This overview of the College of Engineering’s faculty hiring process highlights essential steps, timing, and best practices for creating an equitable hiring process.
The process outlined below describes the interactions between hiring units and the College. It includes the responsibilities of the department chair, search committee chair, search committee members, the assistant to the chair (ATC), and the College of Engineering’s Human Resources and Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE). Please follow these steps to ensure a smooth and equitable hiring process.
1. Submit a hiring plan to CoE HR
Follow the instructions shared by the CoE Human Resources team via email. If you have any questions, please reference the Procedure for initiating a new faculty search webpage.
2. Establish search committee
A critical first step in an inclusive hiring process is to follow best practices for forming and preparing the search committee.
Department Chair assembles and charges the search committee
It is important that the department chair officially charges the committee and explains the full scope of the committee's work on behalf of the unit.
Assistant to the Chair (ATC) submits names, titles and email addresses for search committee members to OIE.
- In your email to OIE, include the search committee chair and the department staff support person (e.g., the person handling Interfolio actions on behalf of the committee, typically the department ATC).
- OIE will provide preparatory resources for search committee members to review before moving on to the next steps in the search process.
Hold initial search committee meeting(s)
- Identify roles for search committee members collectively and individually (e.g., some members may be asked to pay particular attention to specific issues such as research, teaching, service, mentoring, inclusion, leadership, etc.)
- Ensure that there are different types of search committee members (e.g., students, staff, people outside of the hiring unit, faculty, etc.)
- Review the search committee goals for and charge as outlined in the Dean’s charge letter.
- Begin to develop a recruitment and assessment plan.
- Discuss evaluation criteria:
- Determine how many elimination stages will take place (e.g., minimum qualification evaluation, first downsample, etc.). Create a rubric and evaluation criteria for each stage.
- Define desired skills, experiences and characteristics for the role along dimensions of interest (e.g., research, teaching, service, mentoring, inclusion, leadership, etc.)
- Clarify how each dimension will be assessed
- Differentiate rubric criteria by rank if conducting an open rank search
- Ensure that all committee members have reviewed the Handbook of Best Practices for Faculty Searches.
- Designate a member to draft the job ad and another member to draft the rubric
Refer to Academic Personnel & Faculty resources
For guidance on Planning a Hire
Refer to the Inclusive Excellence handbook
For guidance on writing a job ad and building assessment rubrics, review "Outreach" and "Assessment"
3. Finalize evaluation rubric and job ad
A commitment to recruiting and hiring from a robust pool of candidates requires aligning the faculty search process and search committees with evaluation rubrics, job ads and a clear evaluation process.
Committee reviews evaluation rubric draft
- Determine how many elimination stages will take place (e.g., minimum qualification evaluation, first downsample, etc.).
- Create rubric and evaluation criteria for each stage.
- Define desired skills, experiences and characteristics for role along dimensions of interest (e.g., research, teaching, service, mentoring, inclusion, leadership, etc.)
- Clarify how each dimension will be assessed
- Differentiate rubric criteria by rank if conducting an open rank search
Submit rubric to the Office of Inclusive Excellence
Once the committee has agreed on a rubric draft, submit it to OIE via email.
OIE may recommend significant changes to the rubric. If that is the case, review the "Assessment" section of the Handbook of Best Practices for Faculty Searches. You may also look at the online toolkit to help guide the editing process.
Once the review is complete, OIE will forward the rubric to the Dean for final approval. The Dean's approval is required for all rubrics.
Specify which application materials will be requested in the job ad
- Ensure application materials reflect dimensions evaluated in the rubric
- Instead of requesting letters of recommendation in the job ad, request a list of references. Review references or letters of recommendation after the initial round of cuts or after the preliminary interview stage
- Enable applicants to clearly address dimensions evaluated in the rubric
- Identify the purpose of each item submitted as part of the application.
- Outline the ideal elements applicants should address in their research, teaching, and diversity statements (See CRC’s HR and Employment Checklist for guidance on Diversity Statements from Applicants).
- Share this information in the job ad or via an informational document that can be linked in the job ad or other recruitment materials. This step promotes a more inclusive experience by providing candidates with tailored mentoring throughout their faculty application process. This step also promotes the alignment of application materials with the evaluation rubric.
Review the draft job ad
- Review the job ad and rubric as a committee to ensure the following:
- Include equitable language throughout, using recommendations from UW Marketing and Communication’s (UMAC) Equitable Language Guide
- Map rubric evaluation criteria onto the job ad application elements
- Confirm what you need for evaluation has been requested via the job ad
- Review Academic Personnel and Faculty's job ad guidance on common reasons Interfolio ads send back
- Determine where the ad will be placed, ensuring visibility among a broad pool of potential qualified candidates.
