Records show Northern Illinois University spent almost $1 million over the last five years on search firms to help fill executive-level positions.
The school says it needs contractors to recruit candidates because it doesn't have the resources. NIU paid nearly $127,000 to Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search to help find Doug Baker, who became NIU president in 2013.
NIU vice president for administration and finance Al Phillips says it's hard to find candidates locally when you need a certain skill set. Phillips said NIU tries to keep search costs low and it isn't cheaper for the school to do candidate searches itself.
In some cases interim leaders now are filling positions that the NIU would have used a firm to fill. The school cites fiscal challenges for that.
