Hiring Procedures - Prior to Jan 1, 2022

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(Faculty and Administrative/Professional Staff  - view policy effective Jan 1, 2022)

In order to achieve the spirit and intent of SIUC's affirmative action policies, a commitment to aggressive recruitment and timely development of a representative pool of candidates is required. At present, all tenure-track faculty and selected administrative/professional appointments have been designated targeted positions for women and minorities and, therefore, are considered to be underutilized positions. For administrative/professional, non-tenure-track faculty, and civil service positions, Affirmative Action will notify the hiring unit whether or not a goal is assigned to the position. When a full- or part-time vacancy occurs and/or a new, reallocated, or replacement position is approved, the appropriate vice chancellor and Affirmative Action will approve the appropriate procedures for filling the position under the following guidelines. Applicant availability and position characteristics are among the factors that will determine whether the announcement and/or advertising should be internal, local, state or national. With the exception of temporary short-term, part-time, visiting, and adjunct appointments, faculty positions that require doctorate or terminal degrees and upper-level administrative positions should generally be advertised nationally. Depending on the likelihood of locating candidates, positions requiring masters-level competency may use local and state or regional advertising with announcements going to targeted universities and colleges. Most positions requiring bachelors-level competency may be recruited by posting internally and by advertising in local media. Specific/special procedures for filling positions are as follows:

  1. By promotion.
    If a qualified assistant or other person already on the unit's staff is eligible for expansion of duties and responsibilities, a selection may be made following assessment of both immediate and long-range needs of the institution. A search waiver accompanied by a vita must be submitted with the promotion as the basis for a waiver of search. It is important to note that there may be several employees within the unit who may qualify for the promotional opportunity. In the interest of fairness and equal opportunity, it is best to conduct a minimum of an internal unit search to allow all interested unit employees to compete for the internal promotional opportunity. "Promotion" as used here does not refer to faculty promotions from assistant to associate to full professor.
  2. By internal search.
    If an internal search is to be undertaken for qualified candidates, the procedures of the appointing officer or the search committee should include, but not be limited to, the following:
    1. posting the position internally;
    2. posting on appropriate bulletin boards and/or in the Daily Egyptian;
    3. allowing at least 10 working days from time of posting to application deadline.
  3. By external search.
    If an external search to fill the position is undertaken, procedures for external announcement will include the following:
    1. for local and regional searches at least 10 working days, after appearance of the announcement, should be allowed prior to the deadline for application;
    2. for national searches, at least 20 working days should be allowed prior to the deadline for application.

Advertising Process

Each position description, and list of qualifications should be sufficiently detailed to permit individual evaluation and screening of all applicants.

Required qualifications should be developed carefully; each requirement must accurately reflect the listed duties of the position. For entry-level positions, the requirements should be generic, broad, inclusive and should specify the minimum educational requirements that are necessary for performing the duties and responsibilities of the position. For example, if an ABD would be considered for a faculty position, this should be clearly indicated as well as the terms of appointment until the Ph.D. is awarded. Additional requirements and specificity should be based on justified programmatic needs.

