Standard Questions
- Paul Macey
To ensure each candidate is treated equivalently, we use standard questions in various situations. The key is that eliciting feedback should be done uniformly.
Important note: search committee members should not discuss the candidate's suitability for the job with outside people. The search committee members gather information, and discuss that information only in internal deliberations.
Anonymous feedback from within the SON
An anonymous survey is sent to School after the visit. They survey is based on the template form the UCLA EDI office.
Last updated: Dec 9, 2021
Communication with people who know candidate (references and colleagues)
The search committee may engage with references or other people the candidate has worked with. They should use standard questions in these discussions. Such communications may be in person, phone, videocall, or email with caution.
Questions
How do you know the candidate?
When did you first meet them?
What has been your professional relationship with them?
Use one or more of these questions:
What has been your experience of your work interactions with the candidate?
How do you view their capacity to work within a team?
How do you view their scientific expertise?
How do you see their capacity to develop an independent, funded research trajectory?
How do you view their teaching expertise?
How do you view their mentoring capacity?
How do you view their contributions to diversity, equity and inclusivity?
While a question may need to be clarified, the aim is to just ask the question and hear the answer, whether it is clear or not. The search committee is seeking information, not engaging in deliberations with an outside person.
Scenario 1: Non-anonymous feedback from the SON
The members of the search committee are available for people in the SON to provide feedback. During such communications, if the committee members have questions, they should restrict themselves to the template.
Scenario 2: Committee reaches out to colleagues or references
The search committee may wish to contact a reference to ask about their experience with a candidate. References may be people who wrote reference letters, or people in the School who have worked with the candidate.
There is an email template for the invitation.