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The procedures outlined in this document are a revision of those originally developed in 1978 and will replace the previous procedures. One goal of these procedures is to satisfy the reporting requirements of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. A second goal is to strengthen the affirmative action aspects of our recruiting procedures.

These procedures are to be used to recruit the following permanent, full-time personnel categories for the Office of Academic and Student Affairs:

• Faculty
  • College and library faculty--special, specific term, and continuous appointment
  • Department chairpersons/school directors
• Associate and assistant directors
• Directors
• Associate and assistant deans
• Deans
• Associate and assistant vice chancellors

Authorization Process.

The following table lists the different recruiting authorities for each personnel category listed above:

Category	Search/Screen Authority	Recommending Authority	Approval Authority
College and library faculty	Department/ School	Dean	VCASA*
Department chairperson/ school directors	Dean	Dean	VCASA
Associate and assistant directors	Director	VCASA	Chancellor
Directors	VCASA	VCASA	Chancellor
Associate and assistant deans	Dean	Dean	VCASA
Deans	VCASA	VCASA	Chancellor
Associate and assistant vice chancellors	VCASA	VCASA	Chancellor

The PeopleAdmin electronic employment application system will be used to recruit for positions in any of the above academic/administrative personnel categories for which you would previously have used a recruitment authorization. Training in the use of PeopleAdmin is available in an online tutorial at http://careers.unomaha.edu/ or from a campus trainer.

The following paper forms will continue to be used:

1. position justification form (with waivers only)
2. waiver request form or waiver of the competitive search process request form
3. position announcement
4. degree verification form
5. letter of offer guidelines

The position justification form for use with a waiver or waiver of the competitive search process is available on the Academic and Student Affairs web site under “Faculty Recruitment” or “Forms” or on SAPPHIRE. Position justification information is included in the PeopleAdmin “Requisition” process. Blank position announcement forms may be obtained from the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. This form and all other paper recruiting forms will also be available on the Academic and Student Affairs web site. Copies of forms and instructions for their completion are appended to this document. The Office of Academic and Student Affairs will contact the search/screen authority when each search is initiated and provide a new copy of these procedures.

Each step in the recruiting process is outlined chronologically below. All requisitions for positions within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs must follow the “Academic and Student Affairs” track, not the “Administrative Affairs” track.

Note: As shown on page one, different people can be the “Search/screen Authority,” “Recommending Authority,” and “Approval Authority,” but in People Admin comparable terms are “Department Head/School Director,” “Dean,” and “Vice Chancellor (Acad & Student Affairs).” Search/screen Authority is synonymous with Department Head/School Director, Recommending Authority is synonymous with Dean, and Approval Authority” is synonymous with “Vice Chancellor (Academic & Student Affairs)."

Recruitment Process.

Step 1

The hiring manager prepares a PeopleAdmin requisition and sends it electronically to the department head/school director (Search/Screen Authority). The department head/school director reviews the requisition and forwards it to the dean (Recommending Authority) for review. After review, the dean electronically sends it to the Budget Office (if appropriate) who reviews and sends it to the Academic and Student Affairs Vice Chancellor’s Office (Approval Authority). The requisition will then be reviewed and approved or rejected by the Chancellor’s Cabinet. Upon approval, PeopleAdmin will assign a requisition number to each search.

The hiring manager, department head/school director, dean, vice chancellor, Budget Office, and Human Resources will be able to view the requisition process on-line. A copy of the position announcement will be sent to Nebraska Job Service.

Each hire will need a separate requisition. It is possible to hire more than one candidate from the same pool of applicants. If you wish to do so, please contact the Office of Academic and Student Affairs for details.

Search committees should be constituted so that there is appropriate protected class representation and, if necessary, the search/screen authority should bring in individuals from other related areas to accomplish this. Otherwise, the structure of search committees should be determined by the recommending authority. Search committee members will be able to review applications on-line.

If the search/screen authority or recommending authority wish to request a waiver of competitive search process or waiver of affirmative action procedures, a waiver request or waiver of the competitive search process request should be submitted instead of the PeopleAdmin requisition and the waiver should be sent with the position justification to the Budget Office and the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. Legitimate reasons for requesting a waiver are listed in the instructions for filing the waiver request form in the appendix. The waiver of competitive search process may be used for opportunity hires. If the approval authority grants the request for an affirmative action waiver, the Office of Academic and Student Affairs will assign a waiver or waiver of competitive search process number and distribute copies of the waiver or waiver of the competitive search process and position justification to the search/screen, recommending authority, and University Administration.