  1. The department chair/hiring unit administrator submits a position description, announcement, ad copy, and proposed recruitment procedures to his/her dean/director seeking approval to advertise a position. After approval, the dean/director forwards same to the appropriate vice chancellor. Administrative/professional positions subject to evaluation must be accompanied by a copy of the approved Principal Administrative Position Exemption form. The qualifications listed in the announcement must minimally reflect the approved minimum education and experience qualifications approved on the Principal Administrative Position Exemption form. The position description must include the minimum requirements that are essential to the performance of the position. These basic criteria must be clearly detailed.
  2. The proposed recruitment procedures must include, but need not be limited to,
    1. a listing of search committee members (this may be sent later, as soon as composition is known)
    2. the locations of paid advertisements
    3. a general listing of other intended postings or recruitment activities.
  3. Position announcements should include the following information:
    1. title of position
    2. rank and if tenure-track
    3. qualifications for applicants, stating degree requirement or preference, and teaching, research, professional or administrative experience necessary to qualify
    4. a statement of duties and responsibilities, including a description of the expected teaching, research, service, or administrative activities to be performed
    5. deadline for application
    6. effective date of appointment
    7. requirements for application
    8. name and address of person to contact
    9. in the case of security-sensitive positions, the following statement: "This is a security-sensitive position. Before any offer of employment is made, the university will conduct a pre-employment background investigation, which includes a criminal background check."
    10. a line stating that "SIUC is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer that strives to enhance its ability to develop a diverse faculty and staff and to increase its potential to serve a diverse student population. All applications are welcomed and encouraged and will receive consideration.”
  4. The dean/director upon approval submits the request to the appropriate vice chancellor or designee.
  5. Upon approval by the vice chancellor's office, the request is forwarded to Affirmative Action for approval. Affirmative Action will consult with the appropriate vice chancellor if the procedures have deficiencies which should be corrected in order to strengthen the possibilities of a diverse candidate pool.
  6. Affirmative Action and the vice chancellor must approve the recruitment procedures before active recruitment is begun.
  7. Human Resources lists faculty, administrative/professional staff, and civil service position openings in three ways: a taped telephone message on its 24-hour HR INFO line (536-2116); printed listings sent weekly to all campus mail stops; and listings on the Internet. The Internet listings may be accessed in the following ways:
    1. Human Resources Home Page (https://www.siu.edu/~humres).
    2. Affirmative Action Home Page (https://www.siu.edu/~affact). Click on "Administrative/Professional and Faculty Job Positions" under Where We Are and Our Posting.
    Job announcements are normally updated on Thursdays at noon. These listings are not in lieu of advertising which is the responsibility of the hiring unit. All faculty and administrative/professional position openings must be advertised. The following suggestions are offered:
    1. local advertising (The Daily Egyptian and the Southern Illinoisan have classified advertising sections for position announcements);
    2. regional or national advertising
      1. The Chronicle of Higher Education;
      2. appropriate popular or scholarly journals;
      3. minority and women's caucuses of professional organizations and associations (Affirmative Action can assist in obtaining this information);
      4. announcement of positions at appropriate national or regional scholarly meetings;
      5. notification to universities or colleges with faculty members in similar programs; with degree programs likely to graduate people with appropriate qualifications; and/or with predominantly minority or women faculty and students;
      6. posting on appropriate bulletin boards.

Search Committees

The search/screening committee is the essential component to the recruitment and hiring of faculty and administrative/professional staff. The committee is appointed by the hiring administrator or is formed by solicitation of representatives from each constituency. The committee may include community representation and/or representatives from areas with which the position interacts. The effort should be made to include female and minority representation on the search committee. Normally a committee has a minimum of 3 members.

After the committee has received its charge from the hiring administrator, it proceeds as follows:

  1. selects a chair, if this has not already been decided;
  2. establishes time frame and meeting schedule;
  3. determines ground rules for committee procedures:
    1. If members cannot attend committee meetings regularly, should they be replaced?
    2. Are applications to be reviewed by all members or divided evenly among members to determine whether minimum qualifications are met?
    3. When reference letters have been requested in the position announcement, yet not provided, should the committee call for them?
    4. If names of references (to be contacted later) have been requested in the position announcement and some, but not all, applicants have had reference letters sent, should those be considered at this point, or held until reference letters are requested from the remaining applicants?
When applicants' vitae, letters of reference, and other documents are received, a dossier should be created and acknowledgments of receipt for these documents should be sent to the candidates. The chair of the search committee should send a Personnel Data Card to each applicant to be returned to Affirmative Action by the applicant. The return of this card is not required but will be useful in identifying females and minorities.

Review of candidates' dossiers may be done expeditiously in whatever manner the committee decides, depending on the number of candidates, the time available, and the number of committee members. Regardless of the procedure chosen, it is important that all committee members agree upon and use the same screening criteria for all candidates. Documentation of the screening criteria is essential and must be maintained on file for a minimum of two years.

As soon as possible after the deadline for application, the search committee should meet to consider qualifications of all candidates and to evaluate them in terms of requirements for the position. The first screen is for minimum qualifications. Any candidates not meeting the minimum qualifications are excluded and should be informed in writing that they are not on the committee's short list. The second screen is for candidates who meet and exceed the minimum requirements. Every committee member should read and rate the dossiers of those candidates meeting the minimum requirements of the position. Any techniques or procedures used (i.e., discussions with referees or evaluations of written materials) to select or screen candidates must be applied uniformly to all candidates and documented.

The search committee should work with the appropriate administrative officer to identify the qualified applicants. It is suggested that at least three qualified applicants should be interviewed for each full-time position. The request to interview and accompanying cover letter should indicate the candidates to be interviewed.

