Recruitment and Selection Resources

Get acquainted with OSU’s hiring procedures and policies, or update your understanding of search protocols:

• OSU Search Committee Training: Gain access to Search Committee Training, covering essentials like Search Compliance and Fundamentals. Note that an OSU login is required for access.
• Search Advocate Program: Explore the details of OSU’s search advocate program— whether you wish to become an advocate or seek one for your upcoming search.
• Search Excellence: Equip yourself with guidelines and tools essential for navigating the intricacies of the search process from beginning to end emphasizing excellence at every stage. 
  • Search Roles: Review the roles and responsibilities for search committee members. 
• Position Development: Delve into this webpage for guidelines and tools that facilitate the creation of a well-defined position description and organizational chart. It covers crucial aspects such as classification and compensation information, appointment guidelines, and more.
• General Information: Navigate through a variety of recruitment resources encompassing OSU’s Hiring Philosophy and Principles statement, advertising strategies, criminal history checks, dual career support, dual status insights for students and employees, and an overview of state and federal employment laws.
• Online PD & Recruiting System (PeopleAdmin 7): Access the Online PD & Recruiting System through this link, accompanied by helpful guides to assist you in smoothly navigating the entire process.
• Faculty Recruitment Toolkit: Tailored for tenure-track search committees and administrators, this resource provides essential tools and guidance for successful faculty recruitment.
• Instructor Pool Guidance: Obtain insights and guidance on requesting an academic year instructor pool posting and navigating the hiring process from an instructor pool.
• Appointment Guidelines: Learn more about resources and guidelines specific to various appointments types.
• Toolkit for Inclusive Excellence in Recruitment: This toolkit provides guidance on developing position descriptions that demonstrate how the position contributes to the equity and inclusion goals of the institution, and the development of diversity, equity, and inclusion interview questions. 

Familiarize yourself with the tools made available to the search committee and search support:

• Competitive Recruitment Process Outline & Checklist: This comprehensive checklist provides detailed instructions for executing a competitive recruitment, ensuring a thorough and effective process.
  • Posting Request Form:
    • Classified & Temporary Staff Posting Request Form 
    • Academic & Professional Faculty and Public Safety Professionals Posting Request Form
  • Offer Letter Request Form:
    • ​​​​Classified & Temporary Staff Offer Letter Request Form 
    • ​​​​​​​Academic & Professional Faculty and Public Safety Professionals Offer Letter Request Form
• Interview Checklist: This comprehensive checklist provides detailed instructions for executing first-round and final-round interviews, ensuring a positive candidate experience.
• Efficient Search Tips: Use this guide for instructions on how to conduct an efficient and quick search.
• Hiring Manager and Search Chair Email Templates: Simplify your communication with pre-designed templates for various purposes, including invitations to serve as a search committee member, engagement with search advocates, and kick-off meeting details.
• Screening Criteria Matrix (docx or xlsx): This resource is essential for thorough candidate screening throughout the recruitment process. The entire search committee collaborates to develop the tool, evaluating qualifications and predicting performance. This process, conducted before advertising, ensures effectiveness, allows for refinement, and uncovers bias. Rigorous adherence to the matrix at each stage helps mitigate bias.
• Candidate Email Templates: Streamline communication with pre-designed templates covering first-round interview requests and confirmations and final interview requests and confirmations. These templates are designed to enhance efficiency and professionalism in candidate interactions.

Develop and execute an outreach strategy to attract a diverse pool of qualified applicants:

• Recruitment Advertising and Outreach Tools: Explore this collection of advertising and outreach tools designed to enhance your recruitment efforts. From strategic planning to execution, these resources are tailored to make your outreach more effective.
• Equal Opportunity in Employment tagline: We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability, protected veteran, and other protected status.
• Talent Acquisition Support: For personalized sourcing support, reach out to Claudia Hamilton via email. Claudia’s expertise can be instrumental in identifying and attracting the right talent for your needs.
• HR Strategic Partners: Your assigned HR Strategic Partner is a valuable resource for additional recruiting strategies. Feel free to contact them to explore customized approaches and solutions that align with your recruitment goals.
• Search Excellence - Recruiting: Visit this site for additional outreach suggestions, sample advertisements and additional tagline options where cost is a factor in advertising.

Resources for conducting interviews that positively promote employment opportunities at OSU:

• Veterans Preference Employment Procedures: Delve into the procedures and FAQs associated with veterans' preference in the hiring process, offering clarity and guidance for fair and inclusive recruitment practices.
• Screening Applicants: Gain insights into the initial screening process with a detailed outline complemented by examples, ensuring a thorough understanding of the procedures.
• Applicant Disposition Worksheet (ADW): This essential resource is necessary for effectively managing candidate dispositions throughout the recruitment process. The HR Recruitment Specialist will send an ADW to the search chair post the completion of the full consideration date and/or closing date.
• Interviewing: Equip yourself for interviews with a comprehensive guide covering preparation, welcome package ideas, checklists, question development, guidance on inappropriate questions, interview conduct, and tools for effective evaluation. This section serves as a holistic resource for a successful interview process.

Delve thoroughly into the candidate's history through the process of conducting reference and background checks:

• Reference Checking & More: Learn the intricacies of conducting a thorough reference check, complete with sample questions and guidelines for verifying credentials, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of candidates.
• Degree Verification: Degree Verification is the responsibility of the hiring unit.  A resource available to help streamline the verification process for credentials, including degrees, licenses, and certifications, is Degree Verify website (Link is external).
• General Background Check Information: Gain a comprehensive overview of background checks, motor vehicle history checks, and sexual misconduct reference checks, ensuring a thorough understanding of the various components involved in the vetting process.

