President and Vice Chancellor
Carleton University

The steps in the selection process for the President and Vice Chancellor role are scheduled as follows:

• Committee Review of Candidates: January 23, 2024
• First Round Interviews: February 8 and 9, 2024
• Second Round Interviews: March 7 and 8, 2024

Some of the material may be subject to change. We will do our best to keep you informed of any new developments over the course of the search.

If you wish to be considered, please submit your résumé, cover letter, via the "Submit CV" button. You may be asked to complete a Self-Assessment questionnaire as part of your submission. The questionnaire will offer you the opportunity to highlight, in your own words, how your experience aligns with the key mandates and criteria of the role.

Candidate Due Diligence

We will interview the top-rated candidates to assess motivation, experience, and alignment with the key criteria set out in this brief.

An update will be provided on your candidacy as soon as possible and we will make you aware if we will be presenting your candidacy to the Advisory Committee for its consideration. If both parties wish to proceed, we would ask that you begin gathering any information that might have an impact on your final decision. Usually there are two categories: 

1. Matters of Fact – These include benefits, pension plans, vacation policy, perquisites, and an approximate indication of the compensation plan. If a physical move would be required to accept the position, please learn about housing, schools, relocation assistance, and any other matters of this kind that are important to you.

2. Matters of Family – If a physical move will ultimately prove unacceptable to your family members, please determine that at this stage.

The goal of gathering all of this information is to help you make an intelligent decision, as soon as possible, about the degree of your interest. If you have additional questions following our initial discussion, but your interest is tentative and you are still “exploring,” please let us know. We can help you get the additional information you need.

It is not uncommon for candidates to be pursuing multiple opportunities concurrently. In the interest of transparency, if you are a candidate for another opportunity, please let us know immediately, and keep us informed of your status. Doing so does not reflect negatively on your application; it simply ensures full disclosure from all parties involved.

If you are a finalist, thorough background (education, criminal, credit) and social media checks will be conducted. We will also conduct formal references from a 360-perspective (peers, supervisor, direct reports).  These will be conducted in a highly confidential manner to avoid any risk to your current employment.

Etiquette Regarding an Offer

If this position is offered to you, we would like to know that you will honour two standards of professionalism:

• First, that you will treat the offer in confidence (with the exception of discussing it with members of your immediate family) and will not ‘shop’ or discuss the offer with your present employer.

• Second, that if you accept the offer, your word is your bond and we can count on the fact that you will be joining our client. We understand that candidates can sometimes have doubts and second thoughts after making the decision to make a major career change. These feelings are quite common, and you are wise to anticipate that they may arise. On the other hand, we want to avoid the substantial loss of time and cost of opportunity that would accompany a reversal of your decision, in much the same way as you would want to avoid handing in your resignation and then having our client cancel the offer.

If either of these conditions is unacceptable to you, please inform us immediately. We will do our best to keep you informed throughout the process.

Résumé Accuracy

The Association of Executive Search Consultants estimates that approximately one in five résumés contain material information that is untrue. Examples include the listing of degrees that have not been obtained, titles and dates of employment that are incorrect, and accomplishments that are overstated. As a result, our firm has adopted the practice of verifying the claims made in the résumés of finalist candidates. Our policy is to discontinue the candidacy of anyone whose résumé contains distortions of material information.

If you notice an error in your résumé after you have forwarded it to us, please contact us immediately and send us a corrected copy.