Building a Search Committee

General Information and Best Practices

Note: See Recruitment Planning for information about determining the committee role.

A search committee is any group of two or more people involved in the evaluating of applications, interviewing candidates, and/or helping to make the final candidate selection.

A well-designed and well-informed search committee helps to complete the work associated with applicant screening and interviewing, invite diverse perspectives to the table, collaborate to uncover biases during the selection process, and ensure an inclusive and fair recruitment. This contributes significantly to a successful hiring decision that is more likely to meet the department’s long-term staffing needs as well as the campus workforce diversity goals. It also lays the foundation for better employee performance and engagement.

A subset of the search committee may be assigned to handle the bulk of the administrative support tasks, such as applicant and candidate correspondence, scheduling interviews, completing recruitment records, etc.

Determine Search Committee Makeup and Size

In most cases, it is recommended that three to five committee members are involved in evaluating applications and interviewing candidates. Keep in mind that large search committees (six people, or more) may make the search process less effective by extending the time it takes to select a candidate. The key is to balance the urgency of the search with careful long-term planning for a strong diverse workforce and inclusive workplace.

Special Note: If a person involved in any role in support of a recruitment is the respondent in an informal or formal complaint, and the complainant is an applicant to that recruitment, the respondent must immediately recuse themself and cease all participation in the recruitment process.

The key consideration for selecting search committee members is whether the hiring process will be fair, inclusive, and efficient, given that the goal is to hire the best candidate to fill the particular job. A few considerations are worth noting:

• How well the search committee members combined know the job: Search committee members should be knowledgeable of one or more functions of the job. The expertise of the HM and the full committee should cover all job functions, therefore ensuring a well-informed hiring decision.
• Degree to which the person works with various campus and community partners and constituencies: If collaboration across and buy-in from campus units and/or with community partners is essential to the job and the final hire, invite potential collaborators from outside the unit and/or the community to the search committee. 
• Diversity of the committee: Representation matters. A diverse search committee—with members of different genders, races, ethnicities, career stages, backgrounds, expertise, among others—sends the message to the candidates that the hiring unit puts the commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into action. Avoid tokenization; make sure that all committee members participate in the hiring process in a meaningful and substantive way. A diverse search committee also helps to mitigate biases in the hiring process.
• Size of the committee: The need to cover all job functions and invite diverse members may lead to a large search committee. However, a large committee may face challenges in scheduling meetings and reaching a timely consensus, prolonging the search process and potentially losing strong candidates.

Search Committee Preparation

Ensure search committee members are available to participate for several weeks. Prior to the initial review date, schedule search committee activities:

• Meet at least once prior to screening applications to discuss and review the timeline of the hiring process, fair hiring practices, and how criteria will be used at various stages of the selection process.
• Meet at least once after screening to decide on interviewees and to review and discuss interview questions.
• Schedule blocks of time for interviews as early as possible once the committee is formed. Scheduling should allow time between interviews to reflect and discuss the results after each interview. Ideally, you should avoid interviewees encountering each other between interviews. 
• Schedule non-interview meetings: these may include meetings to evaluate interviewees, decide who advances to next steps, identify top candidate(s), meet with the HM to discuss interview outcomes and choice of top candidate, as needed.

Take time to create a space where all search committee members are encouraged to voice their perspectives and opinions during the hiring process on all aspects openly and freely. HMs and search committee chairs should model this behavior for everyone else. 

[Top of Page]

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What should I consider when selecting committee members?
   1. Diversity and Inclusiveness: Consider who to include to mitigate potential biases based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, career stages, background, etc. In addition, having a diverse search committee sends the message to candidates that the hiring unit truly values diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
   2. Availability: Be sure committee members understand how long you expect to need them.
   3. Size: Strike a balance between the needs to build a search committee that knows all the job functions, is diverse, and functions efficiently without delay.
   4. Interrelationships: Consider if there are other campus units who do business with or are familiar with the position you are filling. Someone from another unit can provide a useful perspective on evaluating certain qualifications.
2. What should a committee member do if there is a potential conflict of interest with one of the applicants (e.g., discovers a friend in the applicant pool)?
   1. The first step is for the committee member to disclose the matter, and honestly assess whether or not they feel they can be objective in their evaluation of the applicant. If they cannot, they should consider withdrawing from the committee. The Hiring Manager may step in to help make this decision. 
   2. Committee members should disclose potential biases to the hiring manager or chair to determine if they should continue or withdraw. If withdrawal would hinder the committee’s effectiveness, they may assess all candidates except the one they know, with transparency about their participation decision shared with the committee.
   3. If a person involved in any role in support of a recruitment, is the respondent in an informal or formal complaint, and the complainant is an applicant to that recruitment, the respondent must immediately recuse themself and cease all participation in the recruitment process.
3. Are search committee deliberations confidential?
   1. Yes! The HM and/or search committee chair must ensure all committee members understand that breaches of confidentiality create severe problems, hurt feelings, and can lead to formal complaints. This is especially true when an internal employee(s) has applied for the job.
   2. A good rule of thumb is that committee members should never discuss the committee work. At most, they can share information about what stage the recruitment process is in, but nothing about the information of individual candidates, the committee’s evaluation of individual candidates, nothing about who said what, and nothing about which candidates are strong or who they think will get the job.
4. How should a search committee make decisions? Consensus? Majority vote?
   1. As a best practice, the majority vote method is not recommended. Committee discussions will most often lead to a sound consensus, and sometimes will require more than one discussion.
   2. The Hiring Manager may direct their committee to recommend a group of candidates as finalists, then may choose the final candidate using the committee’s findings to guide the selection.
5. What should a search committee do when there are different voices?
   1. Different perspectives and opinions should be expected. When building a search committee and during the entire hiring process, take time to create a space where all members are encouraged to voice their perspectives and opinions openly and freely. HMs and search committee chairs should model this behavior for everyone else.
   2. Different voices may stem from different vantage points, expertise, and priorities each committee member possesses or represents. It is important to hold space for robust discussion, mutual learning, and intentional deliberation.
   3. It is also possible that some opinions are based on biases. Every human being has their own set of biases about what kind of person makes a good employee. Pay attention to assumptions based on characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, and other background that are not job-related. Search committee members should be encouraged to speak up when they see such biases. One question that search committee members should always ask themselves and each other is: Does the evaluation of candidates differ because of gender, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, etc.?

[Top of Page]