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We Are On Job Search Committees Every Year

This afternoon I'll be taking part in a video job interview for a high office in my main professional association, the Mathematical Association of America. I've been on many job search committees, starting when I was an undergraduate.

I've been fortunate that from the beginning I've been part of job searches that have been done well. Job descriptions were debated and articulated, advertisements based on the job descriptions were placed, questions based on the job description are discussed during the interviews, and ranking of viable candidates was done keeping the job description in mind.

At all stages of the process the goal was to hire someone who would succeed in the job to the benefit of the organization. Such flaws as were in the process often lay in not working hard enough to solicit applications from a diverse pool of candidates.

Almost every year I participate in a form of a job search that makes a mockery of this process. Approaching election there is hardly any discussion of job descriptions from beginning to end of the process. We end up listening to a large amount of sound and fury that signifies nothing about the potential success of the candidate in the job.  Not surprisingly we are often disappointed by the lack of success the job recipient has to the detriment of us all.

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