SEALS Faculty Recruitment Portal: A Kinder, Gentler Faculty Recruitment Process
July 23, 2004
This session’s purpose was to educate the audience on SEALS new Faculty Recruitment Portal. Linda Jellum led the presentation and demonstrated a number of features of the portal and explained its purpose. Among other things Professor Jellum revealed that the portal is free and open to use for individuals and law schools in the United States. The site has a job listings feature where schools can post openings. To post an opening, hiring chairs currently must email Professor Jellum (ljellum@iidaho.edu) the following information: Full name of the law school, City and State it is locate, Job Title, Position type (e.g. entry-level tenure track), a link to the university advertisement for the position (not the ad itself), and which courses are sought to be covered. The job listings are searchable via filters for things such as position types and states. The site allows candidates, both entry level and laterals, to submit their CVs, cover letters and other information through a NEAR form for free. One of the advantageous features of the NEAR form is that a lateral candidate will not be viewable by their home institution. The site features a Visiting Registry as well, where candidates can upload their information (again not viewable by their home institution). The Visiting Registry lists type of visit including what semester.
Though new, the SEALS Recruitment Portal already has a number of positions and candidates uploaded. It already appears to have a large lateral presence and schools are encouraged to engage in the portal to help assist their hiring committees. Moving forward, and thinking strategically, hiring committees will be able to use this as a complement to the AALS process, as the dynamic (and free) nature SEALS portal will attract a number of candidates that the AALS process might not.