Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/233379
WEEK FOUR: Identify Candidates in Two Weeks our alumni base, donors, central administration, and faculty. Finally, we prepared the advertisement copy and announcement letters for the position. Two weeks later, we had met our first deadline. Stage Two: Candidate Collection We distributed job announcements throughout the seven-week period of our candidate collection phase. We completed the other four steps simultaneously, rather than sequentially, to save time. These steps included contacting AACSB and other organizations, distributing announcement letters to stakeholders and other schools, placing job announcements, and narrowing down the selection criteria. To narrow down our criteria, we held meetings with faculty, alumni, and donors to ask them what they thought were the most desirable characteristics for the new dean. With donors, we conducted an exercise called "The Dean's First 42 January/February 2014 BizEd Day," in which we asked them to imagine what priorities they would emphasize if they were meeting the dean on his or her first day in office. It turned out that donors wanted a dean who would emphasize the importance of international business, relevant curricula, and job placement. Faculty, on the other hand, wanted a dean who was a strong fundraiser, comfortable with outreach, and supportive of their work and research. Although these discussions were time-consuming, they laid the foundation for our screening of candidates. We were able to pinpoint our selection criteria more effectively with the needs of our community in mind. Stage Three: Candidate Screening As we began to screen candidates, we balanced inclusivity with efficiency. We invited any candidate who was supported by at least 20 percent of the committee to schedule a preliminary interview with us over Skype. Over the next two weeks, we conducted 30-minute Skype interviews with 26 candidates. To stay on schedule, our chair sent each candidate an assigned interview time via email, rather than provide a choice of times—only one person could not meet at the first slot offered. That's not to say that such alacrity did not lead to a few lighthearted mistakes. In one interview invitation, the chair mistyped the proposed interview time as "0:00," which required the candidate, whose name was Bob, to ask for clarification. Embarrassed, the chair replied instantly, but in haste began the message, "Dear Boob"—which required yet another apologetic email. Fortunately, the gracious candidate sent the following diplomatic reply: "Good catch." Such moments were rare. The chair's organization of interviews, the assignment of interview times, and the use of Skype streamlined our efforts and allowed us to complete our interviews by the middle of the second week. Because we had spent so much time determining selection criteria, we were able to narrow down the pool of 26 to four candidates rapidly, with no major differences of opinion. Stage Four: Interviews Nine weeks in, we finally could make the names of our four candidates public. We learned two surprising but valuable lessons at this point. The first was that everyone wants to be included in the interviewing process! From support staff DE N IS_PC/TH I N KSTOCK • Distribute announcements • Place ads • Narrow criteria for selection