Some Thoughts on Preferred Qualifications in the Search for Academic Jobs

摘要

In an effort to examine the fairness of academic job postings, advertisement sources (e.g., APA Monitor on Psychology, Higher Education Jobs, Indeed, the Chronicle of Higher Education) for academic positions (e.g., assistant professor, chairs, deans, presidents) were reviewed to identify examples of the “required” and “preferred” qualifications associated with particular academic positions. “Required” qualifications are generally defined as being inherent to the performance of the job (e.g., a doctoral degree) and are under the control of the applicant. This article argues that “preferred” qualifications are under the control of the institution advertising the academic position and that, in some cases, they should not be emphasized because they are unnecessary, unconnected to the environmental context or to the nature of the job, discriminatory, and invented. In addition, there are also scenarios where a given preferred qualification would be critical to performing the job, and would in fact be a required qualification for that job. This article describes these types of qualifications in more detail and provides real world examples of their use in academic job listings.