Page 25 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 23
the following observations, I contacted committee chairs, asking if I could observe their committee meetings. In some cases I was told by the chairs that a new assistant professor position had opened, in other cases I found the job postings on the university website and contacted the committee chairs myself. Most of the chairs wanted to have a personal conversation with me before the start of the hiring procedures to talk about confidentiality issues, such as the personal information of candidates. I removed all personal information of candidates, such as their curricula vitae (CVs) and application letters, after the job interviews had taken place. All hiring committee members gave consent for my presence during the committee meetings. Most hiring committees informed the candidates who were invited for an interview through email that I would be observing the interview. Some committees chose to introduce me to the candidates when they were present for the interview. They introduced me as a PhD candidate who was observing for research purposes.
In total, I observed six hiring procedures: three in the SSH and three in the STEM department. I attended all hiring committee meetings: the meetings where the shortlist was made (in two cases this was done by e-mail to which I had access), meetings where candidates were interviewed, lunch meetings in between the interviews, and meetings in which the interviewed candidates were discussed and rankings were made. During the job interviews, I positioned myself in a spot where it was clear that I was not part of the hiring committee. I did not actively participate in the meetings. In one case, I was allowed to make voice recordings of two meetings. Additionally, I was included in e-mail conversations between committee members about for example the procedure and the ranking of candidates.
My observations were limited to formal communications between committee members and informal conversations directly after the meetings. I was not present during other informal discussions in hallways or behind closed doors. However, in two cases I was invited to join the committee for dinner after the job interviews had taken place. In total, I observed 70,5 hours of meetings (excluding dinners) over a period of three years. During all meetings I took detailed notes of the questions that were asked to candidates, first reflections of committee members, and the decision- making deliberations. I focused on the hiring committee members because I aim to study how and based on what criteria they make hiring decisions. After the meetings and during breaks I wrote field notes. Field notes are “detailed summaries of events and behaviour” (Bryman & Bell, 2007, p. 461) that I made to capture my experiences, first impressions, and reflections.
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