Search and Screen Committee Procedures

The sample procedures include three levels of screening, which may be most useful for administrative searches where a large applicant pool is anticipated.  If you anticipate a smaller applicant pool, your committee may wish to eliminate some screening activities, e.g., soliciting additional written material or requiring telephone reference checks.

If your committee chooses to adopt/modify these procedures, they are available for printing on the web.  Options are bracketed in bold.   Alternatively, your committee may choose to develop its own procedures.  If so, please incorporate all required forms, consultations, and approvals specified in the Academic Staff/Administrative Recruitment Procedures.  Since the committee is bound by its procedures, however, try not to adopt more rigorous procedures than you realistically need to evaluate and identify qualified candidates.  For example, limit telephone reference calls to semi-finalists or finalists, not all applicants.

When larger applicant pools are anticipated, some search committees prefer using subcommittees to conduct the initial screening and determine which candidates will be reviewed by the entire committee.  Such a procedure is permissible, so long as the committee chair (or another designated individual) reads all applicant files at this stage to verify that the various subcommittees have consistently applied selection criteria.

Because all meetings must comply with the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law, this requirement is incorporated by reference into all Search and Screen Committee Procedures. A summary and posting sample are provided for your use.

The assistant to the chancellor for affirmative action & diversity must approve the selection criteria and search and screen procedures before any advertising may be placed.  Any subsequent changes to your procedures must also be approved before implementation.

HR must approve your original procedures document and any changes as well.