Guidelines For Developing A Search Plan

A search plan identifies :

• specific individuals, especially women, who could be directly approached to apply for the chair in question;
• individuals who, through their eminence in the field or through their networks, could be approached to nominate other appropriate potential applicants;
• specific strategies for the identification of appropriate potential applicants;
• a procedure to report on outcomes of the search plan to the Search and Screen Committee.

• A proposed search plan should be submitted to the Search and Screen Committee by the appropriate school for deliberation by the Committee.
• The Search and Screen Committee finalises the search plan.
• When the search activities have been completed, the Search and Screen Committee will expect to see evidence of the outcomes of the search. These outcomes could be presented as either a short written report or as a verbal report to the Committee.

Search plans, ideally, should develop from information obtained through ongoing networks and contacts. The following are presented as ideas which may prove helpful – they are not intended to be prescriptive.

• Professional bodies (associations, boards) may prove useful in identifying eminent academics in a particular field.
• Study leave, or visits to schools in other universities, should be used to identify possible applicants for positions (not only chairs) at UWA.
• Use available technology (eg electronic bulletin board) to disseminate information about chair positions.
• Where possible, use personal approach (telephone) rather than a less personal approach (writing) when targetting individuals.

Vacant Chair funds may be used to employ a fixed term research assistant to explore the relevant literature to search for possible candidates.