When a position is underutilized in protected group representation, qualified applicants identified as members of a protected group normally should be considered for interview. In underutilized situations when considering qualified candidates, the hiring official may consider the race or sex of the applicant, as appropriate to the underutilization goal, as a positive factor in the selection decision. In cases where an underutilization goal exists and few or no applications have been received from females and minorities, the search committee may be required to reopen the search.

If underutilization exists in the position and females and/or minorities are not in the group selected for interview, the employing unit must prepare and submit a detailed statement which presents the reasons to the appropriate vice chancellor for recommending interviews of the selected applicants, at the time the request for interview (Hiring Audit Form, Section I) is submitted.

The vice chancellor and Affirmative Action will review and approve both the search procedure and the resumes of qualified applicants prior to scheduling interviews. Information concerning race, national origin, and sex of applicants that responded to the Personnel Data Cards will be provided by Affirmative Action to the vice chancellor within two work days of the deadline date or as cards are received afterwards.

The committee should:

  1. screen applications to select those for consideration. A checklist prepared from the job description to determine whether applicants met the minimum qualifications in the initial screening will facilitate this process and might include the following questions:
    1. Application received by cutoff date?
    2. Application complete?
    3. Required degree, qualifications, license, research, experience, etc.?
    4. Related/substitute degree, qualifications, etc., appropriate to the above?
    5. All minimum qualifications met?
  2. document reasons for all candidates screened out at this point, using the Hiring Audit Form codes for non-selection (see Appendix 2).
  3. commence screening (second screen) of remaining applicants.
    1. Candidates may be telephoned to clarify questions regarding their resumes, to determine whether or not to interview them, or to request references.
    2. Committee members may wish to do a preliminary reference check on all remaining applicants at this point.
    3. Committee recommends a minimum of three finalists to be brought to campus for interview.
    4. Committee will complete Section I of the Hiring Audit Form.
    5. Vice-chancellor and Affirmative Action approval must be secured through appropriate channels before inviting candidates for interview.

Candidate Interviews

For continuing appointments at the rank of Assistant Professor, the candidate must be interviewed by the following administrators:

  1. the chair/director of the department/school; and
  2. the dean of the college/school.

For continuing appointments at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor, the candidate must be interviewed by the following administrators:

  1. the chair/director of the department/school;
  2. the dean of the college/school; and
  3. the Provost and Vice Chancellor or designee.

Candidates for appointment to administrative positions, such as chair, director, associate dean, and dean must be interviewed by the appropriate vice chancellor(s) and/or designee. The chancellor must interview all candidates for appointments of dean and above.

Background data for the candidate should be made available to appropriate personnel prior to the scheduled interview. At that time, the evaluation of the candidate can be communicated to the department. All evaluations by interviewers should be considered in making a recommendation for appointment.

Selection Process

  1. After finalists for interviews have been selected, approval is sought through the appropriate channels to the vice chancellor and Affirmative Action. This request must be accompanied by the Hiring Audit Form (HAF) Section I, the Demographic Data Form listing all applicants for the position, and a copy of the resumes of the selected interviewees verifying that the candidates meet the minimum advertised qualifications. The Affirmative Action Officer may request the resumes of minorities and women not selected for an interview.
  2. Once interviews are completed, before offering the position to a candidate, the hiring unit must get approval through the appropriate channels to the vice chancellor and Affirmative Action. This request must be accompanied by Section II of the Hiring Audit Form. In instances in which a minority or woman or other protected class member is within the final pool of applicants and not the choice in an underutilized position, the unit must provide to the vice chancellor and Affirmative Action written justification as to the selection made. The department/hiring unit must effectively demonstrate the relationship between the selected candidate's qualifications and the advertised position requirements. The decision documentation should stress the positive qualifications of the chosen candidate and in no way disparage the qualifications of the unsuccessful, protected class member.

    Results of interviews and recommendations relative to the decision to offer or not to offer the position must be available to the dean, the vice chancellor, and Affirmative Action upon request. In underutilized situations involving equally qualified candidates, the candidate's race or sex, as appropriate to the underutilization, may be included as a positive factor in the hiring decision. The unit will not make any offer without approval of the vice chancellor and Affirmative Action. The requirement for written justification includes civil service vacancies that have been identified as underutilized positions.

