Placement Service Guidelines

SCS and AIA have a Joint Committee on Career Planning and Development, replacing the former SCS Committee on Placement. The committee is charged with monitoring current hiring procedures and suggesting modifications and improvements when necessary. The Committee consists of seven members appointed by the SCS President, as well as three members appointed by the AIA President, with staggered three-year terms. At the time of appointing the Committee, the SCS President also designates one of its members as chair. Rank, type of institution, gender, minority status, and geography are considered in order to make the Committee as representative as possible. The SCS and AIA make special efforts to ensure that the Committee has members with diverse specialties and at least one person who has had recent experience as a candidate with the Placement Service. The Committee includes as non-voting ex officio members, the Chair of the SCS Committee on Diversity in the Profession, the Chair of the Committee on Gender and Sexuality in the Profession, and the Vice President for Professional Matters.

You can view the SCS's guidelines for interviews and distance interviews here.

In order to improve equity and transparency in the hiring process, users of the Placement Service are required to observe the following guidelines. Failure to observe these guidelines constitutes grounds for complaint.

A. Institutional Registration for the Placement Service
B. Job Advertisement Requirements
C. Communication
D. Interview
E. Advice to Candidates
F. Initiating the Complaints Process

A. Institutional Registration for the Placement Service

  1. Institutions that wish to use the SCS Placement Service must register as a Placement Institution. The registration fee includes the price of one advertisement, and additional advertisements may be purchased.
  2. If two departments or programs from the same institution are conducting job searches, each department/program must register as a separate entity (institution) if it plans to utilize the Placement Service for its job search.
  3. The Placement Service does not provide on-site services at the Annual Meeting.
  4. So that advertisements may reach as large an audience as possible, all openings available should be advertised in POSITIONS. Departments are also encouraged to advertise in other appropriate fora (e.g., electronic lists, letters to individual Classics departments).
  5. The SCS and AIA disapprove strongly of “charade listings,” that is, listing as open a position for which the candidate has been selected in advance.
  1. The advertisement should clearly state the deadline for the receipt of applications or for the start of review when the search is open-ended. In selecting a deadline, institutions should take into account the date when the advertisement of the position will appear and choose a date that gives candidates a reasonable amount of time to prepare and submit their applications. The Committee strongly suggests that, whenever it is possible, absolute deadlines be set for no earlier than four weeks after the first appearance of the advertisement in a Placement Service e-mail to candidates. In an open-ended search, the advertisement should include the date on which review will start, and this date must be at least 15 days from the date that the ad is first published. Job advertisements should clearly state when letters of recommendation are due.
  2. In addition to application deadlines, institutions should provide an approximate timeline for progressive phases of the search, e.g., when they anticipate conducting or contacting candidates for preliminary and campus interviews.
  3. Institutions should require for the initial application only the materials that are necessary for their deliberations at that stage. They should avoid making demands on candidates for supporting materials that duplicate each other or would be especially onerous or expensive. In particular, ads should be explicit about what materials will be considered as evidence of successful teaching (e.g. sample syllabus, course evaluations) and research (e.g. offprint, dissertation chapter), and if the institution requires statements about teaching philosophy, research goals, and commitment to diversity, candidates should not be expected to repeat these materials in the cover letter.
  4. Job descriptions should be as specific and accurate as possible. In addition to specifying what degree requirements, specialization, and experience are desired from candidates, they should also be explicit about service obligations, the number of courses to be taught per term, and whether they will be on-campus, hybrid, or online, especially important in the case of non-tenure-stream positions.
  5. It should be clearly stated whether the position advertised has been approved by the administration or is contingent on budgetary authorization. The length of time for which the advertised position is authorized should also be clearly stated. If possible, the listing of a temporary position that might be extended should contain the words “renewable” or “possibly renewable,” and the number of years for which it might be renewed. If the person who was originally hired for the position is not going to hold the position for the following year, or if the position at any time turns into a tenure-stream position, the position should be re-advertised.
  6. The institution should state its intention to comply with fair hiring procedures at every stage in the search. US institutions should follow all EEOC anti-discrimination regulations (https://www.eeoc.gov/laws-guidance-0). Canadian Institutions are directed to follow the Employment Equity Act (S.C.1995, c.44). Religious institutions should see #B9 and #C10 below.
  7. Institutions registered with the Placement Service should abide by the SCS Statement on Professional Ethics and the AIA Code of Professional Standards, which agree on principles of non-discrimination. Particular attention should be paid to the sections noted below:

SCS Statement on Professional Ethics regarding discrimination: In all matters relating to employment, the Society for Classical Studies strongly endorses the 1976 AAUP Statement on Discrimination with its 1994 and 1995 revisions. It is a foundation of our professional values that classicists should be protected against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and actual or perceived medical conditions, as well as discrimination arising from antisemitism or Islamophobia. The Society, furthermore, encourages substantive and meaningful efforts by individuals, departments, and institutions towards diversifying our field both demographically and intellectually.

AIA Code of Professional Standards (III.3): Professional archaeologists should not practice discrimination or harassment based on gender, religion, age, race, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation. Project sponsors should establish guidelines that reduce the potential for discrimination or harassment, and have in place procedures to investigate and resolve complaints.

