Hiring

• You can find this on the Equal Opportunity webpage.

• You can find this on the EOC training webpage.

• A well developed and concise position description is vital to successful recruitment and hiring. The language in the description can easily encourage or discourage candidates from applying. 
• The job description is the basis of all applicant evaluation. 
  • Setting requirements too high may exclude applicants based on qualifications that are not necessary to perform the job, which may create disparate impact resulting in discrimination.
  • Setting requirements too narrow may limit your applicant pool and you may miss out on a well-qualified applicant.
• Ensure it is accurate for the essential functions and duties as well as the required minimum qualifications. 
• When establishing the required and desired qualifications, steer clear of focusing on subfields, which can easily exclude potential applicants. You'll get a much better applicant pool if you define the job requirements as broadly as possible. However; 
• The work environment and physical demands section of the job description should be representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. This includes items like mobility, lifting, and noise. 
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Sample rubrics are available by contacting HR. 
• This is an easy process since it is essentially moving the required and desired list points from the job description into a rubric format. A properly constructed rubric assists with maintaining a fair search.  
• Using a non-numerical rubric will help the hiring team avoid ranking the candidates, keep focus on the requirements of the position, and help the committee identify a list of candidates for the interview phases. 
• Ranking candidates is different from scoring. The hiring team can choose to score within the rubric, however, we encourage the use of “qualified” or “not qualified” for job requirements, and “high,” “medium,” or “low” for desired qualifications.  
• Once you have developed the rubric, complete a mock applicant review to test if the job description and rubric is adequately and fairly screening candidates for the position.

• Some external advertising websites allow application materials to be submitted via that website’s employment job board, but this functionality may not be used. 
• If a hiring team receives application materials through any source or database other than the Michigan Tech employment system they must not be reviewed. If this happens, you may contact the applicants to tactfully let them know that their materials will not be reviewed unless submitted via the Michigan Tech employment website and provide information on how to do so. If you choose to contact the applicants, you must contact all of the applicants. 
• If you post advertisements to external websites that do permit this application submission to their own databases, please include this wording in your advertisement, “To apply for this position, please submit your application materials directly to Michigan Tech’s employment website using the following URL: [Insert the full URL for your position]. If materials are not submitted directly to our employment website, materials will not be reviewed.”

• • Recruitment and outreach will take some time. The goal is to hire a highly qualified candidate who will bring distinction to your department and the University.
  • Advertise positions to attract a diverse pool. EOC encourages hiring teams to make an effort to recruit qualified women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities due to affirmative actions obligations. Here is a resource to assist you. 
  • Teams may want to highlight these top five reasons in advertising and networking to encourage individuals to apply.  ( Source: 2024 Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) Job Seeker Survey Report)

1. Compensation and Benefits
2. Work-Life Balance 
3. Team Dynamics and Culture
4. Professional Development 
5. Job Autonomy and responsibility 

• Outreach is more than posting jobs on a job board. Outreach is contacting colleagues, sending emails and letters to organizations, advertising in journals, magazines and newspapers. Hopefully, these networks are broad and diverse, and include colleagues, other Universities, and student and professional associations.
• Use pronouns correctly. 
• By sharing your pronouns, you are highlighting inclusion without pressuring others to do so. Introduce yourself using your pronouns and/or list them on your video conference credentials. 
• You should never insist that someone share their pronouns. If someone chooses not to share, that's ok. It is important to establish a good rapport with your candidates to ensure they choose Michigan Tech just as much as you choose them.

• • It is not appropriate to review social media or search the internet to gather information about applicants. This is an important measure in the process to reduce bias to ensure a fair review of each candidate. 
  • Social media and/or web surfing can open the door to potential claims of discrimination, as candidates may provide information describing their personal identities, social activities, spirituality, and/or political beliefs, which may introduce bias. 
  • The key of the search is to focus on an applicant’s ability to complete the responsibilities of the role, not perceptions of them outside of that. The hiring team may only use the job required and desired qualifications as a guide to decide to qualify or disqualify applicants.

• The EEO Report provides summary information on how applicants have self-identified; a voluntary part of the application process. Guidelines for the EEO report include;
• Do not run the EEO Report unless you intend to take additional outreach/recruitment actions. 
• The report must be reviewed prior to interviewing and cannot be run once interviewing begins.
• To protect the confidential self-identification of the applicants there must be a minimum of 5 applicants to run the EEO report. If the report is run more than once, there must be at least 5 more applicants each time the report is processed. 
• If you are completing a union staff position search, this EEO report would only be run if the search becomes open for external applicant review.  

To assess the applicant pool use professional organizations that may have current demographic data for similar positions as a comparison to assist you in determining if the applicant pool is adequately diverse.  An additional resource is The Chronicle of Higher Education's data points and articles such as How Diverse Are College Staff Members?

• A hiring team should consist of at least 3 members, but no more than 5. This is the ideal number of members to promote fair decision making and is a conscientious use of resources, such as time and money.
• It is helpful to include at least 1 member from outside the reporting structure of the hiring department.
• Do not have probationary employees serve on a hiring team; they are still learning about the University. 

