Question: My department has a number of courses we need covered by adjuncts in the next academic year. We were given permission to hire one (and only one) salaried adjunct and to cover the rest of the courses with per-course adjuncts. Salaried adjuncts receive benefits and are better paid than per-course adjuncts.

We received excellent candidates for the salaried position, only one of whom we can hire. After we close the search, (how) can I approach rejected candidates about teaching individual courses at the lower rate? Some career adjuncts have told me it would be offensive to offer a lower-paying and lower-status position to someone who applied for a better one, and I do not wish to offend anyone. 

While the salaried position was publicly advertised, our institution does not advertise single courses. Furthermore, most of the candidates who applied for our salaried position were invited to by committee members or by our contacts, not because they were looking at ads.

**How can I get the best outcome for our students and for teachers who would be willing to teach individual courses?** I will continue to ask the administration for permission to hire a second salaried adjunct but do not expect to receive it. There is not much time to wait before starting our per-course search, as the current academic year is nearing its end (and our administration moves very slowly).

**Update**

Because each of the top two candidates seemed too good to reject, we proposed a second salaried position, which we made by cobbling together the remaining courses and one from a related program. To our surprise, the administration reversed its earlier decision to let us hire only one salaried adjunct, and we were able to make two salaried offers. While my question is moot, I will leave it up for future search chairs.

Answer: 
There are at least two sets of people who would prefer the single course assignments to a full time job:

* People employed in industry who like teaching, and would like some extra money.
* Retired academics who do not want a full time workload.

To reach those people you need an outreach effort that should include advertising to fill your single course jobs. As part of that outreach effort, you could e-mail the full time applicants you did not hire: "Do you know anyone who would be interested in a part time job teaching one or more of the following courses: [list courses]". This does not presume the full time candidate is available for a part time job, but they can say so if they are.
If it's not too late, bring this up in the interview: "If we don't offer you this position, would you be interested in these not-as-swell position?" I don't recall where, but I know I've been asked this question a number of times. Pre-emptive strike.