APPENDIX C

Faculty Search Committee Guide

The purpose of this document is to provide a step-by-step guide for running and participating in a faculty search at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. Revised August 2022.

I. General Information
II. Roles of Administrators and Committee Members
III. Search Committee Steps 
IV. Resources 

I. General Information

Search Committee Composition

• Search committee members are assigned by the Director of the School of Music
• Committees should consist of at least 5 members
• Wherever possible, the committee should be diverse and include women and underrepresented minorities
• The chair of the search committee is selected by the Director of the School of Music

General Guidelines

• All committee members should have received University search training through the OIE Office in addition to attending a SoM meeting to discuss search protocol. 
• Committee members must protect the confidentiality of candidates and the decision-making process. Committee deliberations should not be shared with anyone outside of the committee.
• Committee members must disclose their full relationship with any candidates to the rest of the committee at the beginning of the search process. Committee members that know a candidate are asked to recuse themselves from discussions or wait to share their opinions after the rest of the committee have spoken. 
• All committee members must review all application materials 
• All candidates must be asked the same questions. Follow-up questions can be different. 
• For each interview, all questions should be prepared in advance by the committee and assigned to committee members. 
• To ensure an independent review of each candidate, refrain from speaking about the candidates until all the evaluations have been completed by each committee member. 
• When contacting references, it is recommended that each committee member only contact one reference for each candidate. This allows several committee members to hear about multiple candidates and counter any bias. 
• Each search process brings a new pool of candidates, and the committee should consider each applicant equally, with the best candidates being selected for advancement in the search. Special consideration should not be given to any candidate (e.g., internal, local, etc.)
• CCFA search recommendations: https://www.memphis.edu/ccfa/resources/faculty_staff/searches.php
• University of Memphis WorkforUM: https://workforum.memphis.edu
• Office for Institutional Equity: https://www.memphis.edu/oie/

Search Committee Timeline

• The position has been approved.
• The committee chair has been selected. 
• The committee members have been selected. 
• The job description has been clearly written to communicate the desired candidate's qualifications (e.g., qualifiers like "experience" should be defined in terms of time, degrees, or national/international, etc.) 
• A date of when screening will begin is clearly communicated on the job description (e.g., "preference will be given to candidates who apply by October 12." This language allows the committee to contact references before the official closing date.)
• Search committee members are assigned by the Director of the School of Music.
• Committees should consist of at least 5 members.
• Wherever possible, the committee should be diverse and include women and underrepresented minorities. 
• The chair of the search committee is selected by the Director of the School of Music. 

II. Roles of Administrators and Committee Members

III. Search Committee Steps 

Prior to the first meeting:

• The Director and the Committee Chair will draft the job advertisement.
• Committee Members determine where the job should be announced.

Step 1
Committee chair sets up the Kickoff meeting

• Director of SoM attends and gives charge to the committee
  • Describes salary range
  • Discuss screening and closing date 
  • Budget for search to determine number of candidates to bring on campus
  • Discuss the position's workload (e.g., anticipated teaching and/or service assignments) 
  • Agree on the criteria for the rubric and how each category should be weighted 
  • Discuss if the SoM is able to sponsor a work visa for an international candidate
  • Set committee member expectations and the role of each search member
• OIE personnel may attend to answer questions, reviews diversity needs, reviews legal and illegal questions
• Discuss personal contacts for posting exposure and recruiting a diverse candidate pool 
• In consultation with the Director, the committee chair will propose a general timeline for the search that identifies due dates for each of the steps listed below.
  • Committee members must be available for all search-related events
• Determine how search data will be collected and stored 

Step 2
Committee Meeting 1 

• Create a rubric based on the job description and charge, taking into consideration the weighted metrics agreed upon in the Kickoff meeting. Download example rubric. 
• Create a more detailed timeline that lists the dates for all committee meetings, virtual interviews, and finalist interviews.
• Following this meeting, the committee will begin to evaluate applications individually.
• It is important to begin individual reviews of candidates before the search closes. Often SoM positions can have 50 or more applicants.

Step 3
Committee Meeting 2 

• Members arrive at the meeting having reviewed all applications and ranked candidates according to the rubric.
• After discussion, make the first cut.
• Request additional materials: teaching and performance materials. If these materials were requested in the initial posting, combine Steps 3 and 4.
• Create a rubric.
• Chair reports list of candidates to Director. 

