APP 2-30: Non-Senate Recruitment Guidelines

The University of California is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity. In order to promote equal opportunity, an open recruitment must be conducted for every academic position, regardless of level or duration, unless the position is exempt from open recruitment. Exempt positions are:

1. Appointments that are without salary
2. Appointments in Visiting Professor titles
3. Appointments in Visiting Professional Researcher titles
4. Appointments in Visiting Project Scientist titles

The recruitment and selection process must be fully documented, reviewed, and approved before a proposed appointment will be acted upon.

Each recruitment must be openly advertised in order to provide the broadest possible access. To meet this requirement to advertise, all non-Senate positions will be posted on the AP Recruit web site for a minimum of 30 days. If necessary, a 15-day search is permissible for Specialist, Project Scientist, Academic Coordinator, and Teacher-UNEX series positions.

The Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD), will place periodic advertisements in diverse media that will direct candidates to the campus web site.

Departments are encouraged to use additional means of advertising their positions. These can include publishing advertisements in professional journals, announcing openings at conferences, canvassing other campuses by letter or telephone, or posting flyers. In all cases, the recruiting department will provide a recruitment plan and copies of advertisements through AP Recruit for approval before the search is initiated. All advertisements must contain the equal opportunity statement at the end of the ad.  Required text can be found on the ADVANCE website: http://advance.uci.edu/RecruitAd.html#EqualOpp

An open and competitive search for a non-Senate academic position should be advertised for a minimum of 30 days before the selection process may begin. If necessary, a 15-day search is permissible for Specialist, Project Scientist, Academic Coordinator, and Teacher-UNEX series positions. Departments are advised to allow at least two months for the entire recruitment process to take place, including time for appropriate review and approval.

Once the application filing period has closed, the recruiting department should assess the applicant pool. An applicant is defined as anyone who submitted required application materials for the advertised position within the announced filing period. It is reasonable to expect that the applicant pool will contain women and minorities in general proportion to their national availability. If this is not the case, the recruiting department should contact OEOD for advice.

Once a satisfactory pool has been established, the selection process may begin. Selection decisions should be made based on the job-related criteria set out in the advertisement. The department is responsible for maintaining the academic quality of the institution by hiring the best qualified candidate.

Applies to all academic position finalists as of January 1, 2025.

The University of California is committed to fostering a safe and secure environment, free from all forms of violence, harassment, discrimination, exploitation, or intimidation. In compliance with California Senate Bill 791 and Assembly Bill 810, the following requirements apply to all academic positions that identify a finalist, effective January 1, 2025.

Definitions for the purposes of these requirements:

• Misconduct: Refers to any form of sexual harassment, sexual assault, harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct as defined by a finalist’s previous employer.
• Finalist: An individual who has received direct notification from a hiring unit indicating that they have been selected to fill an open position at UCI, pending their interest, ability to clear certain hiring contingencies, and University approvals. This is generally the stage when a “soft offer” is extended to the selected candidate. 
• Position: is one that offers employment, affiliation, visiting, volunteer (e.g. without-salary), or contingent worker status at UCI. Positions may be offered via an open search, search waiver, or search exemption (You do not need to submit a search exemption request in AP Recruit for approval).   

1. Misconduct Disclosure and Authorization to Release Information

The UCI Misconduct Disclosure and Release Form must be completed and submitted by all finalists as a condition of employment. The form requests information regarding whether the finalist has been the subject of a final administrative or judicial decision within the past seven years that determined they committed violations of misconduct. It also requests information on any current or ongoing administrative or judicial proceedings alleging violations of misconduct. Additionally, the signed form authorizes the release of information by the previous employers to the University.

The hiring unit is responsible for initiating and facilitating the completion of the UCI Misconduct Disclosure and Release Form. This process can only begin after the finalist has been notified of their selected status. Once notified, the hiring unit will provide the finalist with a link to the form to initiate a mandatory screening and clearance process.

2. Finalist Screening and Clearance Process

Submitted UCI Misconduct Disclosure and Release Forms are automatically directed to the Office of Academic Personnel, which will then conduct a confidential misconduct screening of the finalist. Upon completion of its review, the Office of Academic Personnel will issue a clearance notification to the hiring unit, via their school Chief Personnel Officer, informing them of their ability to proceed with the hiring process. Due to the confidential nature of the review, this notification will be brief and devoid of detailed information.

