Engineer/Engineering Technology Hiring Practices Are You Throwing Away Talent?

A few short years ago, when a university or college advertised for a tenure track position, it would receive 200+ responses with many well-qualified applicants. Today a similarly advertised position may produce only 20 or less responses and many of them may not be qualified. The problem appears to be multifaceted and the schools with four-year programs appear to be having a more difficult time than schools with two-year programs. The present day labor market is normally singled out as the culprit for the hiring problems but there are other contributing factors. Other areas that need to be examined are the Ivory Tower concepts, ABET requirements, rules of tenure, and philosophy of the older faculty/administration. This paper will look at the roadblocks in the hiring process and consider what needs to happen to open the window of opportunity for hiring the non-traditional faculty members. It will also consider alternatives to the classical profile used in many recruiting campaigns. The need for the non-traditional faculty and the half-life of faculty is also explored. There is a need to adjust hiring practices to include these highly qualified, nontraditional persons in our search and screen process.