Phase 3: The Applicant Pool and Interviewing

Step 5: Review the Applicant Materials

Now is the time to use the applicant screening rubric the committee developed in Step 2 to fairly evaluate all applicants. Please note, there can not be any “pre-screening” of applications prior to search committee review unless this is completed in collaboration with HR and based only on the job description requirements. 

It is essential that the screening process is conducted in a consistent, confidential, and audit defensible manner. All applicants must be evaluated equally based on job description requirements using the rubric. There must not be any lobbying for or conversations about specific applicants outside the committee meetings. Once the committee determines applicants that will not move to the interview phase(s), the non-selection reasons will be determined using the required and/or desirable education/experience/knowledge/skills sections of the job description using the rubric as your guide.

In PageUP the search committee can choose to screen applications based on the three "Required" sections of the job description. The committee then determines whether or not a candidate meets the remainder of the qualifications through the interview process. If certain specific skills are required, such as computer skills, for the position, a department may choose to administer a test along with the interview.

Biases Can Exist in the Evaluation Process

We're all aware that both conscious and unconscious biases can exist in evaluation processes. It is important that we take adequate steps to identify and address bias when we review applicant materials. These biases can arise from many sources and may lead to incorrect assumptions about a candidate. For example, a committee notices that a candidate has a gap in employment and speculates about what occurred during that gap in time. 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.

Reviewing social media or searching the internet to gather information on candidates is not appropriate. This is another measure in the hiring process to reduce bias to ensure an equitable 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 our perceptions of them outside of that. The committee may only use the job required and desired qualifications as a guide to decide to qualify or disqualify applicants.

Translating Military Skills to Civilian Skills

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

Documentation

When examining resumes/cover letters, supporting documentation, or during interviews, remember to document decisions made about applicants. However, please refrain from writing directly onto a printed CV, resume, application, etc. Use only search evaluation tools for written feedback. Notes, documentation, and written feedback must be bias-free. All documentation that is in hard copy or digital form will be collected by Human Resources upon completion of the search. See Step 6 for information about documenting reasons for non-selection of an applicant.

Step 6: Narrow the Applicant Pool

After reviewing applications, those applicants who are not advancing further (ie: to a phone or virtual interview), must be given a reason for non-selection and disposition code in PageUp, which will remove the candidate from the applicant pool. You can not begin interviewing until this process is completed and reviewed by the EOC office.

Reasons of Non-Selection and Disposition Codes for Applicants NOT Advancing to the Next Step

The search chair or search administrator must move applicants in the workflow by entering reasons of non-selection for all applicants not advancing further in the process. When moving applicants, you are required to document reasons of non-selection for applicants not continuing in the process. Reasons of non-selection need to be based on the required and desired qualifications listed in the job description, not the "job description summary" or the "essential duties and responsibilities" list. A suggestion is to copy and paste wording directly from the job description required/desired section qualifications into the reasons of non-selection. This helps Equal Opportunity Compliance, and an auditor, easily see which qualification(s) the reason of non-selection is referring to.

PLEASE NOTE: Go to Applicant Flow Log (AFL) Disposition Codes webpage. This page has detailed information on this process and examples of acceptable reasons of non-selection.

In addition, the following chart provides examples of reasons of non-selection that were not accepted by the OFCCP auditor during Michigan Tech's last compliance audit.

Step 7: Interviews

Once the search committee has identified candidates for phone, virtual or on-campus interviews, the importance of showcasing Michigan Tech's attributes and welcoming workplace climate becomes extremely important. The search committee should discuss ideas about how to ensure the interview process is welcoming. You want the best from the candidate, so set them up to give you their best.

One example of welcoming is to introduce yourself using your pronouns and/or list them on your video conference credentials. By sharing your pronouns, you are highlighting inclusion without pressuring others to do so. However, you should never insist that someone share this information as there may be several reasons a person is not comfortable doing so. 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.

The search for a Union staff member is somewhat different from this general staff search process. Please contact HR for more information about Union position search procedures

Before the Invitation to Interview

Once the search committee has determined which applicants to invite to interview, the search chair must move the applicants to “Recommend for Interview '' in PageUp and email HR and EOC that applicants have been recommended for interview. Interviews should not be scheduled or conducted before EOC reviews the requests. EOC will review reasons of non-selection for all candidates who are not selected to interview before moving selected applicants to "Reviewed for Interview by EOC." You will receive an email once your interviews are reviewed. If you do not receive an email by the end of the next business day, please email eocompliance@mtu.edu to check on the status of your interview recommendation(s). Once applicants are reviewed for a first interview, you do not need to recommend review from EOC again to move to the next round of interviews (i.e. from phone to campus interview). Searches that proceed to the final interview stage without EOC’s review may be considered failed and may need to be re-posted.

Research Security and International Collaboration Review

If a committee would like to interview an individual with international education or employment, or another significant international indication, HR must be made aware of this. Once HR has been notified they will forward a copy of the CV to the Senior Research Security Specialist (SRSS) with a request for review. This is being done in support of the University's efforts to comply with the University's Research Security and International Collaboration Policy.

