EEO Resume Reviews

EEO Search Committees and Resume Reviews

When planning the search process, the hiring department should review the following to develop advertisement and recruitment strategies:

·         Departmental or Academic Unit Staff Composition

If minority’s and or/ or women are not present in the department or academic unit, special efforts must be made in the departments’ recruitment and advertisement activities to target qualified members of these groups.

·         Underutilization in Job Groups

When the vacancy is in a job group for which the number of minority or female employees is below the number available in the relevant labor market area, underutilization exists. The search process must include efforts to obtain qualified minority and female applicants. The AA/EEO Office will inform the departments if underutilization exists after it receives notification of the vacancy.

·         Internal Candidates

It should be determined whether there is a potential of qualified internal candidates, which includes a good representation of minorities and women. If the pool of internal candidates does not include a good representation aggressive external affirmative action advertising and recruitment should be conducted.

·         Diversity Recruitment Plan

Upon being notified of a staff or faculty vacancy, the AA/EEO Office will forward the diversity recruitment plan (Exhibit E) to the hiring department.

Hiring departments are responsible for identifying affirmative recruitments efforts that will be made prior to beginning their search. The hiring department must return their plans to the AA/EEO Office for review and approval prior to interviewing candidates.

The AA/EEO Office will review the plan and approve the recruitment efforts identified by the hiring department. The AA/EEO Office may contact the hiring department to offer additional recruitment recommendations.

Search Committees:

Search Committees are used for certain faculty and executive level administrative positions. The Search Committee should follow the applicable employment procedures outlined below:

·         Upon being notified of a staff or faculty vacancy, the AA/EEO Office will forward a Search Committee Notification form (Exhibit F) to the hiring department. The AA/EEO Office must be notified when search committees are being utilized to offer guidance in conducting an affirmative action search.

·         The person(s) initiating the development of the search committee is responsible for completing and returning the Search Committee Notification form to the AA/EEO Office.

·         The composition of every Search Committee should be inclusive of minorities and females.

·         Search Committee members are required to develop a process for the recruitment and selection of applicants. The Search Committee Chair is required to complete the diversity recruitment plan indicating what affirmative steps will be taken to produce a diverse and competitive applicant pool. Upon completion, the plan is forwarded to the AA/EEO Office for review and approval prior to the interviewing process.

·         Upon receipt of the diversity recruitment plan, the AA/EEO Office may contact the search committee chair to review recruitment initiatives and to make suggestions that may create a diverse and competitive applicant pool.

·         Search committee members are responsible for advertising the position, selecting the applicants to interview, conducting the interviews and making recommendations to the hiring official.

·         The hiring department is responsible for completing the Search and Selection Activities Report once the search is completed. The Search Committee Chairperson signature must appear on the Search and Selection Activities Report.

·         All appropriate signatures must be secured before the Search and Selection Activities Report is forwarded to the AA/EEO Office.

·         Documentation of the Search committee’s activities should be forwarded to the hiring department chairperson and be retained in the hiring department in accordance with the record keeping requirements outlined in this guide.

Search Firms:

The hiring official is responsible for contacting the AA/EEO Office prior to retaining a search firm

The AA/EEO will inform the search firm and hiring department of its responsibility to conduct an extensive search that includes minority and female applicants. It is recommended that the consultant agreement contain the following recruitment data:

·         The total number of applicants for each position;

·         The names, gender and ethnicity of those applicants who were deemed qualified for each position (i.e., qualified applicant pool);

·         The names, gender and ethnicity of those interviewed specifically for the position; and

·         The name, gender and ethnicity of the candidate selected for each position.

·         It is also required that recruitment data obtained from the search firms be submitted to the hiring department and the AA/EEO Office upon completion of the search.

·         In the event that the firm fails to locate any minority or female candidates, the firm should be directed to state in writing what "good faith" actions it undertook to attempt to locate such qualified candidates. This explanation must be forwarded to the AA/EEO Office for review prior to candidate selection.

·         All search firms retained by the University must provide the documentation required by federal law demonstrating that appropriate outreach was conducted to attract qualified minorities and females.

5. Job Posting:

All vacant staff and faculty full and part time positions are required to be posted internally for five (5) working days.

Staff Positions: Hiring departments post their vacancies in accordance with the job posting requirements outlined in the Personnel Policies & Procedures Manual, Job Bidding and Promotion Policy (00:35-20-45:00). Posting coordinators have been identified for specific campus locations. This information can be obtained from the AA/EEO Office.

Faculty Positions: Hiring departments must post their vacancies to include faculty rank/job title, banner/position number, and date of availability, qualifications, search committee chair/contact person’s name and telephone number.

Intra-departmental Posting:

Hiring departments recruiting for staff positions at or above level 23 are eligible to limit the candidate pool to employees within their specific vice-presidential unit or school. Requests of this nature must be submitted and approved by the AA/EEO Office prior to beginning the interviewing process.

Interviewing Process:

Interviewing candidates is one of the most important stages in the search and selection process. Two very important things are taking place at this stage: the search committee is assessing candidates and the candidates are assessing the committee and the University. Careful planning of the interview and the departmental visit is critical to eliciting the necessary job related information.

The committee should devise a list of questions that will be asked of all candidates. A patterned interview with every candidate allows the committee to make the best comparisons, ensures that each candidate is treated fairly and minimizes unconscious biases.

