Best Practices for Faculty and Staff Recruitment

Here we present a wide array of information and training materials shared by universities and professional societies to support best practices in faculty and staff recruitment and professional development for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The Office of Inclusion and Cultural Enhancement offers assistance and resources for departments to develop outreach plans leading to the recruitment of faculty and staff underrepresented in medicine. Below we describe best practices and tactics to enrich faculty and staff applicant pools with excellent candidates from diverse backgrounds. 

Job Opportunities at the Jacobs School

Recruitment Initiatives Led by the Office of Inclusion

Dialogues With Search Committees

The Office of Inclusion is available to present our “Dialogues with Search Committees”  to your search committees, or groups of faculty. The Dialogues discuss recruitment plans, strategies to expand outreach and enrich the pool with diverse candidates, and topics such as cultural competence and the impact of unconscious bias.

To make an appointment for a “Dialogues with Search Committees” presentation contact:

Inclusive Excellence Workforce Specialist

Maria Wilson.

Maria L. Wilson

Inclusive Excellence Workforce Specialist

955 Main Street Room 7177 Buffalo, NY 14203

Phone: (716) 829-4345

Email: mlw29@buffalo.edu

Advertisements

The Office of Inclusion recommends in addition to all marketing efforts, to expand advertising to specialized journals, websites, national societies, program officers at national funding agencies and foundations, and department Chairs’ national groups in your area of interest.

Note: Human Resources automatically advertises positions with various resources to assist in diverse recruiting efforts, including the Chronicle of Higher Education, Insight into Diversity and the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC).

View the complete list in UB Jobs

Expanded Outreach

The Office of Inclusion disseminates the Job Opportunities at the Jacobs School page, directly linked to UB Job postings using our comprehensive list serve which targets scientific societies, universities, training grant directors, national funding agencies and foundations training and/or supporting eligible individuals for available positions.

Suggested Best Hiring Practices for Faculty Recruiting

Best Hiring Practices

Attract, Recruit and Hire (Start Early, anticipate opening of future positions)

Standard Practices Phase 1: Search Committee Phase 2: Hire and  Retention
 
  • Prepare a  broad announcement to attract a large pool of applicants
  • Standardized format of interview questions restricted to permissible questions both during the  formal interview as well as for informal interactions
  • Prepare rubrics for evaluations to remove ambiguity and minimize effects of personal bias 
  • Provide a friendly, welcoming environment for all candidates
  • Provide and make candidate aware of our inclusive onboarding process
  • Meetings with Office of Inclusion and academic Affairs Deans for an update on resources
  • Mentoring, academic and professional development,  and networking
  • Continues mentoring using   PRODiG Faculty MCDA Program  (PMCDP) to all candidates
  • Mentoring will  maximize candidates opportunities to achieve teaching, academic and research success.

Attract, Recruit and Hire (Start Early, anticipate opening of future positions)

New Enhanced Practices Phase 1: Attract and Recruit Phase 2: Search Committee
 
  • Start early, anticipate opening of future positions
  • Connect and network with talented  URM and WSTEM potential faculty candidates 
  • Networking at national conferences (eg., ITM, SACNAS, ABRCMS) and use curated databases.
  • Directly Nominate outstanding candidates to apply for your position among UB residents and fellows, those identified by networking at national meetings and/or by conducting unbiased searches of databases and the NIH Reporter listing diverse recipients of prestigious grant awards
  • Identify candidates thriving at less well-ranked institutions
  • Establish pre-requisites for position before UB Jobs Posting
  • Appoint a diverse and interdisciplinary Search Committee 
  • Provide Search Committees diversity/cultural competency  training to reduce impact of implicit bias
  • Comparisons of demographics, gender &  applicants number  in UB Jobs and published national labor pools.
  • Search's will continue until the short lists includes appropriate numbers of URiM and Women.
  • Use UB Human Resources review points during the selection and job offer period
  • School resources to enrich the pool (eg, Search Committee Diversity Dialogues; web site resources)
  • Review candidate evaluation forms completed by search committee members and others meeting with the candidates.

Suggested Best Practices for Excellence in Staff Recruitment

Standard Practices Search Committee
 
  • Review job description to develop clear criteria and standards and to insure education and skills requirements are appropriate and not overly restrictive
  • Appoint a diverse search committee to review resumes and participate in candidate interviews
  • Advertise in the Buffalo News to supplement standard community listings through UB JobsPrepare rubrics for evaluations to remove ambiguity and minimize effects of personal bias 
  • Contact local colleges with business or technical education programs providing training in the required skillsProvide a friendly, welcoming environment for all candidates
  • Create a clear evaluation system in advance and avoid global scoring
  • Develop a list of standard interview questions to insure that consistent information is obtained from each candidate
  • Obtain and evaluate candidate evaluation forms completed by each member of the search committee and other individuals who meet with the candidate
  • Conduct anonymous voting, if the size of the pool is large enough 
  • Contact us for information or assistance with your diversity outreach plan for faculty or staff at smbs-inclusion@buffalo.edu

Online Resources

The Office of Inclusion website provides recruitment resources and information to facilitate successful recruitment of excellent faculty candidates underrepresented in medicine, and to offer an inclusive environment for faculty hires to thrive at the Jacobs School.

Recruit a Diverse and Excellent Faculty

A diverse team of people, is a sucessful one. They work better and they are more efficient. Work through this Interactive Toolkit to guide you to excellence in faculty.

NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity Interactive Toolkit

Best Practices for Search Committees

Learn why we recruit faculty for diversity and excellence, obstacles to achieving faculty diversity, how schemas affect the careers of women and underrepresented minorities, and what we can do to address these issues.

Recruiting a Diverse and Excellent Faculty: Best Practices for Search Committees
Student working in lab with mentor.
AAMC Diversity Recommended Reading
AAMC Diversity 3.0 Learning Series
Need More Information?

Our office is always available to provide resources and advice on your faculty searches, and other important topics!