Finalize and submit the job ad
- ATC confirms that the ad meets COE HR requirement
- Confirm ad placement locations. You may choose to post the ad to the Chronicle of Higher Education's employment website in lieu of running the ad in a national print publication. The ad must appear on the Chronicle's website for at least 30 days.
- ATC submits the advertisement in Interfolio
- Once the ad is approved by the Office of Academic Personnel and Faculty, the unit will receive a notification.
ATC submits priority deadline to Office of Inclusive Excellence
Please email the OIE team with these details.
Refer to the Inclusive Excellence handbook
Review "Assessment" for guidance on effectively developing and measuring criteria relating to unit priorities.
The Online Toolkit for Faculty Searches also offers sample job ads and additional informational resources.
4. Generate a robust applicant pool
Search committees and the hiring unit should actively engage in generating a robust applicant pool and check in with the Office of Inclusive Excellence at their priority review deadline.
Review the data on the expected applicant pool composition
- The College of Engineering provides units with national data from American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) on hiring pools by field
- Search Committees review ASEE pool data provided by the CoE
Advertise and recruit a robust applicant pool
Follow best practices for recruiting:
- Actively recruit
- Proactively and consistently engage in active recruiting and relationship building to identify a robust applicant pool
- Engage in relationship building over multiple years (e.g., connecting with students early and often in their academic careers before they become eligible for faculty positions)
- Create a recruitment plan that:
- Includes active recruitment efforts to broaden the candidate pool.
- Identifies where ad will be disseminated.
- Encourages individual faculty members to share job ad, including but not limited to:
- Meeting with individuals during invited talks and conferences
- Making 1:1 contact with individuals
- Asking people for recommendations
- Engaging in personal outreach to relevant and diverse organizations
- Shares timeline for recruitment activities
- Actively advertise and network for the position and recruit potential applicants.
- Solicit suggestions for potential applicants from a wide network.
- Dept chairs in other Engineering Colleges
- Affinity groups
- Professional groups
- Colleagues
At the priority deadline, send the applicant pool report to OIE for review
ATC creates an applicant pool EOAA report within Interfolio (instructions on how to generate report are available at the Interfolio FAQs website.)
OIE reviews the applicant pool
- OIE compares the applicant pool composition with national demographic data and provides feedback.
- If OIE flags the pool as out of sync with ASEE data provided, consider extending the application deadline and increasing efforts to broaden the applicant pool.
- If the pool aligns with the ASEE data provided, proceed to the next section (evaluating applications).
ATC changes the Interfolio Position Status of the search to “Reviewing Applications.”
5. Complete initial evaluation of applications
Search committees should use best practices to complete their initial evaluation of applications and check in with the Office of Inclusive Excellence prior to inviting preliminary interview candidates.
Conduct initial review of applications
Follow best practices for evaluating applications:
- Prior to any review, search committee determines the application review process including:
- Various stages of application review (e.g., 1st cut for minimum qualification, 2nd cut, 3rd cut, etc.)
- Methods for reviewing applications at each stage. For example:
- for first cut, read a subset of application materials
- no rolling application review to avoid “first-in” bias
- Committee member A reviews applications 1 – 50 first, Committee member B reviews applications 51 – 100 first
- Preparation of evaluation materials (e.g., is there a template?)
- Evaluation meeting process
- How will committee meetings be run? How frequently will people meet?
- How will applicants be discussed? Determine a consistent discussion format for all applicants.
- How will conflicts of interests be handled and defined?
- How will the rubric be used during evaluation meetings?
- When and how will the rubric be updated for each evaluation stage? Do not evaluate applications until the present stage rubric is finalized.
- Specify how special committee roles are used during evaluation meetings (see best practices for search committee formation). Map that plan onto the execution of the application evaluation process.
- Prior to each evaluation stage
- Update the rubric for each evaluation stage PRIOR to reviewing any applications.
- As needed, request additional information from the candidate (e.g., names of references, letters of recommendation, etc.)
- Confirm evaluation and review process for the current stage
- Use rubrics consistently when evaluating applicants.
- If it’s not in the rubric, it should not be evaluated. If a new criterion is identified for consideration, then pause the evaluation and update the rubric with the new criterion. All active applications must be evaluated with this new criterion.
- Update the rubric as needed when progressing through each stage of assessment.
