In Medias Res #21- The Other Side

So I will be interviewing candidates at ACPA. Exciting right? The job is up and in the placement system so we should be getting applicants any day now. I work at a sufficiently large school that HR has to screen everyone first, but they promised us resumes to start looking at on Monday. I am the point person for scheduling interviews, communicating with candidates, and decorating our table. (For those of you who have not been to placement before apparently you must decorate your table. Although I attended NASPA/ACPA last year, and went through placement I didn’t remember this. I initially balked when the committee chair suggested as much. In retrospect though, I can’t think of a school that didn’t have a banner or something).
This morning a colleague and I sat down to start brainstorming interview questions. We will be doing all the first round interviews and making recommendations for second rounds. When we first sat down we had seven different questionnaires from recent searches. We cherry picked what seemed like the best questions as well as those that seemed especially relevant to the positions. This afternoon I’m putting together a screening form for resumes. This might be overkill-who knows how many applicants we will actually receive? That said, I’m really enjoying the process.
There is something thrilling about being on the other side of the table. Last year, I felt compelled to always be on my best behavior. While I have no intention of representing my institution (which I love) through boorish behavior, I do think I won’t need to make sure I take as much care ensuring every hair is in place, every pore …uh..depored?
What I’m really most excited about though is the chance to have a significant influence in who my next colleague will be. I am generally fond of my coworkers, but I have very clear ideas about who I want in this position. I also feel like I have meshed well enough with the culture that the powers that be feel comfortable with my judgment. Since some of you may be out there in reader land doing the job search thing, I will give you some insight into what I’m looking for in a candidate.
I would like:
Someone intelligent (who can communicate their ideas clearly and who has ideas. Lots of them).
Someone excited about our specific institution.
Someone with broad interests. The position isn’t a generalist position, but you won’t be successful here if you view your work as a fiefdom.
I am taking students to a conference next weekend, which means I will probably be doing a lot of this screening on the road. Which reminds me, I need to book a van, find out about insuring student drivers, collect student contact information..this new hire can’t come soon enough!