The Truth About Job Ads and Search Committees

Ever wonder how job announcements are written? “Dean Dad,” an anonymous dean who writes about administrative life on his blog, Confessions of a Community College Dean, reveals how it’s done.

Contrary to popular belief, search committees aren’t just out to make life hard for job seekers. “Hiring in contrast to the ad is a recipe for a lawsuit,” so job announcements often have to be specific and vague at the same time, Dean Dad explains. It’s very important to use language that gives the committee the flexibility to hire the best applicant in the pool, “even if that means going in a slightly different direction than originally hoped,” he writes.

Dean Dad also describes how hiring committees are assembled. “The composition of a committee can affect the choice it ultimately makes, so it’s more than just ‘who’s willing to serve.’” He says he breaks up cliques, whenever possible, in order to avoid “groupthink” and “inbreeding.” The most effective search committees generally consist of professors who don’t work closely together, Dean Dad observes.

So who really gets the final say on who’s hired at his institution? While some deference is paid to the recommendation of the search committee, ultimately, it’s up to the board of trustees to decide who’s hired, he writes. “If everybody higher on the food chain is reduced to rubber-stamp status, there’s nothing to stop” the “hiring of close friends,” Dean Dad writes.