Each position announcement should be prepared according to the following guidelines:

• The position announcement will be part of the PeopleAdmin requisition as well as being placed in publications and on websites.
• Position announcements should be worded as concisely as possible to reduce advertising costs.
• Each position announcement should reflect the required and preferred qualifications and description of duties specified in the requisition and give either a specific or general indication of compensation.
• Also, the position announcement should clearly designate which aspects of the qualifications and described duties are required and which are preferred. Three questions to ask in determining whether a qualification or duty is required are:
  1. Are the same qualifications and duties required of the employee currently holding this position?
  2. Would deleting these qualifications and duties fundamentally alter this position?
  3. What are the consequences of removing these qualifications and duties from the description of this position?
• The Vice Chancellor requires the following statement be placed at or near the top of all position announcements and advertisements:

  "The university and department have a strong commitment to achieving diversity among faculty and staff. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from members of under-represented groups and strongly encourage women and persons of color to apply for this position."

  Assistance in developing a diverse applicant pool will be given to department heads/school directors.

• The search committee chair or department head/school director should be listed as contact person.
• Position announcement advertisements should be placed in periodicals or on web sites that will be available to as many potential applicants for the position as possible. If it is a possibility that a foreign national may be hired, it is important to place the position announcement in at least one paper publication.
• The application deadline for a nationally advertised requisition should be set no earlier than one month after the position is posted and advertised. A position cannot be offered to an applicant before this date. For locally or internally advertised positions, the requisition must remain open for at least 5 days before an offer is made.

The Office of Academic and Student Affairs will provide up to 300 of the printed position announcement forms for each position. The form will also be available on our web site. The hiring manager may take advantage of bulk mailing of position announcements by mailing at least 200 position announcements. The position announcements should be taken to the mailroom sorted in zip code order.

Step 2

Academic and Student Affairs must approve the position announcement for all approved requisitions. Upon approval of the announcement, advertisements should be placed in appropriate publications and web sites. Academic and Student Affairs needs to receive a list of publications or web sites in which the ad is placed. Each advertisement should include wording such as “To apply for this position, go to http://careers.unomaha.edu.”

Step 3

Academic and Student Affairs will provide information on the level of availability of protected class applicants for that particular job group for all approved requisitions. Search committees are required to meet with a representative of the Office of Academic and Student Affairs before review of applications begins to review affirmative action/EEO, recruiting, and interviewing procedures.

In addition, for searches for faculty, the Office of Academic and Student Affairs subscribes to a listing of recent protected class doctoral recipients and will provide this list with addresses to the hiring manager. The hiring manager should see that a letter and position announcement is sent to each person on this list who appears to be a potentially qualified applicant for each approved requisition.

Step 4

Applications will be electronically received and stored. An e-mail should be sent to each applicant with an incomplete application to apprise them of remaining required document(s) so that applications will be complete when the screening process begins. Paper applications can not be accepted.

Step 5

The following list of suggestions and observations may be of assistance to the hiring manager and search committee in conducting the initial phases of each search with a requisition number. Applications and attached documents may be viewed by using the Guest User logon and password associated with the requisition.

• Begin by reviewing resumes to eliminate any applicants who are obviously not qualified. In other words, individuals who lack essential qualifications and are not able to perform the essential duties of the position should be removed from the pool. It is possible to set up screening questions within PeopleAdmin that will electronically screen out and notify applicants who don’t meet the required qualifications if the search/screen authority chooses to do so.
• Once the initial pool of potentially qualified applicants is identified, other materials such as letters of recommendation requested of applicants may be reviewed to establish a preliminary ranking of applicants. The same set of criteria should be applied to the consideration and ranking of each applicant.
• Rather than requesting letters of recommendation, the hiring manager may find it more useful to request a list of references with telephone numbers. The search committee should then develop a set of questions to ask each reference listed by each finalist for the position and telephone each reference summarizing his/her response to the questions. Many search committees have found this to be a much more useful approach than the traditional letter of recommendation.
• Once finalists are identified, some search committees also have found it useful to conduct conference call interviews of applicants. Alternatively, a member of the search committee may wish to attend a professional meeting to interview applicants before bringing finalists to campus for an interview.

Step 6

The hiring manager shall review all applicants with the search/screen authority and the recommending authority prior to establishing a list of finalists. Once finalists are identified, their status in PeopleAdmin must be changed to “Finalist”. Academic and Student Affairs must be notified via e-mail when this is completed and a finalist list report will be prepared. OASA will fax the finalist list to the dean’s office for approval. Once the Vice Chancellor has approved the finalist list, the dean’s office and department/school will be notified.

The finalist list report generated using PeopleAdmin must be approved by the Dean and the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs prior to interviewing candidates.

The finalist list will be evaluated for affirmative action/EEO purposes by comparing it to the data collected from applicants by PeopleAdmin. Assistance in developing a diverse finalist list will be given to department heads/school directors. Upon the Vice Chancellor’s approval of the finalist list, a demographic data summary will be generated for the search and sent to the hiring authority.