Step 4
Committee Meeting 3

• Arrive with additional materials reviewed
• Make 2nd cut. Typically, the first round of interviews is between 7-10 candidates. Due to the low cost and amount of insights to be gained from a virtual interview, committees are encouraged to go beyond this number if there are candidates of interest. 
• Confirm dates for Round 1 Virtual Interview
• Review questions for Round 1 Virtual Interview. NOTE: A sample list of interview questions are available from the SoM staff office manager. OIE guidelines require each interviewee to be asked the same questions. 
• Create Rubric for Round 1 Virtual Interview
• Create questions for reference calls. NOTE: A sample of reference questions is available from the SoM staff office manager. OIE guidelines require each reference to be asked the same questions. 
• Divide reference contacts amongst the committee, with each member being assigned one reference per candidate (e.g., three separate committee members should contact three references for one candidate). 
• Chair reports list of Round 1 candidates to Director

Step 5

• Once the Director approves, the Business Officer submits a list of candidates to OIE for Pool Approval. 
• After approval, the chair contacts candidates for Round 1 Interview (virtual interview). See email template #1 for reference.
• Contact references for Round 1 candidates

Step 6 

• Interview candidates for Round 1 Virtual Interview
• Score via weighted rubric
• Share information found via reference calls
• Determine finalists.
• Chair works with administrators and committee members to create an interview schedule. See Final Round Interview Schedule Template. 
• Chair provides the committee's availability for interview dates to the Scheduling Coordinator. 
• Chair reports list of final candidates to Director 

Step 7

• Once approved by the Director and the Dean, the Scheduling Coordinator contacts finalists. 
• Scheduling Coordinator works with the SoM Business Officer to book travel and lodging and confirm the budget for the final interviews. 
• Scheduling Coordinator works with the Chair to identify committee members that can divide hosting responsibilities. 
  
  • Airport pick up
  • Lunch and Dinner meetings. See 9.1b
  • Escorting of the candidate from one location to the next
• Scheduling Coordinator notifies all faculty and students of finalists and the interview schedules. All faculty should be invited to all candidate presentations and class meetings to encourage feedback to the committee. 
• Scheduling Coordinator shares an interview schedule with each finalist and cc's the Chair. 

Step 8 

• The committee conducts Final Round interviews 

Step 9 

• The chair meets with the Director to discuss final interviews before the committee deliberates.
• The committee meets for final deliberations.
• An email is sent to the Director that lists the following for each candidate: 
  • Any pros and cons based on the experience, interview, or feedback of a candidate
  • If the candidate is acceptable to be hired
  • Any additional justification (optional)

Step 10 

• Once the committee chair submits this email, it can be several weeks until the candidate signs a formal contract with the university. It is imperative that the details and deliberations of the search remain confidential until this point.
• The SoM Marketing & Communications Office will issue a press release announcing the new hire. Faculty should coordinate any additional social media or email announcements only once the official SoM announcement has been released. 

IV. Resources 

Final Round Interview Guidelines

• Final round interviews generally last one full day.
• Candidate activities should include the following
  • Interview with the search committee: 1 hour
    • The committee may schedule an additional, shorter meeting with the candidate at the end of the interview day to allow for additional questions that may come up during the day.
• Interview with the School of Music Director: 30 minutes
  • Interview with the Dean of CCFA: 30 minutes
  • Q and A session with students: 30 – 45 minutes
  • Candidate Presentation I: recital, rehearsal, or research presentation: 30 – 45 minutes
  • Candidate Presentation II: applied lesson or sample course lesson: 30 – 45 minutes

Final Round Interview Schedule Sample 

Evaluation Rubric
A sample rubric is provided to give faculty members a starting point for the creation of their search’s evaluation tools. The criteria to be evaluated should come from the job description, the position’s desired skills, and the interview questions. The rubric will produce a score for each candidate. The scores will be collected from each committee member by the chair and averaged to create a ranked list. Using the ranked list, the committee will begin its discussion of candidates to make cuts to the list.

The criteria for the Virtual Interview and Final Round Interview Rubrics should be generated from the questions that the search committee will ask each candidate.

Guidelines for Crafting the Interview

• All candidates must be asked the same questions. Follow-up questions can be different.
• Consider asking questions that test a candidate's preparation by providing a question that the candidate can research before the interview. For example, "What about the Memphis music community interests you the most? What do you think is missing from our student experience in the area you are applying to?"
• Create behavior-based questions
• Questions should include scenarios and hypotheticals
• Generate questions that are related to the qualifications stated in the job description
• Generate questions that are related to the desired skills of the position
• It is recommended that the committee allow the first few minutes of the interview for introductions, small talk, and 1-2 “softball” questions to create an environment where the candidate can feel comfortable opening up.
• Interviewers should not seek any information from candidates pertaining to the following: age, race, color, disability, religion, national origin, family/marital status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other protected characteristics under state or federal law.