Peter Sutoris (University of Leeds) encourages university academic departments to move away from hiring for “fit” when bringing on new academics. Sutoris explains that hiring for fit instead of hiring for quality tends to preserve the status quo and focus on addressing immediate departmental needs and research opportunities. Hiring for quality has greater long-term benefits for the department, but is more difficult to do. It requires the hiring team to be able to recognize originality and potential, while also navigating the tension of disagreement. “Every appointment is a bet on who will carry a field forward, yet we keep betting on whoever costs least, unsettles least and matches the current operational needs most closely,” writes Sutoris. “None of this decides whether the discipline advances.”
