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Minnesota West Policies

Chapter 4 - Human Resources

4.11 Non-Faculty Hiring Plan

Purpose
It shall be the goal of the college to recruit and maintain the highest quality employees. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that in fulfilling this goal the college adheres to all contractual and legal requirements, and promotes diversity in all of its search and selection processes. The Chief Human Resource Officer or designee, the Affirmative Action Officer and the appropriate Supervisor will be involved in all phases of the search process to ensure this adherence to goals and policy is maintained. This commitment challenges us to affirmatively seek candidates of protected classes.

Implementation
Human Resources, Administrators, Supervisors, Affirmative Action Officer.

Section 1:  Approval of Position
All requests to fill vacancies for full-time permanent, or temporary and part-time permanent positions are to be brought forward in writing by the appropriate Supervisor. The justification should be submitted to the Chief Human Resource Officer who will bring the request to the President's cabinet for approval/denial. The President will make the final decision about the position.

The appropriate Administrator or Supervisor will review the position description of existing positions for accuracy and update as needed. If the position is new, the supervisor will draft the position description. The Human Resource Office may provide assistance in preparing the position description, if requested. New positions will require an audit for classification purposes.

Section 2:  The Search Chair & Committee
The chair of the committee will be the appropriate Administrator or Supervisor of the vacant position or designee. Upon approval to fill the position, the chair shall work with the department staff and unions to establish a search committee. The committee should consist of members who have in-field expertise and an ability to commit to the process. The Human Resource Department is available to assist in the committee formation. The committee should include representatives from the affected bargaining unit. The search committee shall have at least four members, including the chair.

All members of the search committee must agree to make themselves available during all aspects of the hiring process, or they should not serve. The committee members must agree to maintain confidentiality during the entire search and interview process and take an active role in all aspects of the search for qualified candidates.

Section 3:  Posting/Advertising
The committee will work with the Human Resource designee to post vacancy notices in the Minnesota State Employment Opportunities, minority publications, and selected publications. For classified positions, the Human Resource Office will obtain the appropriate list of eligible candidates from Minnesota Management and Budget.

Section 4:  Applicant Pool Certification
The applicant pool for classified positions is determined and certified by Minnesota Management and Budget. The Human Resource Office will ensure all applications are complete and will make available resumes for the committees screening process.

For unclassified non-list hires the applicant pool will consist of all internal and external applicants solicited through the posting/advertising process.

Section 5:  Screening
The screening criterion is developed from the posting or recruitment advertisement and the committee discussion prior to the review of the applications. Each committee member will review all the applicant files using the agreed upon criteria and make a recommendation to the committee. The search committee will meet and, through discussion, work to identify the semifinalists to be interviewed.

Section 6:  Interview
The Human Resources staff will contact all semi-finalists to arrange the interviews. 

The committee will develop job related interview questions to learn about the applicant's abilities. The Affirmative Action Officer will review this material to protect against possible bias. The Chief Human Resource Officer or designee will review the questions for appropriateness. The Human Resource Officer is available to help the committee with creating the questions, if requested.

Section 7: Interviewing Guidelines:
Federal and state laws, regulations and court decisions in the area of equal opportunity all support the necessity for employment interviews that are job related, standardized and objective.

Enough time should be scheduled so that each candidate can provide complete answers to all of the interview questions and to allow time to review prior to the next interview. The same job related questions should be asked of all candidates.

The committee may also incorporate additional components into the interview process that will provide a demonstration of the applicant's abilities, skills and/or knowledge.

Section 8:  Recommendation of Finalists

  1. After the interviews, the search committee will determine which of the semifinalists meet all the criteria and are acceptable. A minimum of two final candidates, in unranked order, should be recommended.

  2. The committee chair/designee will conduct reference checks on each of the finalists. The committee chair/designee will communicate strengths and weaknesses of the selected candidates and should submit written assessments of the candidates along with the results of reference checks when a hiring recommendation is made. A recommendation should be given to the appropriate Vice President and the Chief Human Resource Officer. The Vice President will make the final decision regarding the appointment. Upon approval of the candidate by the Vice President, the Chief Human Resource Officer or designee will extend the offer of employment.

  3. After the employment offer has been accepted, the Human Resource Office will be responsible for notifying all other applicants.

  4. All search committee materials, i.e. ratings, any other notes, and all applicant files will be returned immediately to the Human Resource Officer after the employment offer has been accepted.

  5. The Human Resource Office will maintain records/documents of the search process for a minimum of three years.



Approved by: Richard Shrubb, President
Date: July 1, 2003
History & Revision:  

Revision: February 7, 2014 wording update