Here, we will walk you through the hiring process, from the moment you receive a resignation letter, to posting the position, to hiring the new member of your team.
You've received a resignation letter from an employee. What now? There are several steps you will need to take in order to ensure your former employee has vacated the position fully thus allowing you to begin the process of filling the vacant position. Part of this process will include forwarding the resignation letter to Human Resources so that we are aware of your pending vacancy. Once you have shared the news with us, we can begin the process of filling your position. Whether you have several months or only a few weeks to conduct a search, preparing a recruiting plan will help you get organized and stay on track. The Hiring Checklist for Classified Staff [DOC] will outline the sequence of events in a typical recruitment.
While losing an employee can be difficult, it also provides an opportunity to evaluate the position. Once you review the job description, ask yourself, does it truly reflect the nature of the position? If you find that the current job description is not reflective of the position, or if you decide you wish to change this position and/or its responsibilities, you may need to reclassify the position.
Once you have reviewed the job description, you are ready to create an action in PeopleAdmin requesting to fill the position. Preparing to post a position in the PeopleAdmin system means that you will need to create a Search Committee [DOC], including selecting a Search Chair. For most classified staff searches, you should consider having 3-4 Search Committee Members.
You have the option of either acting as the Search Chair for your search or selecting someone else to act as the Search Chair. The Search Committee can be established before creating the position posting, or you can notify Human Resources of your committee once created. Human Resources can add your Search Committee to your posting for you at any time.
Posting your position may also mean that you need additional advertising, outside the scope of what Human Resources already provides. If your position has been historically difficult to fill; has not garnered a large or diverse applicant pool in the past; or is in a specified/narrowed field, you may wish to consider additional advertising on field-specific sites. Additional advertising sources may include professional listservs; personal/professional contacts; professional associations, publications, meetings and/or conferences; and . When creating the posting, you will notice a field for "additional advertising", feel free to include any additional advertising requests in this field. If you need suggestions on additional advertising options, contact the Human Resources office. We will be happy to help you find more sites to extend the reach of your search!
Classified staff positions are posted with an application review or closing date that is dependent upon the type of position.
Exempt positions are posted "open until filled" with an application review date typically 10 business days from the posting date (12-14 days in total, including weekends.) This means that the position will remain online to accept more applications after the review date. However, applications collected after the review date are not required to be considered or required to be included on the screening matrix. These positions will be manually closed and removed from the web by Human Resources once a candidate has been recommended for hire.
Non-exempt positions are typically posted with a closing date 10 business days from the date the position was posted (12-14 days in all, including weekends) unless the position is 鈥渉ard-to-fill鈥�. The minimum that a non-exempt position may be posted is 5 business days (7 days in total, including weekends.)This means that on the closing date, the system will automatically "close" the position and remove it from the web, effectively preventing it from accepting further applications. If you feel your position is hard-to-fill, contact the Human Resources office to discuss an extended posting or the possibility of having the posting 鈥渙pen until filled鈥�.
Application review dates for exempt positions can be extended at the request of the Hiring Manager. Planning ahead can assist in expediting your hiring process.
If you are acting as the Search Chair for your position and you can begin reviewing applications and creating your screening matrix at any time, after the review date. However, screening matrices will need to include applicants up to the application review/closing date listed on the posting. For a review of Search Chair responsibilities, please visit the Search Chair Resources page. If you are not acting as the Search Chair for your vacant position, your job here is done for the moment. Once the position is posted, the active search process will be directed by your Search Chair. You can await the decision of your Search Committee before moving forward.
If you have not acted as the Search Chair for your open position, the Search Committee will bring their final selection of top candidates to you for review. You will then review these candidates to select your top candidate. Once the successful candidate is identified, the references for this candidate must be checked. This reference check can either be conducted by you or delegated to the Search Chair. Each reference will need to be asked the same set of questions. Here are suggestions to assist in checking references [DOC]. It is important to check the references of your top candidates after the interviews, to compare the candidates鈥� perception of what they have accomplished with that of the referees.
After references have been checked and you have selected a final candidate, notify Human Resources for a salary recommendation based on the candidate鈥檚 experience. You will then be invited to make a verbal offer to the candidate. Share the candidate鈥檚 decision with Human Resources before changing the candidate鈥檚 status in PeopleAdmin [PDF] to "Recommend for Hire."
Once the Hiring proposal makes its way to Human Resources, an official offer letter can be created and sent to the candidate, the signed offer letter must be sent to Human Resources. Please note that to comply with state policy, the offer letter must be provided before the background check can be processed. Template offer letters are available by your HR Generalist. Remember the offer is contingent upon final approvals and a satisfactory background check.
When you provide the candidate with the official offer letter also provide them with
the Criminal Background Check Authorization | PDF. They should complete this are submit it to Human Resources directly. The official
offer Letter and Background Check Authorization must be provided to the Human Resources
office in order to conduct the background check. Background checks typically take
4-6 days to complete but can take as long as 2 weeks depending on the locations searched.
Completed forms should be provided by .
Once the background check results are received Human Resources will complete and approve the Hiring Proposal and will begin adding them to the various Human Resources systems and schedule for new hire orientation. At this time emails will be sent out to both the new employee and their supervisor with important onboarding and orientation information.
If the results of a background check do not return in time for the original start date your HR Generalist will communicate this to you so you can inform the candidate their start date will be delayed, please note that a new offer letter with the updated date will be required in this situation after results return.
If the top candidate declines, do not worry! You are welcome and encouraged to make an offer to the next viable candidate identified by the Search Committee.
A search only "fails" if other viable candidates are not identified or do not accept the offer. If a search fails, it will be marked as "posting canceled" in the PeopleAdmin system and the posting process will start again. However, the re-posting process [DOC] is much faster, and Human Resources will assist in expediting the process.
By now, a suitable candidate has been identified, offered, and accepted a position, this is great news! Our work is not yet done, however. It is now the onboarding period. A positive onboarding and orientation experience is a key element to retention and satisfaction in the workplace. You can impact this positive impression by ensuring your newly hired staff member has everything they need by using the Departmental Checklist for New Employees [PDF] to smoothly transition to our campus.