Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Submitting Search Reports

1. BEYOND REPAIR: Error-Free Long FormAssembly Office of the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Stanford University School of Medicine

2. The Search Report

3. Presentation Overview • Search Report Basics –When, What, Why • Components • Common Errors • Submission sequence

4. When do I submit a search report? • Initiation of Search • Search Report and Draft Offer Letter • Referee Grid • Letter Submission • Draft Long Form • Revised Long Form • Final Long Form

5. What is a Search Report? • Procedural and statistical description of search process • Screening tool to identify procedural errors

6. What’s in the report? • Narrative chronology of search – history of meetings, advertisements, letters, interviews, and decisions • Advertisement and sample letter • Statistical information on applicant pool • Descriptions of candidates, including rationale for selection of top candidate • CV and bibliography of top candidate

7. Components – Narrative • General description of position • List of committee members • Dates of meetings of committee • Dates of advertisements and names of journals • Dates letters mailed and brief description of recipients • Description of efforts to identify qualified underrepresented minority and female candidates • Explanation of any procedural irregularities

8. Components – Narrative When things get complicated . . . • Describe events in chronological order • Helpful to keep complete records and draft the search report “as you go”

9. Components – Advertisement • Include photocopy of advertisement appearing in journal. • Only one example is required. • Highlight specific advertisement with star or thick border. • Be sure name and date of journal appear on page (if not, write them in).

10. Components – Letter • Include sample of solicitation letter with date sent. • Label letter with brief description of recipients (e.g., “Sample letter sent to chiefs of fellowship programs in Cardiology”) • Include sample page from list of recipients. • Include total number of recipients.

11. Components – Statistics • Complete grid: http://www.med.stanford.edu/academicaffairs/handbook/forms/2.73.doc

12. When are named peers required?

13. Components - Statistics • Total pool: people who express interest in position • Definitive pool: people you interview or try to interview • You “know” someone’s ethnicity or gender if they self-declare or you’ve met them and it’s obvious. Do not ask. NOTE: the number in a definitive pool box cannot be higher than the number in the total pool box above it.

14. Components – Candidate Descriptions • Provide a descriptive paragraph for each definitive pool candidate. • Order the paragraphs by preference – top candidate first. • State the gender, ethnicity of each candidate (if known) and how they learned of the position (advertisement, letter, or other) • Example: Robert Chen, Ph.D. (Male, Asian, Advertisement)

15. Components – Candidate Descriptions • In each paragraph, highlight the candidate’s background and accomplishments. • Provide longer discussions (half a page or so) for the top two or three candidates. Descriptions of lower ranking candidates may be considerably more brief. • State briefly the rationale for each candidate’s rank.

16. Components – Candidate Descriptions • Provide a complete, separate list of known underrepresented minority or female candidates in the total pool who were not included in the definitive pool. • For each name in this list, provide a brief explanation (a sentence or two) for their exclusion from the definitive pool.

17. Components – CV • Provide a complete, current CV and bibliography for the top candidate. • This need not be in Stanford long form format, but must be complete and up-to-date. An NIH bio-sketch is not acceptable. • Include all submitted manuscripts and grants.

18. Common Search Report Errors • Incomplete or difficult to understand historical narrative. • Copy of advertisement not included. • Statistics do not reconcile on grid. • Statistics on grid do not match narrative or candidate lists. • Candidate’s CV not current

19. Search Report Error Consequences • Case-specific • Delay in extension of offer letter to your top choice candidate • Possible denial by OAA of your top choice candidate (if search process or candidate appear inappropriate as reported)

20. Search Report Submission Sequence • Search report and draft offer letter packages typically submitted together as hard copy to the Office of Academic Affairs for simultaneous review. Please use the appropriate checklists! • OAA will, upon departmental request, review these documents separately. • OAA will NOT approve an offer letter without first approving the search report.

21. Where do I submit a search report? • Assistant Professor appointments and reappointments: Rebecca Robinson, rrobinso@stanford.edu, 4-9696 • Associate Professor and Professor appointments, reappointments, and promotions, including promotions to Associate Professor: Craig Spencer, cspence@stanford.edu, 8-4577

22. What happens next? • Review of search report in Office of Academic Affairs • Notification of approval or requested revision (typically within 7 – 10 days) • If offer letter also reviewed and approved, clearance to extend offer letter with corrections

23. Small Pool, Internal Candidate • Small Pool = 5 or fewer • Internal Candidate = at Stanford for one year or more prior to the initiation of the search • Problematic: raises questions regarding sincerity of search effort and quality of top candidate

24. Small Pool, Internal Candidate • Contact OAA immediately for assistance when small pool, internal candidate scenario becomes evident. • Special protocol required: http://www.med.stanford.edu/academicaffairs/policymemos.html (link: "Modification of Search Procedures") • Consider adopting Department of Medicine strategy as well.

25. Search Report - End