  3. If an applicant accepts an offer and is hired, all other applicants should be notified that the position has been filled and that they are no longer being considered for the position. Appointment papers to be submitted are as follows:
    1. Application for Appointment (Signed Contract)
    2. An approved statement of the nature of the assignment
    3. The original and one copy of the Personal and Professional Data form, which must be signed by the appointee
    4. Approved Affirmative Action Hiring Audit form or Search Waiver
    5. Copy of approved position announcement or advertisement
    6. Administrative/Professional Staff only: Administrative/Professional Staff Verification of Qualifications for positions exempted under Section 36.e.3, State Universities Civil Service System Statute
    7. Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) form must accompany application or follow within 3 days after employee begins work
    8. Oral English proficiency form (if a teaching assignment is involved)
    9. Official Transcripts
    10. Statement of Child Support Obligation Required by the State of Illinois.
Committee files and applicant files should be organized in a logical manner and forwarded to the hiring administrator for retention for at least two years.

Search Waivers

Exceptions to established recruitment requirements may be granted on a case-by-case basis. A request to waive the normal recruitment procedure must be approved by the vice chancellor and Affirmative Action. In situations where a waiver is approved, efforts should be made to seek out protected classes whenever possible and a commitment to affirmative action by the hiring administrator. When an emergency hire is approved, the following guidelines should be followed:

  1. A screening committee whose representation includes minorities and/or women should advise the hiring administrator in the selection process.
  2. The job description should be worded so that no capable individual is precluded from being considered as a qualified candidate.
  3. Extra efforts should be exerted to contact and encourage the applications of women and minorities.
Waivers may be appropriate in the following situations:
  1. in emergency situations (sickness, death, sudden resignation) where a pool of candidates can be developed immediately by the department/unit (The pool should include internal, as well as external, candidates from existing pools. If a pool does not exist, one may be generated by word-of-mouth and through local advertising.);
  2. in situations where a department wishes to secure a visiting faculty person with known professional distinction;
  3. in situations where a grant or contract specifies the employee(s);
  4. in situations where a person may be appointed temporarily to fill a position while a search is being conducted (see Special Appointments, Item 5);
  5. when promoting qualified, internal staff (departments/hiring units must consider all qualified internal candidates for a promotional opportunity).
Except for promotional purposes, search waiver appointments will be granted for a maximum of one year. However, under certain circumstances, a unit may identify a candidate whose special qualifications may enhance the unit's productivity and affirmative action compliance. Such special situations warrant the granting of a search waiver for a continuing contract. In such cases, the vice chancellor should submit to the Executive Assistant to the Chancellor (AA/EO) a written rationale for granting such a waiver prior to the candidate's campus visit or the tender of an offer. The Executive Assistant to the Chancellor (AA/EO) will make his/her recommendation to the chancellor. If this prior approval is not sought and received, the contract will not be processed.

Spousal/Partner Search Waiver Policy

Purpose:

Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) recognizes the importance of a formal spousal/partner search waiver policy for the recruitment of faculty or other administrative/professional employees, and the importance of accommodating dual-career academic/professional couples. The ability to recruit a qualified faculty member or A/P employee may be dependent on the University’s ability to offer a suitable position to that individual’s spouse/partner. A partner shall mean the candidate’s domestic partner, as defined by the SIUC Domestic Partner Policy. The purpose of this Policy is to establish the requirements and process for offering a candidate’s spouse/partner a position at SIUC through a process other than a competitive search process. This policy shall not be used for the purpose of hiring a spouse/partner into a civil service position via a search waiver.

In implementing this policy, the University will consider opportunities for spouses / partners of candidates for faculty and/or A/P positions, as appropriate.  Dedicated funds for spousal / partner positions have not been committed under this policy. In cases where an open, advertised position at the University may be suitable for a spouse/partner, the spouse/partner should be encouraged to apply for the position through the standard competitive search process.

General Procedures and Requirements:

If SIUC has a candidate approved for hire for a tenure-track or tenured faculty position or an administrative/professional position (hereinafter “candidate”), and a department/unit of the University seeks to make an offer of employment to the principal candidate’s spouse/partner, the academic / administrative unit seeking to hire the candidate shall, with the approval of the unit director of the proposed hiring unit of the spouse/partner, and appropriate Dean(s) or Director(s), request permission from the Chancellor (or designee) to make an offer to the candidate’s spouse/partner.

