and president at both public and private institutions.
Ms. Dowdall regrets that she is not able to respond to individual questions. However, she welcomes suggestions for future columns at movingup@chronicle.com
