The Four Pillars of Strategic Hiring: Guidance for Committees and Candidates

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Freeman explained that a successful search begins with clarity and collaboration. “Hope is not a strategy in search,” she said. “The strategy is to understand and have clarity and specificity about what you’re looking for.” She emphasized the importance of identifying what she calls the four pillars:

She also drew a sharp distinction between posting jobs and truly recruiting. “Posting is not recruitment; posting is advertising what you have available and seeing who comes. Recruitment is aligning your needs to where candidates are, and going after them. It’s a very different mindset,” she explained.

Freeman pointed out several common mistakes, including “rolling admissions,” where candidates are considered one by one instead of side by side, and involving staff too early in the process. She explained that staff input is valuable, but it should come later in the search, once candidates have already been thoroughly vetted. “The staff has skin in that game, and they’re looking at a candidate through the lens of ‘can I work with this person?’ That’s an awkward position for both the staff and the candidate,” she said. At that stage, Freeman recommends shifting the staff’s role: “They need to be informed and charged that they’re there to recruit, not to evaluate.” In other words, once a candidate has been evaluated by the search committee, staff should focus on welcoming them and helping to encourage their interest in the position.

She also emphasized that hiring isn’t only about skills. “It’s not just skill sets, it’s shared values,” Freeman explained, pointing to alignment on workplace preferences, management style, and commitment to the mission.

Speaking to employers, Freeman suggested asking candidates: “What is it about the mission that is attractive to you as the candidate? Or what is it about this mission that attracts you?” For job seekers, that means being prepared to answer these questions and show they’ve done their homework. She added that volunteer work, passions, and workplace preferences are strong indicators of fit: “Another indicator is what are they volunteering for? What is their passion in life… What is their work style? What is their workplace preference… The intersection of shared values is where you have an excellent search.”

Freeman also reminded job seekers to see hiring as the beginning of a longer journey: “There’s no such thing as rapid recruitment. You want to develop a relationship, and it’s a relationship with an employer–you’re going to spend a lot of time with that employer.”

For more takeaways on building stronger searches–and Freeman’s perspective on how both employers and candidates can approach the process–listen to the full episode below.

As a reminder, the full transcript of every HigherEdJobs Podcast can be found by clicking on ‘transcript’ next to the episode’s show notes