On several occasions, my institutions have courted prospective faculty members over periods of several years before the timing was right for these people or for us institutionally. Almost without exception, though, the wait has been worthwhile. These folks have proven to be enthusiastic members of our communities.
Sometimes these folks were uncovered in a normal search process, but they weren’t quite finished with their terminal degrees. Some were experienced scholars who couldn’t navigate personal circumstances (e.g., they had children approaching high-school graduation, or aging parents needing assistance, etc.). In several of these cases, we were able to use visiting faculty members to bridge the time gap, allowing us to pursue our first choices. Patience, at times, is a golden resource.
The downside of this is that sometimes delays can occur that create long-term “holes” in departments or even unreasonable demands from rising stars who become petulant through the empowerment of being pursued. Do you know of hires that have taken time but were worth it? Do you know of some that turned into nightmares?
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3 Responses to Timing Is Everything
agoldstein - September 17, 2009 at 6:47 am
The key elements here are to remain flexible and to use good judgement. In some of these situations one must discern the motives of those you court and make a decision as to whether it is better to hire a less well qualified person or take the risk that your temporary staffing vacancies will turn into long-term instability. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to arrive at a certain conclusion. But remaining flexible and keeping in mind that the goal is to find the person who will do most effectively what you seek should help.
geochaucer - September 18, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I benefited from the kind of flexibility that Fant described. Four years ago, my current university contacted me to apply for a position. At that time my youngest was approaching her senior year in high school, so I declined. After a couple months, the university contacted me again and offered, if I was selected as their candidate, to delay my start until after my daughter finished high school. I’ve been incredibly happy (and by various measures, extremely productive) in the new position. And, immodestly, I think the same is true of the school that hired me.
rtclibrary - October 19, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I was once chair of a search committee that existed for three years before the right candidate was hired. The early searchs didn’t turn-up good candidates so we held the position open with an acting appointment until another year had passed. Then when the search was readvertised the great candidate that we wanted was available to leave his previous institution.