Phase 3 - Recruiting Process & Pool Development

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Broadening Your Recruiting: Tips and Suggestions 

In addition to using the above recruiting options, it is often helpful to reach out to more specialized publications in your area of study to ensure that your applicant pool is broad. 

One strategy might be to develop a stronger relationship with leaders in your field at universities whose educational goals meet your field’s needs for future hiring, academic partnerships, and other collaborations. Think also about goals your department has for future curricular coverage or areas in which you are lacking expertise, and topics related to CSU initiatives (e.g., related to the Student Success  Framework) when making decisions about what kinds of relationships you might establish with other universities. To begin this process, a personal email is a better communication than a blanket post of a position. See below for suggested email language, but consider other efforts to build this relationship as a longer-term goal.  

Suggested email language:  

Dear Dr. [name of chair],  

I hope this email finds you well! I am currently chairing a search committee for an Assistant Professor tenure-track hire in the Department of [your dept], and am reaching out to universities across the country who have programs that produce doctoral graduates who would be excellent candidates for our position. We are looking to increase our curricular coverage in these areas across the college.} I’m hoping that you might be able to share the attached ad with any students who will be on the job market for next year.   

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me – I appreciate your help in spreading the word about our position.   

Sincerely,   

[your name and title]  

[attach the ad]  

Search the database

Search our database below to find universities that have links to Cal Poly's University Initiatives. This may assist your ad placement and candidate recruitment efforts to attract a broad base of talent.

If you are having trouble logging into this database, please try the following steps:

• Use Chrome as your browser (issues occur more frequently with Safari, Firefox, etc.)
• You must be logged into the Cal Poly Portal for sign in to be successful
• Refresh the page once logged in to your Cal Poly Portal to properly view the database.

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Broadening Your Recruiting: Tips

Search for professional organizations or publications within your field that include a wider range of professionals across multiple fields in addition to the standard job posting sites noted previously. This is designed to help you to reach a candidate pool that encompasses the full spectrum of talent and experience in the field. 

Other Ideas:

• Check with colleagues about personal networks, listservs and conference memberships for broader outreach. Even a simple Google search may alert you to new organizations and conferences that could be helpful
• Interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary work is increasingly common among faculty, so consider search options that expand beyond specific discipline focus into a wider community. (Chronicle Article discussing interdisciplinary collaboration at a variety of schools)

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Development of Recruitment Plan

Once the above sources and strategies are identified, the Recruitment Plan must be developed. This required document must include (at a minimum) the following:

1. The name of all professional journals and websites where the position will be advertised;
2. A description of all sources the committee will use to ensure that the vacancy announcement reaches a broad and diverse pool of candidates.  Include strategies such as sharing at professional meetings, conferences, listservs, professional societies, etc.
3. A description of how the search committee will make their best efforts to attract a candidate pool that encompasses the full spectrum of talent and experience within the field. This may include utilizing professional contacts, reaching out to groups and sections within professional organizations, and leveraging networks associated with the department and college.
4. At least one applicant screening question focused on the candidates’ ability to work with a broad variety of students and colleagues from all backgrounds, including those that are different from them in some way. It is recommended that you use at least one of the questions provided in the Faculty Hiring Guide for this question.

Other things to consider:

1. Consider costs of advertisements up-front to ensure you’ll be able to complete your recruitment plan.
2. Check for any additional requirements in your college recruitment process or steps in the approval chain prior to documents being sent to the Office of University Diversity & Inclusion and Academic Personnel.