How we Did It.

This article presents views of the head of a college department on how a hiring committee in a liberal arts college narrowed its pool from 300 applicants to one for a tenure-track position in the sciences. The primary goal of the search committee was to find a dedicated teacher and active researcher who really wanted to be at a liberal arts college. The first to be eliminated were candidates who appeared to be viewing the institution at a backup, and the next were those whose cover letters addressed the receiver as "Sir," since the college wanted somebody who respected women as scientists. Another category to be eliminated was the one where candidates tried to pretend they were perfect.