Debunking the Myth of Job Fit in Higher Education and Student Affairs

"Debunking the Myth of Job Fit in Higher Education and Student Affairs unapologetically critiques the myth of the importance of 'Job Fit' in higher education and student affairs, offering a clear, honest, and challenging picture of the biases faced by minoritized professionals during the job search process and once they are employed at Predominantly White Institutions. The authors of this book comprehensively address the various excuses that colleges and universities claim have kept them from achieving the inclusivity and equity advocated in their mission statements. Simultaneously, the authors offer specific, cutting edge - yet doable - recommendations for creating environments that enable minoritized individuals to be their authentic selves, thrive, and succeed in welcoming higher education settings."

Nancy J. Evans, Professor Emerita, Student Affairs Program, School of Education

Iowa State University

"This is a must read text for every person in a hiring position or on a search committee. Each chapter is a robust blending of critical theoretical perspectives and scholarly personal narratives that results in an interrogation of job fit, which for many is a taken-for-granted good. Taken as a whole, the book illuminates how fit serves to limit job opportunities for some and reinforces structures of inequality, while also providing vital guidance to those making hiring decisions."

Susan R. Jones, Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Higher Education and Student Affairs Program

The Ohio State University

"Debunking the Myth of Job Fit in Higher Education and Student Affairs is a must read for anyone involved in hiring staff at any level. This book engages the very present dynamic of 'code' words that maintain the status quo and support a culture of exclusion. Bravo..."

Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington

President, Washington Consulting Group; President & Co-Founder, Social Justice Training Institute (SJTI); President, (ACPA) College Student Educators International

"Examines how the concept of 'job fit' for student-affairs professionals may serve to exclude applicants of diverse backgrounds."

The Chronicle of Higher Education

"In their seminal work on staffing practices in student affairs, Winston and Creamer (1997) found that:

'an excellent student affairs staffing program begins with hiring the right people and placing them in positions with responsibilities that allow them to maximize their skills, knowledge, and talents in the pursuit of student affairs' purposes. There are no equivalent substitutes for talented and professionally competent staff in a student affairs division of excellence. The first commandment for student affairs administrators, therefore, is to hire the right people. The second commandment is to do it in the right way. (p. 123)'

Reece, Tran, DeVore, and Porcaro (2019) provide us with a reminder that nowhere in the research or call for hiring the right people was the mention of fit. Those who choose to follow the myth of fit do so at the risk of their own organizational stagnation."

Teachers College Record