On Doing Open Calls

To ensure the overall health of our volunteering structures as SIGCHI continues to grow, we aim for our selection processes for volunteering roles to remain open and inclusive, drawing from and welcoming a wide range of candidates. SIGCHI volunteers fulfill a variety of roles and responsibilities; they may be reviewers of papers, chairs at conferences, organizers of chapters’ events, among others. Each of these pathways provides volunteers with opportunities for advancing careers, developing new skills, enhancing knowledge of the field, and more. To ensure that these avenues are within reach for all members of the SIGCHI community, the SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC) asks that the calls for volunteering be open, also bearing in mind that this openness is limited by the personal and professional networks of those conducting the call (see our prior Interactions article on this topic [1]).

The EC began conducting open calls 4+ years ago (see our prior policy guidance [2]). The best practices shared below draw from past recruiting experiences, and are aimed at shaping future volunteer recruitment in all unelected volunteer roles within SIGCHI. This includes the EC and all its committees, SIGCHI conferences’ organizing and program committees, and SIGCHI chapters leadership. Note that these best practices speak to the mechanics around the open call alone, not to the selection of volunteers, nor their onboarding and training, which merit further attention.

1. Check that the platform you are using can be used by others. Certain countries disallow certain platforms. EC committees use Submittable for conducting open calls. SurveyMonkey is another platform that many conferences use (and often ask us for access to it). Google Forms is an example of a platform that may not work for all of the intended audience, but could be a considered choice. Please let the EC know if you would like help on using a particular platform. Any platform of choice should be accessible and GDPR-compliant.
2. Be inclusive in designing the form. The call must follow the ACM style guide, upholding standards for accessibility, speaking to a global/regional audience as appropriate, using accessible language, and avoiding jargon where possible. It is best for the application form to not be time-intensive so that it does not prohibit applicants from investing their resources.
3. Allow nomination of self and others. Both types of nominations are important. Self-nominations remove one barrier for individuals to consider volunteering. Allowing nomination of others helps in sourcing recommendations. Those on the search committee are welcome to nominate individuals they think might be good for the role, while enabling other candidates to enter the pool as well.
4. Detail selection criteria. Selection criteria for volunteer positions should ideally be well-defined and explicit. It is good for applicants to be able to accurately assess for themselves whether they are eligible for the role. For those deeply immersed in SIGCHI volunteering structures, it may be challenging to see whether or not these criteria will be clear to applicants. Please recognize also that providing an exhaustive list of requirements and skills may negatively impact the number and diversity of applications submitted. If possible, get feedback from some who are relatively distant from the role before publishing the call.
5. Include contact information. The call should ideally indicate an email address or a way of getting in touch, in case applicants would like more information about the call. This is typically of the volunteer or committee leading the search.
6. Outline the selection process. It is advisable to indicate the names/roles of those who will be responsible for making the selection, and how they will go about this process. It might also be a good idea to have an odd number of people on the selection committee so that ties are easily broken. If the process will be anonymous, this can be conveyed.
7. Indicate that checks will be conducted. All SIGCHI volunteers are required to be checked in the ACM Sanctions Database before they are appointed. These checks can only be conducted by the president. Other vetting criteria (e.g. with CARES) may be employed for certain leadership roles, in addition. Information about these checks should be included in the call, as relevant.
8. Include information about the role. This includes information such as the title of the role, perhaps even information regarding where it sits in the SIGCHI or conference organizational structure, a set of responsibilities as well as any flexibility the role affords, and why the role is important.
9. Make sure the role is accessible. Giving information about the role is important for transparency. Making it a 40-hours a week role is not recommended. Consider making the role accessible so as not to quash the willingness to contribute.
10. Be careful about what you ask. To know whether a pool of candidates is diverse, questions need to be framed accordingly. Gender balance may be the most prominent attribute to consider, but other inclusion attributes could also be considered, including candidates’ career stages, ethnicity, disability, regional and institutional affiliations. Key demographic criteria may need to be explicitly requested in the application or nomination forms so that data is available for analysis, as this is not always easily possible to infer. Care must be taken here, as some of this information is considered highly sensitive according to, e.g., GDPR regulations. The ACM also has a Privacy Policy that applies to personal information collected or otherwise received by SIGCHI.
11. Set expectations appropriately. Prospective volunteers should know what to expect from the role. Many volunteering roles are associated with prestige, but also bring a lot of work with them. Some volunteer roles are more demanding than others; these expectations should be made clear before a volunteer has said yes to a role.
12. Indicate the ACM policies that apply. SIGCHI aims to uphold ACM’s statements on diversity and inclusion and accessibility. This may not be an exhaustive list. There may be other policies that are relevant, depending on the role. The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is also one to reference.
13. Tell candidates when they will be informed. Successful candidates are bound to be notified. It is advisable to inform applicants soon after the decision is made not to appoint them, so that they hear from the selection committee first and not other communication channels or the grapevine.
14. Advertise intentionally. Not everyone is on the right mailing lists. Also, sometimes mailing lists send emails to spam. We do recommend sending open calls to members via email, but also following up with social media posts at periodic intervals as reminders. Personal networks are not to be excluded in this step. Often personal communication is what motivates prospective volunteers towards action.
15. Keep open long enough. It is advisable to announce the call at least 2–3 weeks before the deadline, since this will ensure that the call has had time to “travel”, and afforded potential applicants the opportunity to process (and ask) whether they would be suitable.
16. Provide extensions, with care. It is often necessary to provide extensions when not enough people have applied, or when the call overlaps with a holiday period (different across regions/religions) or an otherwise busy period for many, such as the CHI conference deadline. It is important that extensions be advertised through the same channels that the call was advertised on. Care may be taken to change the deadline everywhere that it is mentioned.
17. When not open call-ing. There may be cases where open calls do not seem fitting, such as when specific types of experience or skills need to be engaged, or when the role is interim or short-term and an open call might be too time-consuming, or in the case of a new member-led initiative. Our recommendation is that an open call process be followed anyway, because it will ensure greater transparency and inclusivity. Where this is not followed, we recommend that a justification be offered in writing (this may be a brief note) and shared publicly. This will allow the broader SIGCHI, conference, or chapter community to understand the rationale behind the decision.

We aim for this guidance to be used as a checklist for those recruiting volunteers, and ideally to become so obvious to SIGCHI members that they need not refer to it at all! As always, we welcome any feedback you have for additions or changes to the list above.

All SIGCHI EC committees recruit via open calls, following policy guidance from the previous EC [2]. We also have a permanently open call for volunteers, and encourage you to fill this out if you would like to volunteer for any of the EC’s committees.

References

[1] SIGCHI Executive Committee. 2022. Open(ing) calls, making space. interactions 29, 3 (May — June 2022), 70–71. https://doi.org/10.1145/3530189

[2] https://archive.sigchi.org/open-calls-for-volunteering-positions-acm-sigchi-policy-guidance/.
2019. Open Calls for Volunteering Positions: ACM SIGCHI Policy Guidance.

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