Who is the “Best Candidate for the Job”?
At VCC, departments create a set of Area Hiring Criteria for each program. It may be tempting to set overly narrow criteria to pinpoint candidates who precisely match your picture of “the ideal candidate.” While this approach might keep the applicant pool small, making it quicker and easier to identify a candidate, overly narrow criteria can:
- Favour candidates who resemble current faculty or fit into dominant cultural norms
- Overlook candidates with transferrable skills, such as those with interdisciplinary expertise or those who took non-traditional career paths
- Discourage strong candidates from applying because they don’t perfectly match the narrow criteria.
To find the best candidate for the job:
1. Focus on Essential Qualifications
- Highlight the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the role. Avoid idealized or overly narrow qualifications that may limit the candidate pool unnecessarily.
- Consider which qualifications could be marked as “preferred” rather than “required.”
- Value alignment with VCC’s commitments to creating accessible, culturally responsive programs for diverse learners :
- VCC’s Strategic Innovation Plan pledges to “review and renew curricula and teaching practices for greater inclusion of diverse ways of knowing and being” and “reflect and respect Indigenous knowledge, culture, and history in academic planning and delivery.”
- VCC’s Academic Plan 2022-2025 Goal 1.1 is to “retain and maintain sufficient qualified and appropriate Indigenous leadership, knowledge holders, and allies to direct and support the process of Indigenization.”
- VCC’s Academic Plan 2022-2025 Goal 2.1 is to “retain and maintain leaders, planners, and doers to direct and support the process of ensuring justice, equity, diversity & inclusion within the College.
2. Recognize Equivalent Qualifications
- Use language like: “Or an equivalent combination of education, training, paid employment, volunteer experience, and lived experience.”
- When assessing applications, value non-traditional pathways to qualifications.
- Value volunteer work that aligns with the role. Recognize that systemic barriers may have limited paid work opportunities for some individuals, such as people with disabilities.
- Value lived experience that aligns with the role, such as firsthand knowledge of barriers faced by marginalized groups or insights into historically underserved communities. (Note: Do not ask about personal characteristics protected by law, such as age, race, gender, or disability in the application or interview. Do aim to create a space where candidates feel comfortable disclosing lived experience and relevant equity dimensions voluntarily.)
- Value on-the-job training that contributes relevant skills or perspectives.
- Value professional development that contributes relevant skills or perspectives.
- Value a wider range of relevant formal academic credentials. For example: Is a Masters degree the only way to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for the role? What other certifications might be just as valuable?
From the BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner
Special programs can help lower barriers for marginalized groups
“It is not discriminatory under the Human Rights Code for employers to create employment equity programs to improve conditions for marginalized groups. For example, you may give preference in hiring and promotion decisions to applicants from disadvantaged groups.
Employers with an initiative aiming to lower barriers for marginalized groups may seek a “special program” designation from B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner. Any program or activity granted this designation cannot be found to contravene the Code.”
▶ Visit BCOHRC’s website to learn more about special programs and consult with VCC’s People Services.
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