Recruitment & Selection Hiring Process
Step 1: Identify Vacancy and Evaluate Need
Recruitments provide opportunities to departments to align staff skill sets to initiatives and goals, and for departmental and individual growth. Proper planning and evaluation of the need will lead to hiring the right person for the role and team.
Step 2: Develop Position Description
A position description is the core of a successful recruitment process. It is used to develop interview questions, interview evaluations and reference check questions. A well-written position description:
1.Provides a first impression of the campus to the candidate
2.Clearly articulates responsibilities and qualifications to attract the best suited candidates
3.Provides an opportunity to clearly articulate the value proposition for the role
4.Serves as documentation to help prevent, or defend against, discrimination complaints by providing written evidence that 5.employment decisions were based on rational business needs
6.Improves retention as turnover is highest with newly hired employees. Employees tend to be dissatisfied when they are performing duties they were not originally hired to perform.
7.Optimizes search engine results by ensuring job postings rank high in candidate search results when searching on-line
8.Determines FLSA classification and is used to map to the appropriate Payroll Title.
9.Identifies tasks, work flow and accountability, enabling the department to plan how it will operate and grow
Assists in establishing performance objectives.
10.Is used for career planning and training by providing clear distinctions between levels of responsibilities and competencies required is used as a benchmark to assist in ensuring internal and external equity.
Step 3: Develop Recruitment Plan
Each position requires a documented Recruitment Plan which is approved by the organizational unit. A carefully structured recruitment plan maps out the strategy for attracting and hiring the best qualified candidate and helps to ensure an applicant pool which includes women and underrepresented groups including veterans and individuals with disabilities.
In addition to the position’s placement goals the plan contains advertising channels to be used to achieve those goals. The recruitment plan is typically developed by the hiring manager in conjunction with the Departmental HR Coordinator. Placement goals identified are displayed on the position requisition in the ATS.
Recruitment plan elements:
A.Posting Period
B.Placement Goals
C.Additional Advertising Resources
D.Diversity Agencies
E.Resume Banks
Step 4: Select Search Committee
To ensure applicants selected for interview and final consideration are evaluated by more than one individual to minimize the potential for personal bias, a selection committee is formed. The hiring manager will identify members who will have direct and indirect interaction with the applicant in the course of their job. Each hiring manager should make an effort to appoint a search committee that represents a diverse cross section of the staff. A member of the committee will be appointed as the Affirmative Action and Compliance Liaison who will monitor the affirmative action aspects of the search committee. Under-represented groups and women are to have equal opportunity to serve on search committees and special efforts should be made to encourage participation. Departments that lack diversity in their own staff should consider appointing staff outside the department to search committees or develop other alternatives to broaden the perspective of the committee.
Step 5: Post Position and Implement Recruitment Plan
Once the position description has been completed, the position can then be posted to the UCR career site via the ATS. Every effort should be made to ensure the accuracy of the job description and posting text. It may not be possible to change elements of a position once posted, because it may impact the applicant pool.
To post the position:
1.The requisition is created by the Service Center Human Resources Coordinator or Departmental Human Resources Coordinator and approved by the Service Center HR Organizational Coordinator or Organizational HR Coordinator.
2.Once approved, the Departmental HR Coordinator or Service Center will review the requisition and route online to the HR Classification Analyst who will assign the classification.
3.The requisition is then routed to the HR Recruitment Analyst who will post the position.
4.Applications can be reviewed and dis-positioned once the minimum number of posting days has been reached.
5.Internal candidates will apply through the regular application process and will be included in the candidate pool along with external candidates .
Step 6: Review Applicants and Develop Short List
Once the position has been posted, candidates will apply via UCR’s job board. Candidates will complete an electronic application for each position (resume and cover letter are optional). Candidates will be considered “Applicants” or “Expressions of Interest”.
Applicants are those who apply during the initial application period as described in Step 5. All applicants must be reviewed and considered. Candidates who apply after the initial application period will be considered “expressions of interest” and not viewable by the search committee.
