Whether the selection committee is involved in job recruitment, university admissions or award nominations, it’s important to create a diverse group of individuals to evaluate nominees. This ensures that there are different perspectives and viewpoints on the candidates’ qualifications, experience, and skills. The diversity can also mitigate the potential for implicit bias to enter a selection process.
Creating a diverse selection committee may require additional effort when selecting panel members from an agency’s staff or workforce. But it’s necessary to ensure that the committee is capable of making a fair and impartial decision. Some recruitment processes also include a scribe to assist the committee with their deliberations by taking comprehensive notes and capturing their discussions. Scribing support is typically provided by external providers and it’s important that the committee is comfortable that the scribe’s materials accurately reflect their deliberations.
It’s important that the Selection Committee understands what criteria will be used to evaluate the nominees. This can help minimize the risk of unintentional “criteria-shifting” that can enter a process after committee members have reviewed the nominations. It’s also a good idea to discuss any possible conflicts of interest and how those can be avoided.
For example, when selecting a team to win the College Football Playoff, the selection committee is comprised of 13 members who are experts in college football. The number of members was chosen to allow for diversity of viewpoints and geographic representation, as well as to facilitate active discussion. The committee meets regularly throughout the season, starting in early November to conduct a preliminary evaluation and produce rankings. Then, they meet again on selection weekend to conduct a final evaluation and determine their rankings for the playoff bracket.
The committee’s rankings are based on their assessment of the teams’ performances on the field, including conference championships won, strength of schedule and head-to-head results. The team that receives the highest overall ranking will win the tournament and be named the national champion.
The Selection Committee is not required to disclose their individual rankings publicly, but they will do so in the event of a tie. A tiebreaker vote is then conducted and a winner is announced. The selection committee members are also required to maintain confidentiality regarding their deliberations and any information or documents that are considered by the committee. The committee chair can be removed from the position if they are found to have breached these obligations.