Provides step-by-step procedures for department staff to follow when conducting and documenting Non-Senate academic recruitments.

A. Developing a Search Plan
  1. Discuss proposed academic position with Chair, P.I., or other sponsoring faculty member. Determine appropriate title and salary range based on the expected duties of the position. Follow the guidelines of your department and school for authorizing funding and space to support the position.
  2. Consult with the sponsoring faculty member to develop appropriate search plan, including deciding where and how long to advertise (minimum 30 days posting).  If necessary, a 15-day search is permissible for Specialist, Project Scientist, Academic Coordinator, and Teacher-UNEX series positions.
    1. Required advertising – Your approved advertisement will be posted on AP Recruit and HERC for a minimum period of 30 days. If necessary, a 15-day search is permissible for Specialist, Project Scientist, and Teacher-UNEX series positions.
    2. Optional advertising – You may decide to pursue other advertising methods in addition to posting on AP Recruit. These may include the following methods:
      1. Post the approved advertisement on bulletin boards in the department and school
      2. Post on additional web sites .
      3. Place advertisement in professional publication(s)
      4. Distribute copies of the approved advertisement at professional meetings and conferences
      5. Canvas other campuses by letter accompanied by a copy of the approved advertisement
      6. Faculty may canvas colleagues by telephone or e-mail. Ask them to refer interested candidates to the advertisement on the AP Recruit web site.
  3. Draft advertisement for AP Recruit. Draft additional versions of your advertisement, if required by the search plan.
    1. STEP ONE — Develop a position description that contains the following information:
      1. Proposed academic title
      2. Area of academic emphasis
      3. Minimum basic qualifications– the required criteria for selection of candidates that are objective, non-comparative, and relevant to the position
      4. Salary or salary range
      5. Date position will be available
    2. STEP TWO — Add the following information about the recruitment to the position description:
      1. Instructions for submission of material, including confidential letters of reference, if desired
      2. Proposed application closing deadline (a minimum of 30 days must be allowed).  If necessary, a 15-day search is permissible for Specialist, Project Scientist, and Teacher-UNEX series positions.
      3. The following statement:
        The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.
  4. Create and route search plan through AP Recruit for approval.
  5. OEOD approves the Search Plan.
    1. . OEOD will approve appropriately prepared Search Plans and will indicate approved posting dates for the advertisement (minimum 30 days). If necessary, a 15-day search is permissible for Specialist, Project Scientist, and Teacher-UNEX series positions.
    2. Allow OEOD three business days after receiving the Dean’s approval to review and approve the search plan.
  6. Post advertisement.
    1. The department or unit will publish the recruitment once OEOD has approved the search plan.
    2. The department should pursue optional search methods, as indicated on the Search Plan.
  7. Request extension to closing date, if necessary.
    1. Monitor the applicant pool after 2-3 weeks. If the recruitment period must be extended beyond the published closing date for reasons such as augmentation of the search plan or too few applications received, a written request for an extension must be sent to recruit@uci.edu. The request should include a proposed new end date and the job number.
    2. If you used optional recruitment methods in addition to posting on AP Recruit, inform all recruitment sources that you have extended the deadline.
B. Collecting and Screening Applications
  1. Discuss screening process with recruiting faculty member or screening committee. Provide assistance for orderly review of applicant files and for recording reasons for selection, non-selection, and ranking of candidates and for final decision.
  2. Screen applicant pool.
    1. Applicants – An “applicant” is anyone who submitted required application materials for the advertised position within the announced filing period, regardless of qualifications.
      1. Any applicant who does not meet the advertised basic qualifications for the position should be eliminated from further consideration.
      2. An applicant who fails to submit the application materials advertised in the position announcement may be eliminated from further consideration. All applicants must be treated consistently in this respect (e.g., if one is eliminated because letters of reference are lacking, all applicants lacking letters of reference must be eliminated).
    2. Candidates – All applicants who meet the basic qualifications listed in the advertisement should be considered to be “candidates.”
    3. Serious Candidates – “Serious candidates” are finalists who are contacted, interviewed, invited to present seminars, etc.
      1. Run a Short List report in AP Recruit prior to inviting serious candidates to interview.
      2. Rank the serious candidates based on objective academic criteria related to the posted job description.
      3. For each serious candidate, record detailed and concise reasons for the ranking.
  3. Make final selection based on objective criteria. Select final candidate and extend tentative offer. Document the reason for the selection and submit a Search Report in AP Recruit.

    NOTE: Normally, recommendations for appointments may not differ from the position as advertised in rank or salary. Exceptional situations should be brought to the attention of Academic Personnel as early in the process as possible.
  4. Keep record of declined offers. Document the reason if any candidate declined a tentative offer.
  5. You may wish to send notices to unsuccessful candidates, as a courtesy.
C. How to Conduct an Aggregate Recruitment

Recruiting departments may wish to establish an aggregate pool of candidates qualified to take on temporary appointments over an extended period of time (not to exceed one year). Pools may be useful when several similar temporary positions are available or where staffing needs fluctuate each quarter depending on enrollments. In units where several positions (such as Postdoctoral Scholars) are filled annually, those units may want to conduct aggregate recruitments on a quarterly basis in order to refresh the applicant pool.

The authorization and documentation requirements for aggregate (pool) recruitments are the same as for regular recruitments, except that:

  1. The advertisement, in addition to the elements described in Section A.3. above, must specify:
    1. the range of possible duties (e.g., list of courses to be offered, or areas of acceptable teaching expertise)
    2. the period during which possible appointments would be made (e.g., winter or spring quarters, 2017-18, or 2017-18 academic year).
  2. The Shortlist and Search reports must specify which individuals have been selected for possible appointment during the period covered by the recruitment.