Search committee proposes a list of preliminary interview candidates
- ATC receives the preliminary interview list, and dispositions candidates accordingly in Interfolio.
- Disposition code: “2.D. Reviewing applications – Short List.”
Refer to more resources
Review "Assessment" for further guidance.
6. Interview preliminary candidates and finalists
Search committees and hiring units should continue to follow best practices throughout the interview stages of the faculty search process.
Structure interview evaluations
Follow best practices for interviewing candidates:
- Prior to devising interview questions, confirm that all search committee members have reviewed EOAA’s Guidelines for pre-employment inquiries to ensure compliance with state, federal, and university hiring laws and policies.
- Determine what is being evaluated during each interview stage.
- Provide sufficient time during the interview process to collect relevant information for all areas of evaluation reflected in the rubric.
- Use a common format and set of questions during preliminary interviews to gather consistent information from all candidates.
- Provide guidance about what is being evaluated during the interview (virtual and in-person)
- Provide a feedback template
- Avoid global evaluations
- Provide contextual information that informs assessment statements (e.g., attended talk, met 1:1, attended meal, participated in small group session on teaching, read a publication, etc.)
- Define a process to halt applicant evaluation for areas not designated in the rubric.
- Ask for specific examples to support evaluation scores.
Conduct preliminary candidate interviews
- Book interviews with candidates
- Determine what aspects of the rubric will be used to evaluate candidates at this stage
- Determine a consistent format and length
- Determine which questions will be asked by committee members
- Determine which candidates will move forward in the search
Conduct finalists’ interviews and visits
- ATC properly dispositions in Interfolio all individuals who have advanced to the finalist stage.
- Determine what aspects of the rubric will be used to evaluate candidates at this stage
- Follow best practices for tailoring in-person visits and performing final interviews:
The final interview is a time for candidates to showcase their strengths. It is also an opportunity to make them feel welcome and imagine themselves as part of a new community.
- Outline a consistent set of final interview activities to evaluate the applicant’s skills and experiences (e.g., standard job talk, formal time with students, etc.). Assessment activities should be the same for all candidates.
- Provide the candidate with a list of campus resources (See “Recruitment” section of the Online Toolkit) and ask them to let you know:
- If they have any accommodation needs
- How they would like to be addressed
- If they are interested in connecting with any local professional networks, campus resources, or community partners (e.g., UW ADVANCE, CoE’s OIE, customized research centers or industry partners for your discipline, etc.)
- Designate faculty point-people to share relevant information or address areas of concern.
- Adjust candidate’s interview schedule to meet candidate’s specific professional and personal needs and interests. Recruitment activities (in which the candidate is not being formally assessed for the position) may be tailored to meet the needs and interests of candidates.
- Designate someone to monitor audience interactions during job talk to avoid excessive interruptions, microaggressions, and aggressive questioning, as this happens more often to candidates from groups underrepresented in engineering.
- Identify a plan to avoid illegal questions of the candidate (e.g., Are you married? Do you want to have kids?, etc.). See the guidelines for the pre-employment inquiries website.
Refer to the Inclusive Excellence handbook
Review "Outreach" for detailed guidance conducting preliminary and final interviews.
The Online Toolkit for Faculty Searches also offers sample job ads and additional informational resources.
7. Identify the finalist to whom to make an offer
After completing finalist interviews, work together to decide to whom to make an offer.
Collect feedback about finalists
- Distribute feedback survey after interview visits to constituents can anonymously submit feedback. Align feedback with the evaluation criteria and rubric.
- ATC properly dispositions in Interfolio all individuals who have advanced to the finalist stage
Clarify the process for selecting individual(s) to whom to make an offer
- Before the decision meeting, define the process for discussing finalists and making decisions about finalists.
- Determine a process to halt the evaluation discussion on areas not designated in the rubric.
- During the decision meeting, ask for specific examples to support evaluative comments.
Make decisions about finalists and provide recommendation
- Follow College of Engineering guidance for making the offer.
- Note: all term sheets and offer letters must be approved by the College of Engineering Dean’s Office in the Faculty Hiring tool before any formal offer can be made to the candidate
Refer to the Inclusive Excellence handbook
Review "Recruitment" for detailed guidance on making an offer.
The Online Toolkit for Faculty Searches also offers sample job ads and additional informational resources.
8. Debrief the search process
Units can improve future faculty search processes by documenting lessons learned from the recently completed search.
Collect reflections about recently completed process
- Reflect on what went well, what needs improvement, what to keep, and what to change in future faculty search process, etc.
- Add lessons learned to unit’s faculty search process documentation