• All hiring team members must maintain 100% confidentiality DURING and AFTER the search.
• Ensure all HR and EOC procedures are completed accurately.  
• All inquiries from applicants must be referred to the lead of the hiring team or HR.
• The hiring team environment should be one where all those involved are empowered to participate and have the opportunity to speak up to ensure a fair search for all applicants in all hiring steps. 
• Biases can exist in the evaluation process.
• Conscious and unconscious biases can exist in the hiring process. Biases can arise from many sources and may lead to incorrect assumptions about candidates. 
• It is important that you take adequate steps to identify and address bias when reviewing applicant materials and interviewing. 
• For example, a candidate has a time gap in employment and a team member speculates about what occurred during that gap. Gaps in employment are not relevant to an applicant that meets the education/knowledge/skills, etc. as listed in the required and/or desired sections of a job description, therefore can not be considered in the evaluation process.

If you have Veterans in your applicant pool, we encourage hiring teams to review the Veteran Hiring page to assist in translating military skills to civilian skills.

• Michigan Tech is required to keep information on every person who has submitted an application for employment. 
• This information is collected using an Applicant Flow Log (AFL). 
• The AFL is completed electronically through PageUp during the search process and includes the use of disposition codes and reasons for non-selection. 
• Visit the Applicant Flow Log webpage for important information.

• You can find this on the Interview Inquires webpage.

• Internal candidates should be treated like any external candidate in all hiring processes. 
• The hiring department will need to choose in advance which format they will use for each round of interviews. Once chosen, the format should remain the same for all candidates for that round of interviews. For example, interviewing some candidates virtually and other candidates in person, during the same round of interviews, may cause committee members to have biased opinions on things such as body language, technology issues, the flow of conversation, etc., potentially creating a disparate impact on candidates.
• If the hiring team would like to record the interview, candidates should agree to be recorded, without pressure, and should know how the recording will be used. Recording must be equally applied to all interviews.
• Virtual interviews may be a great option for all/any interview stages because barriers, such as travel expenses, can be dramatically decreased. If a department chooses to conduct virtual interviews, please let the candidate know that a virtual interview does not necessarily mean that the position is a remote position.
• Questions should be asked consistently to all who are being interviewed. You may ask follow-up questions only for further clarification.
• Give the candidate a chance to meet a diverse group of people including anyone on campus they may request to meet.
• Keep conversations professional during interviews. This also applies for small talk that may occur between interviews or during shared meals. This means no comments/conversations that are not relevant to the position or the interview, and no inappropriate joking or comments.
• If a candidate asks questions pertaining to work-life balance or reveals personal information (such as whether they have children) answer with factual information and not an opinion-based response, or refer them to HR. Do not inquire further about any personal information that has been shared.
• Throughout the interviewing process, information about both internal and external candidates must remain confidential unless the candidate explicitly grants permission to make it public. This includes posting seminar flyers on blogs, websites, etc.
• Offer every candidate the ability to request disability accommodations for all interviews. Do this by asking “ Do you need anything to be able to fully participate in the interview?” If a candidate mentions a need, contact HR  for assistance.
• When scheduling interviews, committees should attempt to contact applicants at least two times before removing them from consideration. Document how many attempts were made to contact an applicant and what method of communication was used. In a compliance audit, the OFCCP would expect to see that applicants were given ample opportunity to respond.
• Provide every candidate with information about the campus information, including information such as benefits, childcare, etc. This ensures that all candidates receive important information without having to ask questions about circumstances they may want to keep private.

• If you are interviewing more than one candidate, all must be given the same offer.
• To avoid any perceived discrimination, an offer to visit should use the word “guest,” not “spouse” or “partner,” as they may bring anyone they choose. Rather than asking "Is there someone you'd like to bring with you?" offer the opportunity to bring a guest with a statement like "If you would like to bring a guest on your visit, we may be able to assist with travel expenses.” If they decline the offer, but you sense that they were caught off guard or feel they need to discuss it with their intended guest, you may suggest that they contact you with their reply. 
• The guest should not attend any events on the candidate's interview schedule, including meals.  
• To help the guest feel welcomed, the hiring department may provide a well-planned, customized separate itinerary that allows sufficient time for exploring on their own. This will demonstrate Michigan Tech’s interest in the guest’s time while in Houghton. The guest may want to explore the waterfront, trails, SDC, or shops downtown, the mineral museum, restaurants, the public library, a real estate agent, etc. 
• The department may choose to designate someone in the department that is not a part of the search committee to assist the guest during their visit. 
• It is vital to express to all candidates and guests that Michigan Tech does not promise employment for guests/partners, nor can we create positions for guests/partners. However, you can do your best to assist them with information on finding employment in the local area, whether that be at Michigan Tech, remotely, or in the community.
• The guest should never be put in a situation where they feel they are being evaluated (positively or negatively) for their “fit” in Houghton.
• Guests are welcome to bring children at their own expense. The guest should use or rent their own vehicle if a child accompanies them on the visit. Children cannot ride in university vehicles or employee vehicles. The department may assist with renting a vehicle.

• In the past, a search evaluation tool may have asked for feedback based on the candidate's strengths and weaknesses.
• Open-ended feedback can bring in bias and may result in unfair evaluations that are not based on the candidate's qualifications for the job posted. 
• An example is an evaluator claiming that the candidate is not a good fit. What does that really mean? Or, the evaluator doesn't think the university's rural location is a match for a particular candidate. This is irrelevant to the job qualifications. If the evaluator simply states that the candidate is not qualified, there needs to be an explanation about how they came to this conclusion based on the position requirements.

• When examining resumes/cover letters, supporting documentation, or during interviews, you should document decisions made about applicants. 
• Do not write directly onto a printed CV, resume, application, etc. 
• Use only search evaluation tools for written feedback. 
• Notes, documentation, and written feedback must be professional and bias-free. 
• All documentation that is in hard copy or digital form will be collected by HR upon completion of the search.