Protocol for Candidate Interviews

Provide the candidate with a complete agenda for the visit at least several days prior to their arrival.

Arrange for a member of the department or program faculty to greet the candidate upon their arrival and to review the agenda and logistics for the visit.

Be sure to build some quiet time into the agenda, perhaps just prior to the job talk.

Let the candidate know who and how many to expect at the job talk (students, faculty from related departments or programs, etc.).

Please give extra thought to the composition of faculty and student interview committees, making especially sure to inform the candidate about resources for intellectual exchange on and off campus, and ensuring that the candidate meets with faculty on campus who have related research interests. The campus visit is also a great opportunity to recruit.

Please see OIDEI’s document on acceptable pre-employment questions.

Provide the candidate with an opportunity to tour the library or meet with library staff, if appropriate. Similarly, if candidates’ teaching and research requires special IT resources, please consider making room for them to meet with Instructional Technology staff.

Please note that the chair or a department/program representative is expected to accompany all candidates to their CAP interviews. However, the chair is there to provide moral support for the candidate and should not plan to participate in the interview process.

The CAP interview is not required for a visiting position unless the chair specifically requests one.

Feel free to call the Dean of the Faculty office to talk over any problems that these guidelines pose.

i. Recruitment Discussions or “Breakfasts/Luncheons”

The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion works with hiring units to schedule non-evaluative recruitment discussions for all finalists invited to campus. These breakfasts/luncheons often work well on the candidate’s departure day, but other scheduling opportunities exist.

Recruitment discussions or “breakfasts/luncheons” recognize that our efforts to recruit and retain a diverse faculty are linked. On-campus visits provide an opportunity not only to evaluate candidates thoroughly, but also to demonstrate the College’s commitment “to building a diverse and inclusive community” and to do the recruitment work necessary to make faculty diversity a reality.

Recruitment discussions are designed to provide all finalists with the opportunity to talk with faculty outside of the evaluation process — informally and we hope candidly — about the College and the broader community. For women candidates and/or candidates of color, this may also be an opportunity for candidates to meet women faculty and/or faculty of color, who may or may not be well-represented in the hiring unit and at other stages of the interviewing process. It is an opportunity for the College to draw on the diversity of faculty throughout the College to support recruitment in departments and/or programs that have remained overwhelmingly white and/or male. In addition, candidates might glimpse what a peer cohort at Williams could be, and for this reason efforts are made to invite faculty beyond the hiring department or program, who share some intellectual interests, methodological approaches, or the same division as the candidate. Some hiring units invite the faculty member to attend the candidate’s job talk (in a strictly non-evaluative capacity).