Finding Fit: The Nature of a Successful Faculty Employment Search in Criminal Justice

• NCJ Number: 223939
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 372-378
• Author(s): Ronald G. Burns; Patrick Kinkade
• Date Published: August 2008
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study conducted in 2005 surveyed both chairmen of search committees involved in identifying candidates for college teaching positions in criminal justice and candidates for these positions, in order to identify factors related to perceptions of a successful job search.

Abstract

Since at the time of this study the student demand for criminal justice studies was strong, search committee’s perceived that their first priority should be to advertise the benefits of open positions in order to be competitive in attracting a relatively limited number of qualified candidates. Employers are thus competing for scarce resources, which requires effective advertising; for example, including in advertisements specific information about “competitive“ salaries would enhance a committee‘s ability to attract top candidates. Employers must also strategically locate their ads. Although advertising with the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the Chronicle of Higher Education remains popular, the inexpensive alternative of sending unsolicited e-mail messages to candidates and departments has promise. Candidate decisions to submit an application to a particular criminal justice department were apparently influenced by teaching considerations, a department’s reputation, the candidate’s perceived match to the department’s advertised needs, colleagues, the college’s location, and compensation. These issues should be incorporated into discussions during preliminary and campus interviews, so as to maximize the use of job-search resources. The two survey samples were identified through the ASC’s annual meeting held in Toronto in 2005. The response rates for the candidates and employers were 69.1 percent (n=55) and 48.8 percent (n=82), respectively. The questionnaires were primarily composed of two types of questions, perceptions of a variety of factors that might influence the decision to first contact an applicant (employers) or to submit an application (candidates) and rankings of items in the order of their perceived importance in relation to a candidate’s or an employer’s desirability. 7 tables and 19 references