Best Practices for Diversity I - Attracting a diverse pool

Efforts to attract a broad and diverse applicant pool

Women and underrepresented minorities under apply for most of our faculty positions relative to their national availability. Proactive efforts are necessary to achieve a representative pool of highly qualified candidates.

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In order to effectively recruit a diverse pool relative to the national available, it is recommended that the advertisement include statements about Cornell’s commitment to diversity near the beginning of the advertisement. It is also required that the applicants submit a statement of past and future plans for contributions to diversity. These statements provide useful information for the search committee, while also communicating clearly the search committee’s commitment to these values

培养不同的申请人

It is not easy to cultivate a diverse applicant pool of qualified candidates and it will not happen by default. The most effective searches in attracting and ultimately recruiting diverse candidates have been intentional in their efforts from the onset of the search process and continuing through to the interviews. Search committees that are successful typically employ multiple active strategies, including personally inviting promising women and underrepresented minorities to apply for the position. Sending an advertisement and marketing email to peer institutions will likely be insufficient. A practice that often works well to diversify the applicant pool is to generate a list of promising candidates (e.g., by contacting colleagues at other institutions to ask for recommendations, identifying candidates at conferences, using fellowship directories such as the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs across the country, expanding the list of institutions to contact beyond the top tier, identifying individuals who may be excelling at less prestigious institutions, using academic societies who have lists of women/URM in their field, personally contacting colleagues who are known for contributions to diversity), and then sending a personalized message to candidates on the list inviting an application. Federal affirmative action law expressly allows for outreach that targets women and minority candidates.

Demographics of the applicant pool

Search committees should evaluate the applicant pool initially to determine if it meets the benchmark availability for demographic groups and if there is a sufficient number of strong candidates. The CALS Office of Diversity and Inclusion will review the pool and ascertain if the benchmarks are met based on national data pulled for the discipline(s) involved in the search. An initial evaluation of the pool for demographics and other marker categories will help the committee determine if applications should be considered beyond the deadline (or ‘start reviewing on’ date) and to conduct additional efforts to encourage applications from targeted candidates.