A day or two ago noticed this news item from Inside Higher Education - Johns Hopkins Shares Too Much Information in Faculty Search.
Essentially, someone involved in the hiring process for a Faculty position in early modern European History at the school sent a 'Thanks for Applying' type of e-mail to 120 candidates for the position, but inadvertently failed to use the email program's 'blind copy' feature thus exposing the names and email addresses of ALL 120 candidates to the entire applicant pool.
Needless to say many of the applicants were a little ticked off that what they had felt was a breach of privacy, particularly for those who are not 'open' or 'public' about their job search.
To me, much more interesting than the initial story about the e-mail gaffe, was one of the sources mentioned in the Inside Higher Ed piece, a 'history jobs wiki' where candidates for various Faculty positions post (anonymously) about institutions, openings, and the status of the various searches.
Real candidates, in competition with each other for the same position, posting informative status updates on the search, the communication (or lack thereof) from the institution, and offering opinion and commentary about all aspects of the process.
It is quite frankly, cool as hell.
Here are just some of the best comments from the candidate's wiki:
For a position in European History at Ball State University:
That is bizarre. So obviously none of the applications received (and subsequent requested dossiers) were deemed worthy by the SC. I'm not wasting anymore time...
And this gem from a search for a 'collateral' Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University:
I don't blame you - it was one of the most poorly written job ads I've seen and it took me a long time to puzzle it out. I still don't know what they meant by "collateral" professor, either.
And one more from Queen's College for a Professor of French History. Apparently a phony 'search' was conducted, but there was already a wired internal person for the spot. Numerous applicants weigh in and express thier frustration with the time and effort spent to apply for a position they had no chance of getting. This quote sums it up nicely:
I'm consoling myself with the fact that this is evidence Queens would be a crappy place to work.
This particular thread about the Queen's College position has at least 50 individual entries and comments from various applicants expressing various forms of displeasure and outrage.
Scanning through this wiki site it is impossible not to notice a couple of important things.
Candidates can and will congregate online
I know the candidate pool for these jobs is kind of small, many of the candidates know each other, they attend the same events, etc; but the ability for candidates to use wikis, forums, or social networks to talk about their application experience is incredibly easy.
These sites will effect your brand
Look again at the candidate remark about Queen's College. The way this particular search was handled did do damage to the brand and potentially to the individuals in charge of the search. One posting in the comment stream actually calls out the professor in charge of the search by name, with the express hope that this negative comment would appear in a Google search result for the person's name.
Employers can take advantage
Every so often on this candidate's wiki, a rep from one of the colleges chimes in to give a status update on the search, or to try and address questions or concerns that were raised by candidates. These updates are almost always seen as helpful and are welcomed by the candidates. In this job market, with so many candidates actively discussing your specific organization and position it only makes sense to actively monitor and engage there.
If you as an HR or Recruiting pro saw these kinds of open and frank discussions happening about you organization and hiring processes wouldn't you feel compelled to jump in to clarify, correct, expound, and yes at times even apologize?
If you know of any other similar 'candidate community' sites like this one for History professors let me know.