Systematic tracking of the committee’s interaction with applicants is not only helpful to the committee during the search, but the resulting records may be useful in the future (adapted from University of Michigan).

• In addition to the search committee tools provided in UAB PeopleAdmin, develop a standard form that summarizes each candidate’s progress during the search process (e.g. nominated, applied, reviewed, failed to meet minimum qualifications, shortlisted, interviewed, eliminated, etc.).
• Create a physical and/or electronic file for each candidate who meets the objective criteria established by the committee to hold their materials, recommendations, interview notes, and records of communications. (see below for maintaining appropriate contact with candidates)
• For any such files and search documents that are not housed and managed in the university’s electronic faculty applicant tracking system, provide a secure location for files to ensure confidentiality throughout the search, such as a password protected website to track candidates, their status and associated materials. UAB PeopleAdmin is the system of record for faculty searches.
• Maintain official minutes of search committee meetings. These can be brief, but they should document general criteria established by the committee and their decision-making process.
• Keep copies of letters and advertisements, especially those efforts made to recruit women and underrepresented minority candidates.
• At UAB, faculty candidates are given the opportunity to self-identify on race, gender, disability and veteran status. At the end of the search process the Equity Advisor generates the EEO Report for the purpose of uploading and including it with the Hiring Proposal. The data collected in the EEO Report provides the university with needed information to evaluate efforts to consistently attract diverse and inclusive faculty candidate pools. UAB uses these data to evaluate the success of the committee’s efforts to generate a diverse pool. Contact your school or college Equity Advisor for information about how the EEO Report should be utilized.
• Ensure consistency of evaluations, interviews, and reference checks by developing standard forms and standard questions for these activities.

Ensure that documentation provides rationales for search committee decisions and recommendations. This can be as extensive as notes to the candidate files, or as brief as a line in committee meetings (e.g. “The committee decided to limit interviews to those candidates having more than ten years of teaching experience”). Notes should indicate specific job-related reasons for selection or non-selection.