ABSTRACT
In an effort to examine the fairness of academic job postings, advertisement
sources (e.g., APA Monitor on Psychology, Higher Education Jobs, Indeed, the
Chronicle of Higher Education) for academic positions (e.g., assistant
professor, chairs, deans, presidents) were reviewed to identify examples of the
“required” and “preferred” qualifications associated with particular academic
positions. “Required” qualifications are generally defined as being inherent to
the performance of the job (e.g., a doctoral degree) and are under the control
of the applicant. This article argues that “preferred” qualifications are under
the control of the institution advertising the academic position and that, in
some cases, they should not be emphasized because they are unnecessary,
unconnected to the environmental context or to the nature of the job,
discriminatory, and invented. In addition, there are also scenarios where a
given preferred qualification would be critical to performing the job, and
would in fact be a required qualification for that job. This article describes
these types of qualifications in more detail and provides real world examples
of their use in academic job listings.