Guide to Managing Human Resources
Chapter 1: Employment
Selection
Now that you have interviewed and conducted reference checks on your top candidates, it is time to select the candidate who best meets the requirements of your position.
Guiding Principles
Your goals are to:
- Choose the best candidate for the position based on qualifications
- Help the campus carry out its mission by selecting excellent employees
- Ensure that if applicants are substantially equally qualified, the selection is normally made based on promotional and transfer opportunities
- Establish equitable starting salary rates that will lead to the retention and motivation of employees
- Project a professional and positive image of the University by quickly notifying all applicants of your decision
Before you make the selection and notify applicants, review the recruitment and interview process to be sure you followed these guidelines:
- Duties and responsibilities of the position were accurately described and reflected in the qualifications needed to perform those duties and responsibilities.
- Selection criteria used to assess a candidate were based on qualifications listed for the position.
- Interview questions clearly matched the selection criteria.
- Whenever appropriate, interviews were conducted by a committee to ensure an objective decision.
- All candidates were treated uniformly in the recruitment, screening, interviewing, and final selection process.
Salary Setting
Department heads or designees can make job offers (for new hires and promotions) up through the mid-point of merit-based Professional and Support Staff positions. Before making job offers above the midpoint, consult your recruiter. Requests for setting salaries for Managers and Senior Professionals over midpoint should be forwarded to Human Resources. (See Chapter 4, Compensation, Starting Salaries.) Originators will prepare offers in eRecruit and the authorizer for that requisition will be required to approve the offer. The recruiter will also review the job offer and approve it. Once the job offer is all approved, the originator will receive confirmation and should then extend the offer to the candidate.
Notifying Applicants
- You should follow up a verbal job offer with a confirmation letter including salary and start date.
- If the position requires a background check, notify the successful candidate that the required background check or drug/alcohol test must be completed with acceptable results before employment may begin.
- Please note that all non-selected applicants will automatically be notified via email by the eRecruit system once your position is filled.
- Candidates interviewed but not selected will also receive an automatic email but since they invested time and energy in the recruitment process, you should also call them or send them a letter.
Documenting the Recruitment Process
Federal law requires all employers to maintain records of the following information:
- A list of all the candidates interviewed for a position
- The position description
- The reason for the decision to hire or not hire each applicant
(eRecruit will maintain the documentation for each recruitment; therefore, it is crucial that you enter the appropriate information required by the system.)
Interview Data Form (IDF)
The Interview Data Form documents your interview and selection process. Attaching the selection criteria and interview questions is critical because the information in the criteria is used if a hiring decision is challenged or an inquiry is filed.
Complete the IDF form for all hires. Identify the selected candidate; the IDF no longer requires gender and ethnicity data for those interviewed and not hired. Your reasons for selection and non-selection must relate each applicant's skills, knowledge, and abilities to the job-related selection criteria. Do not compare candidates to one another. Targeted recruitment efforts should be documented on this form.
Federal
guidelines require that the Interview Data Form and any related
documents be retained in the hiring department for three years in
the recruitment file for the open position.
Checklist for Completing the Interview Data Form
In completing the IDF, please use the following checklist to ensure that all information is recorded accurately:
-
Recruiting Summary: Include information on any extra recruitment
efforts made (advertising, job fairs, networking, etc.), including
targeted recruitment.
- Candidate
Selected: Reasons for hiring should be specifically related
to the selection criteria, referenced to the qualifications
listed in the posted requisition.
- Non-Selected
Candidates: Non-selection should be based on the fact that the
candidate did not meet the selection criteria and qualifications
for the position. Do not compare the non-selected candidate
to the candidate who was selected.
- Examples
of appropriate reasons: Insufficient experience with scheduling
and coordinating conferences; lacking knowledge of mathematical
symbols, graphs, charts, and statistical tables; lacking
computer knowledge and experience; lacking clerical skills
to develop and maintain files.
- Examples
of inappropriate reasons: Experience is not comparable to
selected candidate; did not have as many years of experience
as finalist; was not as talkative as finalist.
- Examples
of appropriate reasons: Insufficient experience with scheduling
and coordinating conferences; lacking knowledge of mathematical
symbols, graphs, charts, and statistical tables; lacking
computer knowledge and experience; lacking clerical skills
to develop and maintain files.
- Departmental
Signatures: Obtain appropriate signatures
Returning the Applicant Packet
To close the recruit process and identify your new hire, be sure you complete the process in eRecruit. The final step is to accept/reject the offer. This step notifies the HR Administrator to process the hire in Administer Workforce. Once this action is taken, the requisition will be in "filled" status. All applicants will then be automatically deselected and notified via email of their non-selection.
Keep the Interview Data Form in your file with the other recruitment-related documents (Interview Questions, Rating Sheets, etc.). Again, be sure to complete the online interview evaluation forms for each applicant who interviewed for the open position.