Step 7

When finalists are brought in for interviews:

• Travel expenses may be handled in two ways. 1. The department/school may purchase the airline ticket and mail it to the applicant. 2. Alternatively, the applicant may purchase his/her ticket and be reimbursed by the department/school.
• Any hotel may be used, however, the Office of Academic and Student Affairs maintains a list of hotels/motels with special discounts for UNO. The department/school may obtain this list from the Office of Academic and Student Affairs, make reservations directly with the appropriate hotel/motel, and process requisition(s) to implement payment.
• When finalists are brought in for interview, in addition to meetings with appropriate individuals in each unit, a 30-minute appointment may be scheduled with a representative from the Office of Academic and Student Affairs if the department/school wishes to do so.
• The Office of Academic and Student Affairs will assemble packets of information that departments may pick up to send or give to interviewees.
• Several real estate firms in Omaha have corporate relocation assistance programs in which a representative from the firm will meet with candidates and provide information. The Office of Academic and Student Affairs can provide names and telephone numbers of the appropriate representatives from real estate firms.
• Guidance in conducting the interview process, interviewing techniques, and the appropriate questions to ask candidates will be discussed when a representative from the Office of Academic and Student Affairs meets with the search committee prior to the beginning of review of applications. In general, applicants should be interviewed on the basis of job-related qualifications only.

Each applicant should be asked the same general questions and all applicants should be treated with fairness, equality, and consistency. Under federal law, it is currently illegal to make direct inquiries about an applicant's age, marital or parental status, pregnancy if the applicant is female, health, membership in organizations not relevant to the position, citizenship, honorable discharge from military service, or disability.

Step 8

Before an offer to an applicant is made by the recommending authority, a terminal degree verification must be done by the recommending authority and a degree verification form must be completed. This verification may be conducted by contacting the awarding institution by telephone. A copy of the degree verification form must be sent to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs with the draft letter of offer.

Step 9

The recommending authority is responsible for sending the letter of offer. Guidelines for the content of letters of offer may be found in the appendix.

For full-time positions, letters of offer must be reviewed by and receive approval from the Office of Academic and Student Affairs prior to mailing. The steps are as follows:

• A copy of the dean's letter of offer to the candidate will be sent or faxed to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs accompanied by the degree verification.
• Upon receipt, Academic and Student Affairs will check the candidate name against the human resources management system (SAP) and active and inactive personnel files for existing and previous appointments.
• The Office of Academic and Student Affairs will review the letter for compliance with the Regents Bylaws, the bargaining unit contract, and the Office of Academic and Student Affairs Recruiting Guidelines letter of offer format.
• If approved, a copy will be faxed to the dean's/director's office.
• If a letter is revised subsequent to initial approval, changes should be submitted to Academic and Student Affairs for approval by fax.

To identify these letters when they are sent to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs, either the requisition number or the waiver request number should be noted on the letters.

Step 10

A fund is available to provide incentives to recruit faculty that are presently under-represented among the UNO faculty. If a department wishes to hire a faculty member from one of these under-represented groups, a memo requesting funds should be sent to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs for consideration.

Step 11

Once a finalist has accepted an offer or the finalists have all refused the offer, the search is closed. When the search committee does not wish to receive further applications, the hiring manager should ask Academic and Student Affairs to mark the requisition “Closed.” Upon hiring or closing a search with no hire, the hiring manager must immediately change the status of all applicants who were not hired to “Not Hired” and add a reason code in PeopleAdmin. The requisition can then be marked “Filled.” It is important to retrieve any information that will be needed e.g. for sending thank you letters to applicants not hired before marking the requisition “Filled.” That information will not be accessible after the requisition is “Filled.” PeopleAdmin will electronically store the applications and other electronic search materials in case of a compliance review.

Step 12

The Office of Academic and Student Affairs maintains a personnel folder on all personnel with an academic appointment and is responsible for reporting all new academic appointments at the rank of assistant professor and above to the Board of Regents. The recommending authority should submit the following to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs as soon as each is available after a finalist has accepted an offer:

• a copy of the letter of offer signed by the recipient indicating acceptance of the offer
• a PAF
• a PDF (may be submitted directly to Human Resources)
• an I9 (may be submitted directly to Human Resources)
• a W-4 (may be submitted directly to Human Resources)
• copies of official transcripts for terminal degrees
• direct deposit form

Required Forms.

Forms are provided in rtf formats to ease online completion with multiple word processing programs. Although unlikely, some formatting features may be lost if used with programs other than Microsoft Word. Once the form appears in the browser window, from the File Menu, select Save As and save the document on your hard drive or floppy disk.

Many of the forms are protected, which means that users may enter information only in the spaces provided. Before completing the forms, you will need to unprotect the document. To unprotect a document in Microsoft Word, from the Tools Menu, choose "unprotect document."

 

Access to People Admin (requires user account) NOTE: To return to this page, click and hold the small black arrow next to the BACK key.

Wavier Request Form

Policy for Waiver of the Competitive Search Process Waiver of the Competitive Search Process Request Form

Position Justification Form

Verification of Highest Degree Form

Sample Letter Form

Non-Select Reasons Form