The Odd Dynamics of Last-Minute Hiring

In a recent post, I discussed the happy circumstances that enabled my university to fill vacancies left by a late retirement and another recent departure.

This afternoon I looked at applications for one of the positions, and was reminded of how different late-season hiring can be from the process earlier in the year. For one thing, we have to move much more quickly: Registration for fall classes has started, and while it’s not absolutely necessary that we have all courses staffed, it certainly makes things easier both now and in August.

For another, the pool is a little different. Because of time constraints, we had to shorten the application deadline. We also have emphasize regional advertising more heavily than national, because we expect that candidates who don’t have to come a long way are more likely to accept a position this late in the year. There are still very strong candidates in the pool but, clearly, the over all demographics are quite different from our earlier searches.

We need to make these hires. Our programs require the staffing. At the moment, our great hope is that we’ll find strong candidates who will also be interested enough in us to take a late-year opportunity.

How have you found that late-season searches differ from those conducted at the more traditional time of the year?