Cover Letter
Describing the Search and Candidatate Selections

An offer cannot be made until the department hears that the Office of Equal Opportunity has given final approval.

The search committee chair has the responsibility of preparing a final report outlining the committee's process and making its recommendation(s). This report, along with the appropriate support documentation, and the A-900 form should be forwarded to the Department Head for review. The report and documentation should include the following:

• outline of the criteria and process used to narrow the applicant pool
• individual assessments of the candidates by each committee member, as well as any composite assessments that were developed; include comments and ratings on their strengths and weaknesses as related to the position requirements
• the ranking of the candidates as determined by the committee and the rationale for the ranking
• detailed summary of efforts to develop a strong pool of applicants, including female and minority applicants
• copies of all advertisements, postings, letters, contact lists and any other recruitment sources
• an Applicant Flow Log completed with comments on and the disposition of each candidate who meets minimum qualifications

The A-900 form includes a section for a breakdown of the applicant pool, which comes from the data cards returned to the search committee. The committee chair needs to ensure that this data is included on the A-900 and the applicant flow log.