The University of South Carolina announced that after an extensive search for a new president, Michael Amiridis was named the 30th president of the university. This announcement is exciting news for the USC community – and the presidential search process itself was also an exciting time for Franklin Buchanan, professional career coach and founder of the Aiken, South Carolina-based Post Up Careers, who had the opportunity to play a role in this high-profile search.
Franklin’s involvement and assistance in the University of South Carolina presidential search centered on Candidate Presentation – an important issue in the executive search process. With each of the finalists having CVs of varying lengths and in different formats, Franklin was brought in to create consistent 2-page Executive Summaries for each candidate for the Board of Trustees – working to effectively condense their CVs to highlight specifically what the USC Presidential Candidate Search Committee was looking for in partnership with the Search Committee Chairman. This critical step enabled the Committee to effectively compare each candidate based on specific criteria, with Executive Summaries all following the same layout and similar areas of content.
“In this search it was important to be able to get candidate information across quickly to our Board of Trustees. Academic CVs can be long and complicated, so we engaged Post Up Careers to help us distill that information into succinct executive summaries of the finalists so our Board could focus on the most relevant information while evaluating candidates,” said Thad Westbrook, Chairman of the USC Presidential Candidate Search Committee. “Franklin’s process was professional, prompt, collaborative, and he delivered exactly what we needed and when we needed it when it came time to present our finalists.”
“In a world of 250 characters and 6 second CV and resume reviews, it’s critical to be able to get your experience across quickly,” said Franklin. “Candidate presentation has become increasingly important in the executive search arena today, and I was honored to play a role in helping the USC Presidential Candidate Search Committee with this important step.”
The President of the University of South Carolina serves as the chief executive of the entire University of South Carolina system and of the system’s flagship research university in Columbia. Michael Amiridis will begin his role as president beginning on July 1, succeeding USC interim president Harris Pastides.