If a current tenured or tenure-track faculty member or administrative/professional employee (hereinafter “candidate”) has received an offer from another employer and the academic/administrative unit seeks to make a counter-offer which includes the hire of a spouse/partner, the candidate’s academic/administrative unit, with the approval of the unit director of the hiring unit of the proposed spouse/partner, and appropriate  Dean(s) or Director(s), may also request permission from the Chancellor (or designee) to make a counter offer which includes an offer of employment for the spouse/partner.

Procedures for submitting such requests shall be determined by the University. The request shall, at a minimum, contain the following:

  1. The curriculum vitae/ résumé of the candidate and an explanation of the benefits the candidate would bring to the university if hired or retained;
  2. The curriculum vitae/résumé of the spouse/partner; and
  3. Whether the department/unit intends or is able to fund all or a portion of the spouse’s/partner’s salary, and, if so, for what period of time.

Review of the Request:

To qualify for a spousal hire, the following criteria must be met:

  1. The candidate is in an area of strategic importance to SIUC or the college and/or the hire or retention of the candidate would otherwise provide a substantial benefit to SIUC; and
  2. SIUC has an unfilled position or need for a position and the spouse/partner’s qualifications and credentials meet the minimum requirements for the position being considered and the needs of the department/unit in which the spouse/partner may be hired.

Search Waiver Request:

Once support for a spousal/partner hire request has been received from the Chancellor or designee, and an appropriate position has been identified, the University shall utilize its search waiver process, including but not limited to, submitting all documentation and obtaining all approvals required under that process, prior to making an offer to the spouse/partner. The spouse’s/partner’s offer of employment shall be contingent on the candidate accepting the job offer at or counter-offer from the University. The University shall not be required to offer a permanent or continuing contract to the spouse/partner. Rather an assessment of the needs of SIUC, the candidate’s spouse’s/partner’s credentials, and the needs of the hiring unit and university shall be assessed to determine the type of position offered.

In all cases, the University and all involved parties shall ensure compliance with the Board of Trustees’ and the University’s Nepotism Policy and any rules or regulations thereunder.

Special Appointments

  1. Part-Time and Full-Time Temporary Appointments
    Each department or hiring unit that traditionally has a need for part- and full-time temporary appointments must, through contacts and local advertising, seek to establish a pool that contains protected class applicants. For fall appointments, the advertising process should be completed by July 1; for spring appointments, by December 1. Pools developed early in the year must be checked for qualified applicants before emergency appointments are made. Affirmative Action procedures must apply to appointments on outside grants and contracts.
  2. Short Notice or Emergency Appointments
    Affirmative Action procedures will be executed as fully as possible for emergency and other special appointments. Individuals so appointed are to be issued term contracts. Renewal of such contracts may be approved by the appropriate vice chancellor and Affirmative Action.
  3. Change from Temporary to Regular Appointment (Term or Continuing):
    Normally, a change from temporary to regular (term or continuing) in the contract status of a faculty member is to be considered a new appointment, and all applicable recruitment procedures will be executed before such a change is effected. This procedure may be waived only after Affirmative Action has reviewed and made recommendation of approval.
  4. Appointment of Graduate Students:
    If departments intend to appoint graduate students to temporary faculty and staff status, all graduate students in the department must be notified of the availability of the position, before selection and appointment.
  5. Acting Appointments
    1. Acting appointments shall not be made until appropriate efforts are made to extend equal employment opportunity to minorities and females. An academic and/or administrative office anticipating filling a position on an acting basis will consult with and obtain approval of the appropriate vice chancellor and Affirmative Action. Except in unusual circumstances that require an extension approved by the chancellor's office, appointments to acting positions will have a maximum duration of one year. A search waiver form must be submitted for the acting appointment. A search to fill the position on a regular basis, in accordance with affirmative action guidelines, must be completed by the end of one year.
    2. Affirmative Action will review the filling of all acting appointments and each academic and/or administrative office will submit a condensed affirmative action report that includes the following:
      1. the date the acting appointment will terminate and the date that a full search will be undertaken to fill the position on a regular basis;
      2. the list of candidates under consideration for the acting appointment with identification of minorities and females;
      3. if a female or minority is considered but not selected, an explanation of the positive qualifications of the selected candidates as they relate to the position responsibilities.

[Appendices, including Glossary of Selected Affirmative Action Terms and copies of various forms referred to in this document, may be obtained from Affirmative Action.]