{"id":74687,"date":"2014-06-16T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=74687"},"modified":"2014-06-16T08:49:29","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T13:49:29","slug":"5-things-ive-learned-serving-on-search-committees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=74687","title":{"rendered":"5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Serving on Search Committees"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bradley Woodruff, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Serving on Search Committees<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"bradleywoodruff\"<\/a>If you\u2019re given a chance to serve on a search committee, do it. Do it for the free meals. Do it for the\u00a0cross-campus connections you\u2019ll make. But most of all, do it because you\u2019ll learn about life on the other\u00a0side of the interview table. Here are five things I was surprised to learn while serving on academic\u00a0searches.<\/p>\n

1. We consider every single applicant.\u00a0<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know how I thought this process worked. Intelligent software maybe? Tossing the applications\u00a0in the air and choosing the ones that land a certain way? At my institution, every single applicant is\u00a0considered. If 100 people apply, 100 applications are reviewed. Often, that means every member of the\u00a0committee looks at 100 applications. This reinforces how important it is to convey why you\u2019re perfect\u00a0for the position. You have your MLIS? That\u2019s nice, so do all these other people (except that one applicant\u00a0who seemed confused about what job they were applying for). What\u2019s going to make us want to bring\u00a0you to our campus?<\/p>\n

2. Generic cover letters really stand out (in a bad way).<\/strong>
\nI heard this often when I was applying for jobs. \u201cBut how will they know?\u201d I wondered. \u201cWhat if I write a\u00a0really a-MA-zing generic letter?\u201d As it turns out, it really is apparent. After reading 50 letters that name\u00a0the institution, the position, and discuss specific traits called for in the posting, the reviewer is going to\u00a0be unimpressed when you come at them with a vaguery like \u201cI would be an excellent candidate for the\u00a0position at your institution\u201d and go on to talk about qualities you have that only tangentially relate to\u00a0what the position asks for. In the Hierarchy of Cover Letter Impressiveness, generic letters rank lower\u00a0than letters addressed to the wrong school.<\/p>\n

3. Sometimes the search committee doesn\u2019t agree on what is important.<\/strong>
\nNot all members of the committee agree on what qualifications matter most, or even how to interpret\u00a0a person\u2019s qualifications. As an example, imagine a posting that calls for two years of experience. Some\u00a0might insist that two years of experience means two years of experience, even arguing that two years\u2019\u00a0worth of part time work equates to one year of actual experience. Other members may count student\u00a0involvement or volunteer work as valid experience, while others feel that \u201cyears of experience\u201d is more\u00a0of a preference than a requirement.<\/p>\n

4. Candidates occasionally forget they are being interviewed.<\/strong>
\nI had been told this happens, but I assumed it was rare. It\u2019s actually quite common though, so here is\u00a0a reminder. You are being interviewed from the moment you arrive until the moment you leave. Just\u00a0because dinner is more casual doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s time to share information you wouldn\u2019t share during\u00a0your formal interview. It\u2019s draining, but stay on point for your whole visit. I\u2019ve seen a candidate drop out\u00a0of consideration because of the way they behaved between meetings in an all-day interview.<\/p>\n

5. The committee makes a recommendation, but the director makes the final decision.<\/strong>
\nAfter reading 100 applications, spending weeks discussing candidates, conducting phone interviews,\u00a0bringing interviewees to campus, and talking about the position until we\u2019re experts in the area\u00a0we\u2019re hiring for, the committee makes a recommendation to the director. And that\u2019s it. It\u2019s just a\u00a0recommendation. The director can decide to go with whichever candidate they want, or none of them. So,\u00a0while you\u2019re there trying to impress the search committee, don\u2019t forget to connect with the decision\u00a0maker(s) as well.<\/p>\n

What about you? Have you learned anything from searches you have been on or interviewed in front\u00a0of? Share them in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bradley Woodruff, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin 5 Things I\u2019ve Learned Serving on Search Committees If you\u2019re given a chance to serve on a search committee, do it. Do it for the free meals. Do it for the\u00a0cross-campus connections you\u2019ll make. But most of all, do it because you\u2019ll learn about life on the other\u00a0side…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":57179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,5920,5172,3597,6307,6306,111],"class_list":["post-74687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-bradley-woodruff","tag-candidates","tag-inalj-wisconsin","tag-interviewers","tag-search-committees","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/bradleywoodruff.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-jqD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}