Interview questions should be aimed at discovering what the candidate can bring to the position and the University. They should be limited to issues that directly relate to the job. Inquiries outside of this perimeter are unlawful and may lead to unfair and illegal biased decisions. See Interviewing Audit. (Exhibit H).

Staff positions: The hiring department administrator selects candidates and conducts the interviews. The candidates should include minorities and women. Interviews should be conducted in accordance with the interviewing guidelines provided in this guide.

Faculty positions: The hiring department chairperson or designee(s) selects candidates and conducts the interviews. The candidate should include minorities and females. Interviews should be conducted in accordance with the interviewing guidelines provided in this guide. The Dean of the school must review the qualifications of all minorities and female candidates not interviewed for Chairperson, Assistant and Associate Dean positions to ensure that the reasons for not interviewing were not discriminatory. Resumes for these individuals are to be sent to the Dean. In the event that a vacancy for a Dean’s position exists, the Senior Vice-Presidents of Academic Affairs must review the qualifications of all minority and female candidates.

Review of Applicant Pool:

Staff Positions: The Human Resources Department will review applications and resumes, and select only those candidates who meet the minimum job requirements and refer them to the hiring department who will select the applicants to be interviewed. If minorities and or females are not present in the departments or academic unit, special efforts must be made in the department’s recruitment and advertisement activities to target qualified members of these groups.

Faculty Positions: The hiring department will review the resumes and select only those candidates that meet the minimum job requirements for an interview. If minorities and or females are not present in the departments or academic unit, special efforts must be made in the department’s recruitment and advertisement activities to target qualified members of these groups.

Advertising and Recruitment:

Hiring departments recruiting for faculty positions or staff positions at or above level 23 that will have an appointment of one year or more must complete and submit an Advertising Request Form (Exhibit I), unless the AA/EEO Office has approved a waiver.

The purpose in advertising is to obtain a diversified pool of qualified candidates. The hiring departments are responsible for all aspects of advertising and recruitment. The advertising requirements include the following:

·         Broad general advertisement according to the relevant labor market area (RLA). For Faculty and academic administrative vacancies the RLA is usually national.

·         Making an assertive and good faith effort to advertise in publications, newspapers, journals or other media which specifically targets qualified minorities and or females.

·         Advertisements should be consistent with UMDNJ staff and faculty postings and should include required and preferred job requirements.

·         The hiring departments recruiting for staff or faculty positions are responsible for submitting an approved advertising request form to Human Resources

·         The hiring department is responsible for determining the type(s) of publications that will be used in the recruitment process and for ensuring the ad is placed through the Department of Human Resources.

·         Upon being notified of a vacant staff or faculty position, the AA/EEO Office will provide the hiring departments with Minority and Female recruitment sources (Exhibit J) for each vacancy presented. Hiring departments are strongly encouraged to identify additional minority and female sources and not to rely solely on the recruitment recommendations made by the AA/EEO Office.

·         Distribution of job vacancy announcements to minority and female organizations is the sole responsibility of the hiring department.

·         Advertising may not always be effective in attracting a mix of qualified applicants, therefore aggressive use of the recruitment methods is recommended. All searches must include contacting recruitment sources, which specifically targets qualified minority and female groups. These sources include minority and female professional, social and community organizations, universities and colleges. Interviews must be conduced after the advertising period to ensure the hiring department has a diverse applicant pool.

·         Advertisements must include the statement " The UMDNJ is an affirmative action/equal employment opportunity employer m/f/h/v.

·         The hiring departments should maintain copies of advertisements placed in minority and female publications or proof of insertions. This documentation can also be obtained from the department of human resources.

·         A minimum of two (2) weeks must occur between the date of publication of advertisements and the beginning of the interviewing process. This offers prospective candidates sufficient time in which to apply and to be considered vacant position.

Advertising on the Internet

Advertising on the Internet is recommended and supported by the AA/EEO Office as a supplement to printed publications. Internet advertising is an additional means to increase the applicant pool of minorities and females. In an effort to aid the hiring department in accomplishing this goal, the AA/EEO Office will supply the hiring department with websites (Exhibit K) that are appropriate for their vacancies.

Waiver of Job Posting and Advertising Requirements:

Staff Positions: Hiring departments must contact Human Resources for the procedure to follow in which to waive job posting.

Faculty Positions: Hiring departments must submit their request to waive posting requirements to the AA/EEO Office for review and approval. The request to waive posting requirements will be considered on a case-by-case basis. It should not be assumed that a request to waive the posting period once would be granted again.

Advertising Waiver Considerations:

The AA/EEO Office may waive the affirmative action advertising requirements under certain conditions. Waivers of the advertising requirements are granted for reasons of business necessity or as affirmative actions efforts. Waivers of the advertising requirements are granted on a case-by-case basis. Request to waive advertisement can be made by completing the AA/EEO diversity recruitment plan.

The request to waive advertisement must include a complete explanation of the reasons for the request, identify the position title/rank, identify the candidate and the candidate’s race and gender, provide the length and terms of the appointment and indicate how the candidate was identified.

When a waiver has been granted the Search and Selection Activity Report must still be completed and submitted to the AA/EEO Office with appropriate signatures for approval. The minority and female representation at UMDNJ constantly changes; it should not be assumed that a waiver request granted once would be granted again. See Advertising Waiver Request Procedures, (Exhibit L).