Today's unofficial @UBCPoliSci job thread is for search committees looking for ideas for how to make their hiring process more inclusive. (Will continue this outreach series until our department chair notices and decides that I obviously don't have enough service work to do!)

The most important lesson is from @KPColeman: inclusive practices can't be just an afterthought (sorry, you can't just add a diversity statement requirement and call it a day!). She insisted on integrating considerations for inclusion at EACH STAGE OF THE PROCESS #goals

This starts with lots and lots of outreach! Actively reaching out and asking people to share our job ad broadly. (Pro tip: put the extroverts in the department on this to give them something to do! Especially now that we're... I mean, they're... suffering bc of quarantine)

Doing Q&As and publicizing different options for @APSAtweets meetings instead of the usual informal system that privileged those who were already in our networks. Broadcasting as much of our informal application-related advice as we can so everyone has access to it.

When reading files, decide at the onset what things you're looking for and how exactly you're going to assess it. Have rules about what things are important to discourage the use of short cuts like whether you know their advisor or whether they went to a fancy school.

Be aware of gendered language in letters of recommendation: advisors describing their male students as "smart" and their female students as "hard-working." (And if you're the one writing these letters, for gods sake, cut that shit out!)

Set people up for success at the interview stage. Tell them what to expect from the various meetings so they can put their best foot forward. There's not much info to be gained from stressing people out so give them an equally welcoming playing field!

Take feedback from 1-on-1 meetings and student meetings with a grain of salt. Off the cuff assessments are probably more prone to bias and shortcuts, and job candidate assessments can suffer from the same problems as teaching evaluations of female and BiPOC professors.

Educate colleagues to be careful with things like "fit"--not because we don't want good colleagues (I am all for a strict no-asshole policy!), but because sometimes "fit" is code for someone you relate to because they have the same background or look like you

And, as always, please share our jobs (in IR and Theory!) and encourage people to apply!!!

https://politics.ubc.ca/assistant-professor-in-international-relations/

https://politics.ubc.ca/assistant-professor-in-political-theory/