Breach of confidentiality?

Reggie02 · November 2003

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Our department publishes a monthly newsletter for our employees and administrators. If we are recruiting for a vacant position or have scheduled interviews for a position, we post the names of the candidates interviewing, the times of their open session(s), and the position for which they are interviewing. The open session(s) generally consist of a brief presentation on a topic relevant to the position for which they have applied or to display their teaching style. Since our department serves the entire university and the state research and extension programs, there are any number of people who may be interested in attending these presentations. Our monthly newsletter is distributed in hard copy to all 115 employees of the department and 10 college administrators. It is then posted/archived on our website for twelve months.

Last week I recieved an e-mail from a candidate that was not selected for a faculty position indicating that he recently discovered his name in our newsletter. He further stated that his name was listed without his permission and is not legal as his application was confidential and that we are violating federal law. We immediately broke the link to the page and I have asked our webmaster to remove this candidates name from the newsletter and repost it, however I am wondering if we have truly done something illegal. Should we not post interview times and candidate names?

Thanks for any guidance/suggestions.

Gina

Parabeagle · November 2003

I've never encountered a process like yours before. It's very interesting. However, in the companies in which I've worked, we have always treated the application/interview process as confidential so as to respect the candidate's privacy. In many cases, we are interviewing a candidate who is already employed and confidentiality is key since his current employer does not know he's looking. Bottom line is, I just don't think it's good practice to publish a candidate's name in a publication without informing them or asking their permission to do so.

Hunter1 · November 2003

Since you appear to be a public university system, there are probably state rules/laws on what is public information and what is not. In WI, 'finalists' for a position are public information and cannot be withheld, however; candidates who do not make it to the finalist group may request to have their names withheld. We make this distinction clear on our application materials: If you become a finalist for the position, your name may become public information.

Don D · November 2003

I don't know that your process violates any law; but, I agree with Parabeagle. I cannot imagine publishing this sort of thing. I also object to people all over campus showing up to attend the presentation, which is part of the application process. Applications should always be treated confidentially. Your process destroys any semblance of that. Imagine the good candidates you miss who know of your process already.

Crout · November 2003

Odd sustem, but it does not violate Federal law. What happens if a candidate insists on a "closed session?" Would that person be disqualified from the process?

Reggie02 · November 2003

Thank you all for all your help. We have removed our department newsletter from our public site and placed it only on our intranet. This way, employees can refer to current and past issues of the newsletter but the general public and most other campus departments are unable to access them.

I am sure that our interview system does seem odd. It can be lengthy and cumbersome. However, our employee's are given the opportunity to be a part of the interview process. While we may extend invitations to 75-100 people to attend an open session, rarely do we have over 20. We are a university and our department is both academic and provides communication (technology, radio, print, mail, distribution, television, and much more!) support services for the entire state research and extension system as well as the college. Since we work with so many different people and many positions may have teaching responsibilities as well, it is important that most positions demonstrate those skills as part of the interview. Yes, it can be intimidating but I have not ever had a candidate drop out of consideration because of this. Generally our applicants understand that their role in our department will require interaction with folks at many different levels of the organization and that being able to get along with people is a big part of any job. We also like to let the candidates know that we understand we are also being interviewed and it is only fair to let them meet the people they will be working with so they too can judge if it is going to be a good fit for them. We have had many candidates actually complement us on our screening and interviewing process because we make it personable, keep them informed through the entire process of what steps are being taken and when they can expect to hear from us next, whether they are being interviewed or not. We contact every applicant when we receive their application materials to let them know we received it, when the search committee will begin reviewing materials, when we expect to conduct interviews, and when we expect a new person to begin work. We also send out letters at the conclusion of the search to let folks know that the position has been filled. These letters are sent to everyone who applies, qualified or not. Lucky for us we only average 2-5 vacancies per year.

Breach of confidentiality?

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