Staff and Faculty Hiring Process

When a hiring manager needs to fill a vacancy or new position, they are encouraged to contact their HR Liaison for support throughout the process. Hiring managers must gain appropriate departmental, planning unit, and university approvals for all HR related actions.  The HR Liaison can help the manager navigate all university and planning unit specific related processes.

• For new staff positions, a Position Description should be completed and evaluated by compensation before the hiring process begins. 
• For existing staff positions, Position Descriptions should be updated and evaluated by compensation if the Position Description on file is more than 3 years old or if there have been changes made to the position.
• For faculty positions, hiring managers/search chairs should inquire with their college regarding specific requirements for developing position descriptions for faculty roles.
• For all other positions, hiring managers/search chairs should consult with departmental or planning unit leadership to gain the necessary approvals to fill the position.

Before you fully initiating any search, the committee chair, administrative support, and/or department head will meet with the HR Liaison to develop and/or review a recruitment and selection plan. 

The hiring manager/search chair should contact the Liaison to arrange a meeting (this meeting can take place in-person, via telephone, or video-conference). The following components will be reviewed and developed during this session:

• Job Posting: the HR Liaison will review and offer suggestions on structure of the job posting including use of inclusive and well-rounded language to attract a diverse pool of qualified applicants.

• Search Committee: The HR Liaison can help you determine whether a search committee should be utilized for the search and help provide counsel regarding composition of the search committee in terms of including members with diverse perspectives, setting expectations with search committee members, and determining the training needs of the committee.

• Recruitment Plan: The HR Liaison will review required recruitment activities and can help you select recruitment steps that are effective and efficient in terms of time and money. Your HR Liaison can also address any requests for waivers of posting at this time.

• Methods of Evaluation: The HR Liaison will review your methods of evaluation and/or can help you decide what type of methods you can use (phone interviews, mock presentations, writing samples, in-person interviews). In addition, the HR Liaison can review and/or provide tools you will utilize to evaluate and rank applicants (rubrics).

• Logistical Concerns: The HR Liaison can also coach you through logistical issues such as managing the search through PeopleAdmin, working through accommodation requests, scheduling interviews, etc.  The HR Liaison can provide guidance regarding the timeline for your search to help you stay on track and manage expectations of both search committee members and applicants.

When you are ready to begin your search process, the departmental hiring manager must submit a requisition in PeopleAdmin. To log in to PeopleAdmin, visit www.ohiouniversityjobs.com/hr. The requisition will house all information about the position and search including position details, estimated expenses, recruiting information, and more. For assistance regarding posting content, please refer to the How to Hire [PDF]. Best practices regarding position descriptions are also discussed in OHIO Search Committee Training: Preparing for the Search.

Once a hiring manager has completed the draft of a requisition in PeopleAdmin, it must follow the approval process. Generally speaking, a requisition will first be sent from the hiring manager to departmental review, then to the Planning Unit head and the executive review committee for approval before being posted by University Human Resources.

Once a requisition has been fully approved in PeopleAdmin, it will be posted to OhioUniversityJobs.com by UHR. All classified positions are posted by the HR Service Center while the Liaison team handles all other postings. Generally speaking, UHR will also post positions to the following sites:

• OHIO Twitter and LinkedIn
• Ohio Means Jobs (including Ohioans with Disabilities)
• Workforce West Virginia
• Workforce Kentucky
• Higheredjobs.com
• Diversityjobs.com
• Higher Education Recruitment Consortium
• Southern Regional Education Board (ONLY when a Ph.D. is required)

Departments are responsible for all other recruitment efforts including both passive advertisements and active recruitment steps agreed upon in the pre-search consultation. For additional guidance, please refer to OHIO Search Committee Training: Preparing for the Search, the Guidelines for Recruitment and Selection of Faculty and Staff [PDF], or contact your HR Liaison.

Once a position is closed, but before a pool of finalists is submitted for approval, the department or search committee will be responsible for pre-screening all applicants. For additional technical information and quick tips from Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, please refer to the How to Hire [PDF]. For best practices regarding candidate screening, please attend OHIO Search Committee Training: Candidate Evaluation and Selection.

Once a list of finalists has been identified, the hiring manager will work with the search committee to complete the “Pre-interview Candidate Selection Form” in PeopleAdmin, update applicant workflow statuses, and submit the interview pool for approval by University Human Resources.

As with pre-screening, departments are responsible for arranging and conducting final interviews. For best practices, please attend OHIO Search Committee Training: Candidate Evaluation and Selection or contact your HR Liaison.

Once a finalist has been selected, a verbal offer may be extended and salary may be negotiated. Please note: salary offers outside of Compensation’s pre-approved range must be submitted to Compensation prior to the verbal offer.

If the offeree accepts, the hiring authority should verbally gather date of birth and social security number (both of which will be used in the next step). Please note: due to the sensitive nature of this information, it should NOT be requested or sent via email.

After a verbal offer has been extended and accepted, the hiring manager will complete a hiring proposal in PeopleAdmin. As with the requisition, once a draft hiring form is completed, it must be submitted to the planning unit then to UHR for approval and processing.

All hiring proposals are processed by the HR Service Center. This processing will prompt creation of an employee record. For staff positions, the HR Service Center will also send an official offer letter at this point. For faculty positions, official offer letters are sent by the college.

Once all other steps have been completed and a formal offer has been accepted, the hiring manager should update finalists’ workflow states in PeopleAdmin and move the requisition to “filled.”

A waiver of posting or an abbreviated posting period may be desired in certain circumstances such as an internal promotion or an unexpected and immediate business need. Please note: federal law requires that all non-executive positions lasting longer than three days be posted publicly unless they are to be filled by internal candidates.

To request a waiver please contact your HR Liaison. For full details, please refer to the Guidelines for Recruitment and Selection of Faculty and Staff [PDF].

When departments have regular openings for a given position over time, a pool posting that remains available to applicants throughout a given period of time (typically, not longer than one academic year). This allows departments to regularly recruit for the position so that they may quickly move forward with hiring when and if a position becomes available. Detailed instructions for creating a pool are included in the How to Hire (PDF). For more information about this process and potential uses, please contact your HR Liaison.

Please refer to the How to Hire [PDF] for assistance with the following: login, email notices, viewing older postings, accessing your postings, applicant tracking vs. position management modules, guest users, and searching by applicant.

For information regarding temporary staffing options via PeopleAdmin, OHIO Ready Staff, and third-party contract, please refer to the temporary staffing options website.