Aggregate recruitments can be posted for no more than one year.

D. Documenting the Application and Selection Process

Generate the Shortlist and Search reports in AP Recruit, based on information obtained in the procedural steps above. Individuals who review and approve the Shortlist and Search reports should be able to determine easily that objective academic criteria were applied uniformly in selecting the best qualified candidate from an open and diverse pool.

Follow these guidelines to fill out each part of the Search Report in AP Recruit.

PART I: Information about the position and final candidate

  1. Update the status of the Final candidate to Proposed Candidate.
  2. Fill in the proposed title, step, begin date, annual salary and percent of appointment based on information in the position description.

PART II: Search Documentation (upload all applicable items to AP Recruit)

  1. Upload proof of advertisements under Evidences of advertisement in the Advertisements section.
  2. If letters announcing the open position were sent to other institutions, upload a sample letter and a list of the names and addresses used for the mailing in the “Documentation” section.
  3. If the open position was posted on bulletin boards or announced at professional meetings, upload a list of posting locations and indicate date(s) of posting to the “Documentation” section of AP Recruit.
  4. If telephone canvassing was used to solicit applicant referrals from colleagues, upload a list with the names of individuals called and indicating the questions asked to the “Documentation” section.
  5. Explain outreach efforts undertaken during the recruitment under Actual Search & Recruitment Efforts in the Advertisements section.

PART III: Applicant pool and candidate ranking and disposition

  1. Applicants — Mark all applicants who met the basic qualifications for the position as “Meets” basic qualifications. Applicants who did not meet basic qualifications should be marked as “Does not meet” and a disposition reason should be assigned to each of these applicants.
  2. Candidates — Run an applicant pool report and provide to the search committee for review prior to selection of serious candidates to assess if additional outreach is needed.
  3. Serious Candidates — Update the status of Seriously Considered candidates. “Serious candidates” are those who were contacted, interviewed, invited to present seminars, or the equivalent. Once a short list of candidates has been identified by the search committee to interview, update the status of these short-listed candidates and then run a Short List report and submit it for approval. Provide a disposition reason for each candidate not selected for the short list.
  4. Once the Short List report has been approved, invite candidates to interview. Once interviews have been completed, update the status of short-listed candidates and provide a disposition reason for each candidate. Briefly explain the criteria used to rank candidates. These criteria should be the same as those listed in the advertisement.
  5. Rank all serious candidates from highest to lowest,If higher ranking candidates were offered the position but declined, indicate the reason in the disposition comment field.  For all candidates except the final candidate(s), give a specific reason why the candidate was rejected, using the Disposition codes and the Disposition Comments field.If you are documenting an aggregate recruitment, update the status and disposition reason of all candidates in the pool.
  6. Explain fully the reasons for your final selection in the Disposition Comments field. (Note: “Best qualified” is not a sufficient answer.) The explanation should be based on the criteria used for ranking the candidates, and it should address any tentative offer made and declined by candidates who were ranked higher than the final candidate. Indicate the reason for the refusal, if known.If any applicant requests an accommodation due to a disability, the department should contact Human Resources to assist with this request and document the interactive process.
E. How to Request a Search Waiver

As of July 1, 2016, all search waiver requests will need to be initiated and routed for approval through AP Recruit and must be approved prior to the candidate’s starting to work.

It is expected that the majority of new appointments will undergo full and open recruitment. This new online tracking of search waivers will assist us with capturing data of employment actions that do not follow our regular open recruitment process, specifically identifying our programs where waivers are permitted including Distinguished Professors, Career Partner hires, and Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows. In rare circumstances not associated with one of our specified waiver programs, and on a case-by-case basis, the requirements of conducting an open search prior to review for appointment may be waived.

Please refer to UCI’s waiver guidelines, which documents our current practices.  The final authority for search waiver requests continues to reside with the Vice Provost, Academic Personnel.  Refer to the Guidelines in APP 2-30, Section G, for further information.

F. Records Disposition

AP Recruit is the system of record for the recruitment file, including the approved Search Plan, copies of advertisements, the applicant files and Shortlist and Search reports. These should remain accessible for the three-year retention period in case they are needed for an audit.

Summary of Recruitment Procedures
  1. Talk to faculty member about timeline and requirements, develop job description for ad.
  2. Obtain funding authorization for position from Chair/Dean.
  3. Prepare search plan and ad for approval and submit through AP Recruit.
  4. Allow sufficient time for approval of the search plan.
  5. Once the search plan is approved by OEOD, the department is responsible for publishing the recruitment in AP Recruit and other sources identified by the department.
  6. If your school maintains its own website, post approved ad.
  7. Follow up on all optional advertisement methods and obtain a copy of these ads to upload to AP Recruit.
  8. Collect applications. Unit may begin to screen applicant pool but may not select a final candidate until 5 days after the closing date. Keep good records during the screening process.
  9. Ad closes on the Close Date or Final Date (if recruitment used Review Dates in place of a Close date) noted in AP Recruit.
  10. Generate an applicant pool report for review by the search chair and/or search committee to aid in the decision whether additional outreach is needed.
  11. Generate a Short List report prior to inviting candidates for an interview and submit the Short List report for approval.
  12. Interview short-listed candidates and make tentative offer. IMPORTANT: Candidate may not begin to work until the appointment has been formally approved.
  13. Document search process by generating and seeking approval of the Search report.
  14. Send appointment dossier, ensuring that a Shortlist and Search report has been generated and approved, and forward for formal approval.