So you have won the go-ahead to hire. You can still fail to recruit someone if the job ad is vague or overambitious.

Even getting the money to fill an existing faculty position is no small feat in these grim budget days.

Overwhelm professors with too much institutional data and you cause confusion. But giving too little only sparks suspicion.

As senior administrators, we have to say ‘no’ a lot. But sometimes we are the ones who must learn how to take ‘no’ for an answer.

The economic fallout of Covid-19 means administrators will be killing more ideas than they approve. But you can lessen the odds that your no will be taken as a personal or political affront.