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Virtual Recruitment

Planning the Virtual Campus Visit

The virtual process presents unique opportunities and challenges. Recent hires who have undergone the remote process have reported that they have enjoyed the convenience of a remote process, having found it to be relatively less intense.

As departmental hiring committees, an important consideration for you throughout the virtual process should be candidate engagement, particularly given that you will not have the luxury of effortlessly showcasing your department, the campus and the city as you would in the traditional campus visits. There are subtle ways in which the candidate experience will be impacted in the remote setting. Bringing respect, compassion and a willingness to actively consider how diverse candidates may be particularly impacted, will be key to your process. DHCs are encouraged to consult the Recruiting & Hiring Diverse Faculty Guidelines available on the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion website.

An important element expressed by our recent hires as highly desirable, is the opportunity to receive information on resources and supports available at the University, to have confidential conversations in a safe space about the supports they might need and to meet with different individuals such as the Dean, their colleagues, students, HR, etc.

DHCs are advised to consider the following:

  • Sharing links to your department/school and/or Faculty website including information on how your department or school values and is committed to EDI. Here are two examples of a pledge (external link)  and a statement (external link)  on anti-Black racism. Think about what aspects or your department/school you wish to showcase to your candidates - diverse faculty and students, faculty with major research projects and grants, etc.
  • Sharing links to candidate resources, and other interesting and relevant information such as this virtual campus tour and information on relocating to and living in Toronto. Avoid making assumptions about what their needs might be [a recent hire who was from Toronto expressed that he wished he had known about the realtors on our roster that provide service to our faculty].
  • Inviting candidates to curate a list of questions they might have but also recognizing that they might not know what is appropriate or relevant to ask at this stage and therefore, committees should consider scheduling a half hour meeting between the candidate and their Sr. HR Partner, or Zenab Pathan, Manager, Faculty Recruitment. This would be a confidential meeting in which they can ask questions and learn more about working at Toronto Metropolitan University including key collective agreement provisions, benefits and other supports available to faculty and their families.
  • Creating short videos, FAQs or short articles in which some of your faculty and students highlight the exciting aspects of their life at Toronto Metropolitan University - you can use Google Jamboard (external link)  to have your faculty and students contribute towards a creative and colourful collage.
  • Identifying a few faculty members within your department or school who may also be on the list of contacts for informal chats or meetings. Meetings between them and the candidates can be coordinated based on the best match as determined by you as the DHC or as requested by the candidate. When scheduling a social hour or any informal meetings, be sure to ask the candidate about their preference between having the invitation be sent to all members of the department/school or keeping it to a small group of individuals; for small groups, aim to have no more than 5 to 6 individuals.
  • If you have Indigenous or Black candidates, make the introductions with Tracey King, Indigenous HR Lead and Nikki Waheed, co-chair, Black Faculty & Staff Network respectively, early in your process. You may also have dedicated resources within your Faculty to support your diverse candidates. Let your candidates know about the other community networks as well.

DHCs are also encouraged to:

  • Ensure that as a committee you communicate early with your candidates and that you plan to communicate with them regularly, checking in with them at various milestones to ensure that they feel comfortable with identifying anything about the process that may not be working for them. Explain the process, the timelines, the technology, etc. to them. Invite them to let you know if they may have any accommodation needs during any parts of your process.
  • Show your candidates a willingness to be flexible, whether it is with your schedule, the technology or any other aspects of your process. Candidates will differ in their circumstances and their lived experiences, which will influence their ability to participate in your process. Ultimately, your objective should be to create the most conducive environment for your candidates to showcase the strengths of their candidacy.
  • Consider whether it is possible to pay for reasonable costs associated with the candidate needing to book a hotel with reliable Wi-Fi connection if the candidate lacks proper internet connection at home or for elder/child care to care for dependents while the candidate is able to participate in the virtual process with you. Candidates will be reluctant to raise these needs on their own thus the hiring committees are encouraged to either highlight to candidates the availability of these options upfront or to at least create a comfortable environment in which candidates are told that we understand and appreciate the diverse needs of our candidates and that they should feel free to to let us know if they have have concerns of special needs with respect to the various aspects of the virtual process.

