The Search Committee Action Team, an Ohio State group initiated by The Women's Place Director Dr. Hazel Morrow-Jones, created search committee training that provides best practices to mitigate committee members’ biases and increase diversity in pools, equity in search processes, and diverse search outcomes. Provost Joseph Steinmetz called on this group to offer mandatory workshops for all Discovery Theme search committees. The training materials are based on original work of The Women’s Place, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Ohio State ADVANCE (formerly Gender Initiatives in STEMM), Search Committee Action Team, Kirwan Institute and Office of Human Resources. The team also used outside resources, including the University of Michigan’s ADVANCE grant (STRIDE) training for search committees and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). All of these resources are available on the Discovery Themes Hiring Initiative web pages.
The Office of Human Resources Talent Acquisition offers a robust set of recruitment tools, resources and templates for college and unit HR professionals to utilize during each phase of the recruitment process.
Human Resources also offers two videos, one on bias and schemas and the other on best practices for recruiting. Link directly to the videos below.
YouTube Video Part 1: Bias and Schemas - The Impact of Implicit Bias
YouTube Video Part 2: Best Practices for Recruiting Women and Underrepresented Faculty
Searching for Excellence & Diversity: A Guide for Search Committees, by Eve Fine and Jo Handelsman, (Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI), University of Wisconsin, rev. ed., 2012) is a comprehensive source that delves into the published research on aspects of the search process. By following the recommendations outlined in this guidebook, search committees can expect to attract applicants that not only meet or exceed expectations in terms of qualifications, but also reflect the diversity present in the potential applicant pool.