  1. Advertisements not in English should be accompanied by an English translation for the use of the office; publication is optional. They should be explicit about whether candidates need to be prepared to teach in the local language immediately, or they may teach in English either for a transitional period or indefinitely.
  2. Religious institutions within the scope of 42 USC 2000e-2(e) must include in their advertisements a statement of their religious affiliation and how that affiliation will affect their consideration of candidates, if it is the case that they plan to consider candidates’ religious affiliations, religious beliefs, and/or willingness to support, incorporate, or accommodate the tenets of the institution’s affiliation in teaching and/or research. Additionally, institutions that intend to condition employment on compliance with a code of conduct or signing a statement of faith should include such information in the advertisement and provide a link to any applicable code of conduct so that potential candidates can access the information.
  3. If institutions offer domestic partnership benefits, this should be indicated in their advertisements.
  4. Institutions should be aware that SCS and AIA have members in countries around the world, some of whom may not possess authorization to work in the country in which the institution is located. Institutions should disclose to candidates relevant information regarding the position, e.g. whether the institution can (or cannot) sponsor a visa for the position advertised according to institutional policies.

C. Communication

  1. Inquiries and applications should be acknowledged promptly and courteously (generally within two weeks of receipt). Candidates whose applications are no longer being considered should be notified of this fact in a courteous manner as soon as possible. Institutions should advise candidates when they are not among the short list of final candidates.
  2. At the time of an interview, the institutional representative should give the candidates some indication of when a final decision is likely to be made.
  3. All candidates under consideration should be informed once an offer has been extended, or as soon as the rules of the institution permit.
  4. If a final decision is postponed beyond the academic year in which interviews occur, all candidates under consideration should be informed of this. The institution should promptly inform the Placement Service of the action taken on the position listed, informing the Placement Service specifically of the candidate hired.
  5. Except in unusual circumstances, candidates for junior positions should not be compelled to commit to a job offered for the next academic year before the end of January. When this is not possible (if, for example, the position may be taken away if it is not filled quickly) institutions should be as transparent to the candidate as circumstances allow.
  6. Offers should be conveyed in writing as quickly as possible after a verbal offer. Candidates should not be expected to withdraw from their other searches until a written offer has been received and should be given a reasonable period of time (preferably two weeks but at least one week) to negotiate and tender a decision.
  7. Institutions are encouraged to respect requests for confidentiality as far into the search process as they can, and to break confidentiality, when it has been specifically requested, only with the consent of the candidate.
  8. Requests between institutions and individuals for informal recommendations are discouraged.
  9. Candidates should not be asked at any stage in the process about their age, political views, marital status, family, intentions about having children, race or national origin, disability, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, or sexual orientation. (These matters may, of course, be raised by the candidate in the course of their own enquiries; search committee members are strongly encouraged to be prepared and to follow the guidance of their institutions in responding to such disclosures) Representatives of the institutions should not make inquiries about these matters outside the interviews.
  10. Questions about religious beliefs or affiliations are to be omitted except in the case of some institutions with religious affiliations, where such questions are lawful under the provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (Section 42, USC 2000e-2e).
  11. If a department hires a candidate with qualifications different from those stated in the job listing, it must be prepared to defend its action, in writing, with specific and substantial reasons.

D. Interviews

  1. Candidate interviews, whether in-person or via remote conferencing (online or by phone), should be conducted in a courteous, friendly, and professional manner. The interviewee’s personal and professional integrity should be respected at all times.
  2. As stated in the Guidelines for Interviews, all interviews should ordinarily be conducted in the same manner, unless circumstances require a variance to accommodate extraordinary circumstances. All candidates should be interviewed for approximately the same amount of time and be asked the same core questions.
  3. Interviews should be conducted in a manner and setting that will put candidates at ease, in accordance with the ethical standards noted above at Section B7. Interviewers should refer to the Guidelines for Interviews for details.
  4. The Placement Service strongly discourages institutions from recording candidates. If a department needs to record interviews (i.e. because a member of the search committee cannot participate due to illness or inability to travel), it should ask candidates in advance for consent as a matter of basic fairness and, in some states, of law. The SCS and AIA expect that institutions will comply with applicable laws relating to the recording of communications, including by obtaining any necessary consent. Departments should however be sensitive to the pressures that such queries present, because candidates are not in a position to withhold consent. Departments should also explicitly tell candidates if the recordings will become an official part of the search’s records and should delete them as soon as they are no longer needed

E. Candidates

  1. Candidates are reminded that they also have obligations to the institutions and departments that have positions available. They should conduct themselves in a professional manner in both in-person and online interviews.
  2. Candidates are expected to keep their files up to date.
  3. Candidates are advised to write individualized, not overly generic, letters of application that address the specific requirements of the position. Candidates are expected to remove themselves promptly from consideration if they have accepted a position elsewhere and also to inform the SCS Communications and Services Coordinator promptly of the change in their status.
  4. Candidates should consult the Guidelines for Interviews for tips and advice about distance interviews. Candidates are strongly advised to test internet connections and equipment in advance. Institutions should make teleconferencing rooms and/or platforms available to their graduate students and faculty (non-tenure and tenure-stream).

F. Complaints

  1. Complaints with all necessary substantiating documents should be directed to the Communications and Services Coordinator from whom your materials will be sent on to the chair of the Committee on Career Planning and Development, the Executive Director of the SCS, the SCS Vice President for Professional Matters, or the AIA Vice President for Research and Academic Affairs, depending on the specifics of the complaint.
  2. The SCS Board and AIA Governing Board have directed these officers to inform them fully of the nature of alleged violations of these principles.
  3. All complaints will be evaluated and addressed by the appropriate body of the SCS.

Revised and updated by the Joint Committee on Career Planning and Development, May 2024