Rolling Searches

Rolling Searches in the University Medical Line

Faculty searches are normally authorized for a twelve-month period, which may be extended while negotiations with the candidate of choice continue. The School understands the challenges that some clinical departments may have in attracting a robust applicant pool for University Medical Line positions, which encompass scholarly, clinical care and teaching activities.  Therefore, under certain limited circumstances, a department may request, and the Vice Dean may approve, a rolling search in the UML that extends over multiple years and normally anticipates multiple recruitments.

Such circumstances might include anticipated annual hiring to address broad programmatic objectives (rather than specific, urgent clinical needs); recruitment in an emerging subfield where the number of applicants is currently small but expected to grow; or recruitment in an area of academic medicine where the availability of applicants has traditionally been challenging but might benefit from sustained recruitment strategies over time.

The following guidelines are provided for rolling searches:

• The department chair should discuss the rationale for a rolling search with the Vice Dean, whose approval must be gained before submission of the standard Search Initiation Request.
• Due to the multi-year commitment, the department chair should appoint a standing search committee whose members should understand the labor-intensive, proactive nature of a successful search and be willing to commit the time and effort that is needed.  All School policies regarding known candidates and potential conflicts of interest with committee members will remain in effect throughout the entire search period.
• Advertisements should be constructed to reflect broad programmatic needs that are aligned with a department’s long-term strategic planning.
• The launch of a search should be timed to coincide with networking opportunities at major national or regional conferences or when large numbers of potential applicants may be soon coming out of fellowship or training programs.
• In addition to providing information regarding advertising and outreach activities at the time that the search is initiated, departments conducting rolling searches will also be expected to explain the ways in which the search committee will sustain such efforts over time in order to encourage a steady flow of interest from a diverse applicant pool.
• The search committee should convene on a regular basis to assess applications.  Extra care should be taken to keep applicants apprised of their status, including prompt notification to those who are no longer under consideration for the position.
• To the extent possible, and in order to provide optimal calibration of an applicant’s qualifications, multiple candidates should be interviewed within the same approximate timeframe.
• The first candidate of choice identified through a rolling search must have been selected as a result of a competitive process that included interviews with other short-listed candidates.
• Provided that advertising and outreach efforts continue to result in a steady flow of applicants, for subsequent recruitments, the applicant pool size submitted in connection with search reports, as well as the size of the definitive pool, will be considered cumulative over a specified period of time (normally up to three years).
• Although the rolling search approval covers several years, the department should confirm each year with the Office of Academic Affairs that they wish to continue the rolling search, resubmit the search advertisement/solicitation letter for review and confirm that they will readvertise.