It is recommended that all search committee members review all Applicants to ensure more than one person assesses their qualifications and that individual opinion or biases are avoided. It is permissible to have at least two committee members review all Applicants for certain recruitments in which there are extensive applicant pools to best narrow down the pool. Alternatively, Human Resources may perform this function. Each committee member may provide comments to each Applicant’s qualifications as they relate to the minimum requirements of the position.
A phone screen may be conducted to obtain information such as availability, salary requirements, special position requirements (e.g. ability to perform shift work), ascertain minimum requirements and other preliminary information to assist the search committee with their review. It is possible to screen out an applicant due to information obtained during this initial screening and therefore phone screens should be properly documented and attended by at least two search committee members or Human Resources.
Upon the search committee’s review of the applicants, the Chair or Chair’s Associate will review all search committee comments and develop the short list. Once the short list has been determined, the AACO or designee will submit the short list to the OFSAA for approval. If the short list is deemed to represent a sufficiently diverse applicant pool, the short list will be approved. Once approved, the applicants can then be contacted for interviews.
If the shortlist is not sufficiently diverse in light of the department’s placement goals, the OFSSA will contact the Search Committee Chair or Chair’s Associate to discuss how the pool might be diversified. One option might be to review the existing applicant pool to evaluate any additional qualified applicants prior to reviewing applicants who are expressions of interest status. If it is determined the expressions of interests are to be reviewed, the Search Committee Chair or Chair’s Associate may move those in the expression of interest status to the applicant pool, in one or more batches on certain date(s) and time(s), as needed to achieve a sufficiently diverse and qualified pool. All expressions of interest candidates moved to the applicant pool are to be reviewed by the search committee.
Step 7: Conduct Interviews
The interview is the single most important step in the selection process. It is the opportunity for the employer and prospective employee to learn more about each other and validate information provided by both. By following these interviewing guidelines, you will ensure you have conducted a thorough interview process and have all necessary data to properly evaluate skills and abilities.
Step 8: Select Hire
Final Applicant Once the interviews have been completed, the committee will meet to discuss the interviewees. Committee members will need to assess the extent to which each one met their selection criteria.
The search committee evaluation tool will be helpful in justifying decisions and making them as objective as possible.
Your documentation should demonstrate your selection decision. Documentation is required in order to comply with OFCCP requirements. As one of the most critical steps in the process, it is important to keep the following in mind:
Reference Checks
The purpose of a reference check is to obtain information about a candidate’s behavior and work performance from prior employers that could be critical to your decision, regardless of their skills, knowledge, and abilities. As past performance is the best predictor of future success, it is recommended references be obtained from current and previous supervisors who can speak to the candidate’s on the job performance. A hiring mistake is costly in time, energy, and money. Failure to check references can have serious legal consequences. If an employee engages in harmful behavior, which would have been revealed in a reference check, the University can be held legally responsible for “negligent hiring”.
When to Conduct References
Reference checks should be conducted on the finalist(s) prior to making an offer. For UC employees, in addition to conducting references, a review of the master personnel file should be completed. All applicants are to be informed (during or after the interview) should they be a finalist, an offer would be contingent upon a reference from their current supervisor (the University contacts current supervisor to request reference). The candidate should be informed that a single reference would not be the sole reason for a disqualification and all aspects of their candidacy, including their interview, will be taken into consideration.
References in the Overall Decision Process
Information that is obtained through the reference check process should be considered as part of the overall decision making and should carry considerable weight. Additionally if available, obtaining copies of signed past performance reviews is also recommended. Should a reference from the candidate’s current supervisor not be obtained, it is recommended Human Resources be contacted to discuss.
Step 9: Finalize Recruitment
Prior to initiating the offer, it is recommended that one more check of the selection process be completed as follows:
1.Review the duties and responsibilities of the position and ensure they were accurately described and reflected in the job description and interview process.
2.Review selection criteria used to ensure they were based on the qualifications listed for the position.
3.Confirm interview questions clearly matched the selection criteria.
4.Confirm all applicants were treated uniformly in the recruitment, screening, interviewing and final selection process
Should there be any issues with the above, contact your Organizational Human Resources Coordinator.
Reference:https://hr.ucr.edu/recruitment/guidelines/process.html