Consult the online DHC Resources page for tools and templates as you are undergoing the search process.

The common web conferencing platforms used at Toronto Metropolitan University include Zoom (external link) , Google Meet (external link)  and Skype (external link) . Toronto Metropolitan University staff and faculty have licensed zoom accounts and can visit here to set up their access. You will also find a helpful comparison of the Zoom and Google Meet features on the same website as well as access to online Zoom tutorials (external link) .

In addition, DHCs may consider the following:

  • Toronto Metropolitan University faculty and staff also have access to Google Hangouts, which can be a very helpful tool to stay connected as a committee during your virtual recruitment process.
  • Toronto Metropolitan University faculty and staff have access to Google Drive, which can make it easy to house, collaborate on and access relevant search materials.
  • It will be especially important to have reliable internet connection during your virtual process. Connecting your device directly to your ethernet will allow you to achieve a much more stable access as compared with using Wifi. You may also wish to test your internet speed at  speedtest.net. (external link) 
  • Discuss ground rules that you will apply during the virtual meetings and events [e.g. use of chat box, participant box, screen sharing, etc.]
  • Any recording of the virtual process must be conditional on the candidate’s consent and all candidates must undergo the same process. Determine the specifics in advance with respect to who will record, where it will be stored, how access will be provided and when it will be deleted. Dr. John Shiga, Associate Professor & Chair of the School of Professional Communication, speaks about the process his DHC has put in place with respect to recordings (external link) .
  • Use a distinct, dedicated link for each candidate; schedule separate meetings for your deliberations, even if they are immediately following your interviews.

When developing the itinerary or schedule, consider what is realistic and achievable for all of your DHC members given their personal and professional demands during these unusual times.

Be prepared to be flexible. While some recent hires who have undergone a virtual process said that they preferred to have the virtual campus visit in one day, they noted that even within the single day event, they preferred to have some choice with respect to the sequence and timing of events.

In particular, DHCs should consider the following:

  • Candidates may have a preference regarding the sequence of events and the number and length of breaks in between; for example, some candidates prefer the momentum associated with having the interview and job talk scheduled back to back while others would prefer to have a reasonable break (e.g. 30 minutes) in between the interview and the job talk.
  • Candidates should be offered the option to have a proper lunch hour to be on their own and have some personal time away from the virtual visit.
  • While most remote hiring activities have tended to occur over Zoom without any issues, committees should check in with the candidates about the comfort level with the technology intended to be used and be flexible and offer choice where possible. Candidates have especially appreciated being given a practice sign-in session.
  • It is possible that some candidates may not be able to complete the full virtual visit in one day. They may have a disability, family obligations, or other personal circumstances which they may not be comfortable disclosing. Some may have limited access to technology or dedicated space. It is therefore important for DHCs to offer candidates choice upfront without requiring candidates to self advocate - something diverse candidates may not feel comfortable doing given that the imposter syndrome affects many candidates but especially and disproportionately affects minorities.
  • Be sure to consider any applicable time zones and invite the candidate to clarify for you what would work for them.

In addition, consider the following:

  • Adding a buffer of 15-20 minutes for meetings, especially the structured ones such as the job talk, teaching demonstration and the interview, to allow for any technical difficulties or other unexpected delays.
  • If your DHC would like to provide the interview questions to candidates in advance, schedule a pre-interview period [e.g. half hour before the interview] for the candidate to join the meeting and receive the questions.
  • Reserving extra days in your calendars to accommodate those candidates who may be unable to complete their virtual process due to various reasons, e.g. technical difficulties, emergencies, etc.
  • Whether it makes sense to schedule your deliberations immediately following each interview, so that there are no issues with DHC members having to recall the details, which may be more of a challenge given the newness of, and the unique challenges associated with,  a virtual recruitment process.
  • If you have a series of events scheduled for the candidate, designating a moderator to support the candidate from transitioning from one meeting to the next.
  • Scheduling a practice session for your candidates to sign-in [as noted above].
Virtual Interview
Virtual Job Talk