If there are no notable concerns for proceeding with the interview, the SRSS will inform HR that the process may proceed. In the event that concerns exist, the SRSS will confer with the Vice President of Research and/or the General Counsel (both of whom currently hold clearances) and a decision will be made regarding the next steps.

HR will communicate to the search committee chair if candidate(s) can continue to be considered for the position. Candidate(s) removed from this pool will be disqualified by HR based on the internal review.

Interview Questions

The interview is the candidate’s opportunity to expand on their qualifications, as introduced by their resume and cover letter. The search committee will develop interview questions for each stage of the interview process, initial phone, virtual and on-campus interview. All interview questions for all stages of interviews must be related to the job qualifications and submitted to HR for approval. Bias can once again be a concern in this step, so be cognizant of this when developing the interview questions.

Questions should be asked consistently to all who are being interviewed. You may ask follow-up questions only for further clarification. Make sure that your questions are as open-ended as they can be. Questions that can be answered with a “Yes” or “No” won’t help you to get to know the candidate. Types of questions could be:

• Focused—ask the candidate to provide examples relating to a specific skill or scenario
• Leading—can usually be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and can lead to follow-up questions
• Situational—usually involve a specific example or scenario related to the requirements of the position
• Behavioral—usually require the candidate to describe a situation where they were involved

• Sample Interview Questions

General Interviewing Information

Interviewing is a critical part of the hiring process. Here are some guidelines that will assist the committee.

• Timely and professional communication via phone, email, or written letters is a must for all search processes. Here are interview invite letters that can be easily adapted for use.

• Sample Virtual Interview Invite
• Sample Campus Visit Invite

• Consistency is important to ensure that all candidates are treated fairly. The hiring department will need to choose in advance which format they will use for each round of interviews. Once chosen, the format will 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.
• Search committees are not required to have a set number of rounds of interviews. As long as each round is consistent, the search committee can choose which method works best for the position.
• If the committee would like to record the interview, candidates must agree to be recorded, without pressure, and will need to 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. This should be clear in the job posting and reiterated in the interview.
• Make sure that all faculty, staff, and students interviewers are familiar with what constitutes an inappropriate inquiry.
• Give the candidate a chance to meet a diverse group of people including anyone on campus they may request to meet.
• Provide a thoughtful introduction about the candidate before seminars or presentations.
• 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. Please 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.

Internal Candidates Considerations for Non-Union Positions

For internal candidates, the search committee must adhere to the procedures that apply to all candidates for the position. In other words, the internal candidate needs to be treated like any external candidate.

• The internal candidate should only have contact with the search committee chair, except during an interview.
• The internal candidate cannot be part of discussions from which external candidates are excluded.
• Applicant information for the impending hire must not be shared with an internal candidate.
• Internal candidates must not attend the interview process of external candidates, even if there are public presentations. Normally an external candidate is unable to attend the public presentation of an internal candidate, therefore the internal candidate should not attend the public presentation of an external candidate. It can be perceived as an unfair advantage if an internal candidate attends the presentation of an external candidate.
• If an internal candidate is not selected for an interview, they still must not be a part of the departmental deliberation process.
• It is good practice to alert the internal candidate once they are no longer under consideration for the position.

Closing the Applicant Pool

All positions at Michigan Tech are considered open until filled and all applicants must be reviewed until the day that the first interview takes place. The search chair must tell HR the date the first interview is scheduled to take place so HR can close the applicant pool at that time. If the committee wants to review any applications that were submitted after interviews began, all applications that were held when the pool was closed must be reviewed.

Interview Evaluation

The interview evaluation methods should be similar to evaluation methods used in earlier parts of the search process. For all departmental faculty or staff feedback, evaluations of candidates should be based on the qualifications listed in the job description. In the past, a search evaluation tool may have asked for feedback based on the candidate's strengths and weaknesses. Instead, the questions should relate specifically to the job requirements listed in the job posting. Open-ended feedback can bring in bias and may result in 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.

Also, ask committee members to refrain from numerically ranking candidates to avoid bias effects.

The following is a template that offers a method for faculty, staff, and students to provide an interview evaluation of job candidates. This template can be made into a Google Form to collect responses. This template should be modified as needed for interview evaluation.

• Template: Staff Candidate Interview Evaluation Tool

Interview Documentation

During the interview process, take only job description related notes that support reasons for hire and non-hire documentation. No opinions about candidates should be written on any applicant materials and refrain from physical descriptions (e.g. clothing, age, color, height, accent, etc.). All notes and e-mails can be viewed via a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request. In Step 10, all search notes are turned in to HR and kept with the hiring packet.

Prior to offering a candidate a job offer, the committee will be required to provide reasons of non-selection for candidates who were not hired. These reasons should be related to the requirements and the desirables of the position description. If EOC finds the reason to be too general, the applicant will be sent back in the workflow with an email request for more information.

NOTE: Anytime a change is made to an applicant's Workflow State or Workflow Reason, please email the Employment Services Representative and copy eocompliance@mtu.edu.