Hiring

General Principles

Be aware of ways that unyielding academic/professional norms and expectations about “fit” can serve as barriers to making our fields and departments more diverse. Make sure that judgements about dress, appearance, comportment, facial expressions, eye contact, perceived stamina, speaking style, and other such aspects of presentation, embodiment, or behavior are not displacing attention to the relevant aspects of a candidate’s accomplishments and experience.

Zoom Interviews

• Ask candidates’ preferred name and pronouns ahead of time
• Ask if candidates have any access requests for the Zoom interview (and meet these requests). These might include
  • ASL interpretation
  • live/CART captioning (not just auto-captions)
  • an option for the candidate to leave their video off
  • a scheduled break during the interview
  • and many other possibilities
• Allow candidates to choose times that work with their schedules/time zones, where possible
• Consider providing questions ahead of time, or at least a loose agenda, along with information about who will be present at the interview and their role in the hiring department
• During the interview
  • Have the host turn on auto-captions in their settings and enable them at the start of the meeting
  • If multiple interviewers are sitting around one computer, make sure they are close enough to be heard clearly, or consider using microphones to enhance audio
  • Offer a break

Campus Visits

• Ask if candidates have any access requests for any part of their visit. These may include
  • booking direct flights where possible; providing aisle or window seating
  • provision of ASL interpretation
  • travel/accommodation for a personal assistant
  • providing an accessible hotel room and/or shower
  • accessible transport, parking, and/or entrances and pathways around campus/within buildings
  • holding all activities in buildings with accessible entrances, rooms, bathrooms, and working elevators
  • not scheduling events at certain times of day
  • providing seating for the candidate during a job-talk or other events
  • and many other possibilities
• Ask if candidates have food/eating/restaurant preferences that should guide choice of restaurants/meal options
  • This practice allows people to state that they are vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc., but also to request, for instance, a restaurant that is quiet
• Build in plentiful rests and breaks to the candidate’s schedule, including opportunities to visit the bathroom.