Congratulations! You’ve selected a finalist for the position and are ready to make an offer, hire and onboard the newest addition to the team:

• Making an Offer: Present your recommendation to the hiring manager and initiate the process of requesting an offer letter, ensuring a smooth transition from candidate selection to the onboarding phase.
• Communicating to Applicants: Establish clear and considerate communication with applicants who will not be invited to interview or have not been selected to progress further in the recruitment process. Maintain transparency and professionalism throughout the communication process.
• Integrating the New Employees: Before the onboarding process, pose essential questions to yourself for seamless integration of new employees into the organization. This proactive approach ensures a well-organized and welcoming onboarding experience for the new team members.

Internal competitive searches are appropriate where OSU-specific knowledge is necessary for success in a position and where it seems probable that more than one current employee is minimally qualified. Internal competitive searches are open to all internal candidates.  They are university-wide opportunities and not unit specific.  Internal searches will rely heavily on established minimum qualifications for the position type.  Any changes to established qualifications or significant additions will require justification. For internal competitive searches please indicate you would like to recruit for a Competitive/Internal search on the appropriate Posting Request Form located under the Prepare section on this page or the A-Z list.  If you have questions, please reach out to [email protected].   

Requests for intradepartmental searches are reviewed by the Executive Director of University Human Resources (UHR) in collaboration with the assigned HRSPs.  They will evaluate the appropriateness of the search requests. Intradepartmental searches are specific to a College, Administrative Unit or Department. They are appropriate where a position will be created using existing FTE due to budgetary limitations. These searches can also be used when a large re-organization or reduction in force has taken place, and a pool of impacted employees exists. Remaining positions will be subsequently advertised for external search. Intradepartmental searches are not posted to the UHR Career website. For intradepartmental search requests please contact your HR Strategic Partner who will work with you and the Executive Director of UHR on reviewing this request. 

Targeted/focused searches are typically used for hiring executive-level and college administrative positions (director-level and above) and target a group of uniquely qualified internal candidates. The hiring unit will be required to submit a justification outlining the process they will follow to their HR Strategic Partner for review and approval/consultation. Targeted and Focused searches are not posted on the UHR Career website. For targeted and focused search requests please reach out to your HR Strategic Partner. 

Acquisitions take place when OSU takes over a contract from another employer and maintains the work.

Examples:

1. PI brings existing employees from an existing funded lab that is transferred to OSU.
2. Partner institution on a grant steps away from a contract; their employee continues their previous work on the grant but is now under OSU employment.

These waivers occur where the department or unit would not open a similar position if it were not for the availability and extraordinary unique qualifications of the appointee. These appointments should create unique opportunities that advance OSU’s mission and vision. Examples may include but are not limited to leading researchers who offer strengths that would advance the strategic needs of OSU and/or the hiring department, relocation of self-funded leaders in the field, and visiting faculty members.

The proposed appointee has been designated as a Principal Investigator (PI) in an OSU Grant.

This category is used when an employee must be placed into a position in 1 week or less, or the university will have no other way to deliver mission-critical services. These waivers are conducted in consultation with UHR.  Where an emergency hire is approved, it will almost always be on an interim basis, followed by a timely competitive recruitment.

Examples:

1. An instructor becomes unavailable one week before classes begin.  There is only one person available who is qualified to teach the course.   
2. A vessel leaves for sea in three days, and a crew member is unavailable. 

*Emergency circumstances do not include a lack of succession planning on the part of the department.
 

A dual career hire is an offer of academic faculty professorial employment (e.g., tenured, tenure-track or, on rare occasions, modified professorial categories) to the spouse/partner of a prospective OSU employee. This type of hire is considered when the proposed position would not otherwise exist but is only possible given the candidate’s unique qualifications and their ability to meet or advance a college need or opportunity. The evaluation process for the candidate must thoughtfully engage faculty and students in a substantial consideration process and may vary depending on whether the professorial role is tenured/tenure-track. Funding strategies can vary and should be addressed with the leading spouse/partner’s college and Academic Affairs, as necessary. 

There are similar situations that require a waiver that include placing a “trailing spouse” into a fixed-term faculty, and on the rare occasion administrative position. In these cases, the prospective employee for a professorial or tenured administrator position, will not accept an offer unless their spouse/partner is offered a position. These requests will be reviewed by University Human Resources (UHR) and EOA but do not require Academic Affairs approval.

Rarely a department or university wide shortfall requires employment reductions. Where possible, alternative positions may be offered to preserve employment. These requests must establish the unique qualifications of the appointee relative to others considered for position termination.  If multiple employees may be qualified, a limited internal pool may be considered in consultation with the Executive Director of UHR, the appropriate HRSPs and EOA.

Occasionally an employee struggles with a portion of their position but provides enormous value in other areas. Where there are options for reassignment of duties that benefit both the department and the individual, a reclassification into a lower-level position to allow the individual to continue to serve OSU with their strengths may be considered. This situation should be evaluated and assessed by the Executive Director of UHR.

If an employee is unable to perform the duties of their position due to disability and it is determined that they could reasonably perform the duties of another available position, a waiver of competitive search or a reclassification may be considered. While this review will be conducted by UHR, EOA must be consulted.