Note: While this screening is being conducted, hiring units may, as applicable, proceed with issuing a formal Tentative Offer Letter (TOL) to finalists and may also prepare the appointment file documentation. However, hiring units cannot proceed with making a formal recommendation for academic appointment to the next level of review until they receive a clearance outcome for their finalist. For Contingent Worker positions, this includes entering the finalist into UCPath.

3. Institutional Reference Checks (IRC)

The Office of Academic Personnel will use the signed release form to reasonably attempt to obtain relevant information pertaining to misconduct from previous employers for finalists of Professor and Professor of Teaching positions (all ranks). For all other academic position finalists whose disclosure forms indicate affirmative responses, additional information from previous employers may be sought. 

Note: The IRC will be completed within a maximum of ten business days from the date of form submission, with five business days allocated for employer outreach and response, and up to five business days for evaluation and clearance outcome. 

4. Posting Requirements

There are specific posting requirements that the University abides by for the needs of this legislation. They are the following:

1. Job Ads:
   Public facing ads reporting available academic positions at UCI shall include the following language. AP Recruit will automatically display this in all open recruitment postings.
   
   “As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.
   • “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment or discrimination, dishonesty or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
   • UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
   • UC Anti-Discrimination Policy for Employees, students and third parties
   • APM – 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment”
2. Tentative Offer Letters:
   For academic positions for which a written offer is prepared, the following conditional employment language must be included: “This offer is contingent upon you clearing an Employment Misconduct Disclosure review where you will be required to disclose any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that you committed any misconduct and provide information related to investigations and appeals.”

Departments may wish to establish a pool of individuals for temporary appointments over an extended period (not to exceed one year). Aggregate pools may be useful when several temporary positions are involved or where staffing needs will depend on enrollment. Documentation requirements for aggregate recruitments are basically the same as for normal recruitments, except that the advertisement must specify the range of possible duties and the period during which possible appointments would be made.

It is expected that the majority of positions will be filled by conducting open and competitive searches. However, waivers to conducting a search may be granted for specific circumstances. There are two types of waivers to search: temporary and permanent. Refer to APP 2-40, Section E for instructions on how to request and document a search waiver.

1. Reappointment – A recruitment is not required in order to reappoint an individual when that individual was previously recruited for the same position, provided that no more than two years have elapsed since the last service period.
2. Change of Series – It is not necessary to address search issues when forwarding a Change of Series file that proposes a change in appointment from one non-Senate title series to another. This type of action is proposed when an employee’s position has had a change in the responsibilities associated with it and the revised position is being proposed for a new title series. This is not considered a new position.

A record of every academic recruitment must be prepared so that the campus can respond to questions, complaints, or audits.

Documenting the Process

The academic recruitment process must be thoroughly documented at three steps:

1. Advertising the Position – The search plan and the advertisement must be reviewed and approved through AP Recruit; approvers will assess the search plan to ensure that the unit has taken steps to disseminate position information broadly, as appropriate to the type of appointment and qualifications sought. OEOD will review the wording of the advertisement to ensure that it conforms to University guidelines.
2. Screening the Applicant Pool – Units are asked to provide documentation concerning the screening process used. OEOD will review this information to ensure that the unit has used appropriate, objective criteria when looking at the applicant pool for serious candidates and has afforded all qualified candidates due consideration. This documentation will be provided in AP Recruit.
3. Selecting the Final Candidate – Units are asked to provide documentation regarding the choice of the final candidate in AP Recruit. This documentation includes a ranking of seriously considered candidates, along with an explanation of the relative qualifications of the candidates. OEOD will review this information to ensure that the final decision is made based on objective, job related criteria.

Shortlist and Search Reports

Each appointment dossier must have a corresponding Shortlist and Search Report in AP Recruit. This the information in AP Recruit should accurately describe the search and selection process, and it should clearly articulate reasons for the final choice. It is important to state the reasons why the other qualified candidates were not chosen. Approval of the Shortlist and Search Reports will be given if they demonstrate the following:

1. Advertising was carried out in appropriate publications for appropriate lengths of time, as indicated in the published advertisements;
2. The final selection is readily understandable from the description of the criteria in the position profile, the advertisement, and the ranking and reasons given for choosing the finalist and for not choosing the other seriously considered candidates.
3. The final selection is readily understandable from the description of the criteria in the position profile, the advertisement, and the ranking and reasons given for choosing the finalist and for not choosing the other seriously considered candidates.

If appropriate search procedures cannot be demonstrated, an appointment will not be made.

Records Retention

Complete records of the search, including applicant files, must be maintained for a minimum period of three years after the close of recruitment. AP Recruit is the system of record for Search Activities.