Hiring Court Employees: Can Selection Criteria Be Objective?

Court Leader's Advantage

December 20th Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode

Courts have committed to the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion particularly in recruiting and selecting court employees. This commitment however has not been without controversy. One criticism has been that personnel recruitment and selection should be entirely objective and merit based. An evaluation format often cited as an example is the NFL Combine.

The Combine measures prospective professional football players by a number of objective skills: How fast and far can one run? How high can one jump? How much weight can one lift? How far and how accurately can one throw a football? How often can one catch a football and then run with it? How effectively can one block another player? In addition, there are physical attributes that can be objectively measured including height, weight, percentage of body fat, lung capacity, and previous injuries.

This month we ask the questions can and should hiring criteria be objective? Are there measures that we can use to hire managers and supervisors that are devoid of personal or institutional bias?

Today’s Cohost

Stacy Worby, State Jury Coordinator for the Alaska Court System

Today’s Panel

· Zenell Brown, Executive Court Administrator for Michigan’s Third Circuit Court in Detroit

· T.J. BeMent, District Court Administrator for the 10th Judicial Administrative District in Athens Georgia

· Elizabeth Rambo, Trial Court Administrator for the Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene, Oregon and

· Stacey Fields, Court Administrator for the Municipal Court in Crestwood, Missouri