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Post-Interview Actions

  1. Travel Reimbursements

    2. (Office of Academic Affairs Staff): After the candidate’s campus visit concludes and they have turned in all receipts and their W-9 to the Office of Academic Affairs staff person, a travel expense report is completed and sent to Accounts Payable as reimbursement for their travel expenses.

  2. Recommendations for Evaluating/Rating Candidates
  • Review and assess the needs of the position, as well as the diversity of the department, both now and five to ten years from now.
  • Select the best candidate for the position: quality and diversity are very important criteria. 
  • Ratings are more helpful than rankings. Instead of rankings, please convey "profiles of excellence based on the unique configurations of talent exhibited" by each candidate to the Dean of Faculty (Gordon, p.195).
  • After all candidates to be interviewed have visited the campus, the chair of the search committee will solicit the views of the search committee. The chair of the search committee, the Dean of Faculty: the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and the Associate Provost will then confer and agree on a candidate.
  1. Reference Checks

Once the candidate is approved by the Dean of Faculty, the chair of the search committee or the division chair should call reference checks before the Dean of Faculty makes an offer.  It’s also a good idea to tell the applicant that “the next step in the process is to speak with the references, whose names you have provided.” The person doing the reference checks should communicate all findings with the Dean of Faculty.  Specifics:

    • Contact all references provided. 
    • Be wary if a reference does not reply, refuses to talk, or provides only a stock reply, such as “Yes, this person worked at our institution between August 2015 and May 2016. That is all I can tell you.” Do not call anyone not on the candidate’s references list without permission from the Dean of Faculty.
    • Good reference-check questions include:  Tell me about this person. What is it like to work with ___________? What is the most significant strength of this person? Can you suggest an area of improvement that you might have observed?
    • Always ask due this diligence question: “Is there anything else I need to know about this applicant?”

    If the search committee elects to do Internet searches for information not provided by the candidate, they should do so with discretion and consistency.

  1. Appointment Offer and Background Check

As part of the appointment process, after obtaining permission from the candidate, a background check will be conducted through the College's Office of Human Resources at the request of the Dean of Faculty. Hiring any employee, particularly a member of the faculty, is one of the most important decisions an institution of higher education can make. A background check is a search for "public" records--including relevant civil judgments and arrest and conviction records at the local, state, and federal levels. Hence, it is not intrusive in the sense of seeking private information about a candidate. In accordance with federal and state laws, adverse information about an applicant will not automatically disqualify the individual from consideration from employment with the College. In such instances, the applicant will be given an opportunity to review the background check results, correct the record, if applicable, and submit an explanation. A determination of whether information obtained from a background check should disqualify a candidate from further consideration would be the responsibility of the Dean of Faculty, in consultation with the Division Council.  Once the Dean of Faculty has initiated a background check, the Dean of Faculty will draft and send an appointment letter to the candidate once a verbal commitment to accept the offer is received (generally, 48-72 hours is given for contemplation by the candidate). An appointment is official ONLY after 1) a satisfactory background check is received, and 2) a signed appointment letter is received. Once this is done, the Dean of Faculty will notify the Office of Academic Affairs staff that a search has concluded.

  1. Acceptance of the Offer

After the candidate accepts the offer, the Dean of Faculty acknowledges acceptance.

  1. When a search is complete

Once a search is complete and the Dean of Faculty has made the appointment and informed the chair that process is complete, the chair of the search committee should communicate personally with the candidates who were brought to campus, with the text below. When that is done, the search chair can ask the Office of Academic Affairs support staff or administrative assistant to send the remaining candidates an email from the NEOED system notifying them that the search is closed. This step removes the posting from the Human Resources webpage. 

The following text will be sent to remaining candidates via the NEOED system:

As Chair of the Search Committee, I wish to inform you that an appointment has been made for [name of position]. Your application is no longer under consideration. I thank you for your interest in Berea College.

There is a great temptation in writing such letters to include words and phrases like “I regret to inform you…” or “It was a very difficult decision…” or “You are a very qualified candidate, but…” These gestures are well-intended but can be (and have been in some cases) distorted by unsuccessful candidates. Such statements should always be avoided.

  1. If a search is cancelled

    If the search is cancelled by the Dean of Faculty, the chair of the search committee should work with the Office of Academic Affairs staff support to notify formerly active candidates via the NEOED system that the search has been cancelled. The following text is recommended for these letters:

    As Chair of the Search Committee I wish to inform you that the search for [name the position] has been cancelled. The position is not being filled at this time. Your application is no longer under consideration. I thank you for your interest in Berea College.

  1. Final Step

At the end of the search (successful or failed), the chair of the search committee should submit an updated narrative, including information about the on-campus visit, to the Dean of Faculty that discusses the Committee’s efforts to ensure diversity throughout the search process.