ABSTRACT
Consider the head of an academic department who must fill a vacant position in his or her department. After having derived a “short list” of applicants, the head finds that everyone on the list has taken a job elsewhere. Would the head prefer to begin all over again with a pool of completely new applicants, or would he or she prefer to reconsider some of the applicants that already have been rejected? What if he or she would prefer to begin again but finds that no pool of new applicants is forthcoming? Worse, what if there not only is no pool of new applicants but the position must be filled immediately lest it be lost to some other department?
