Recruitment and Selection for College Positions

Purpose:

To set forth procedures to be used in the recruitment and selection of employees by the college, to increase college-wide effectiveness of the recruitment and selection process, to create uniformity in the selection practices, and to ensure compliance with all applicable federal and state regulations regarding matters of employment. The procedures for implementation of this policy are provided below.

Procedure and/or Process Definitions:

Applicant: an individual who has filed an application for a vacant or new position.

Application review date: : the initial date that applications will be considered, when the open-untilfilled recruitment option is used.

Candidate: an applicant who has been screened and invited for an interview.

Classified positions: full-time staff positions governed by the Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) and the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and which are covered by the Virginia Personnel Act.

Closing date: the end of a fixed recruitment period.

Committee chair: a person chosen to head a screening and/or interviewing committee.

Continuous recruitment: a recruitment strategy that allows the agency to receive and consider applications on an ongoing basis for those positions for which vacancies constantly exist or frequently recur.

Employment discrimination: the act of screening out, creating employment barriers, or denying employment or employment opportunities to an individual or group of individuals for non-merit reasons.

Hiring manager: the budget manager in an organizational unit.

Screening/Interviewing/selection committee: a group of persons appointed for the purpose of screening, interviewing, and recommending candidates for employment consideration.

Procedures:

1. Classified staff vacant positions

   1. In accordance with the Department of Human Resource Management’s (DHRM) policies and procedures, when a vacancy occurs, the Office of Human Resources will review the status of former college employees who may be eligible for recall due to layoff or current employees who may be eligible for reinstatement due to certain types of leaves of absence. The Office of Human Resources will advise the hiring manager of this review in order to determine the next appropriate course of action.

   2. Positions requiring posting must be submitted to Human Resources via the Position Request Form. Upon timely receipt of this form, Human Resources will initiate the appropriate advertising options.

   3. Upon approval to fill a new or vacant classified position, the Office of Human Resources and the hiring manager will discuss recruitment options. Based on these discussions, the Office of Human Resources will develop the job announcement from the current Employee Work Profile (EWP).

   4. Positions may be filled without posting in the following instances:

      1. inter-agency (within Reynolds) transfers and demotions in lieu of termination or layoff,
      2. management-initiated voluntary transfers and voluntary demotions,
      3. employee-initiated voluntary transfer and voluntary demotions (within the same work unit with no change in supervisor), and
      4. when the same type of position (with the same role/duties) becomes vacant within ninety (90) calendar days of the closing date of the announcement.

   5. Job announcements may be limited to Reynolds current employees. The decision to limit the opening should be made in consideration of the college’s diversity objectives, availability of qualified applicants, and other factors determined to be consistent with the college’s and the Commonwealth’s policies.

   6. The hiring manager and the Office of Human Resources may elect to seek qualified applicants from the general public, and Reynolds college community. If this option is chosen, the job announcement will be listed in the VCCS Applicant Tracking System (ATS) as “General Public”, the normal recruitment period for classified vacancies is generally ten (10) working days.

   7. In accordance to DHRM Policy 1.30, Layoff, the Office of Human Resources will review each applicant pool for determination of eligible candidates with preferential employment rights. If the applicant pool consists of one or more state employees holding a “yellow card” or a “blue card” (preferential hiring consideration) the recruitment coordinator will confer with the hiring manager for further handling of the recruitment effort.

2. Prior to the closing date

   1. Prior to the closing date, the hiring manager will review and select one of the following screening options:

      1. Human Resources will conduct a complete screening of all applications and forward the applications of the highly-qualified applicants for interview.

      2. Human Resources, along with a representative from the department, will conduct a complete screening of all applications concurrently to determine the highly-qualified applicants for interview.

      3. Human Resources will forward all applications to the selection committee for screening by the entire committee.

      The selected screening option will be communicated by email to the recruitment coordinator.

   2. Interviews may be conducted for positions in Pay Bands 1–3, by the hiring manager, designee, or an interview committee. If interviews will be conducted by a single individual, the use of a silent observer is strongly encouraged. Interviews for positions in Pay Bands 4 and above must be conducted by committee. Prior to the closing date, the hiring manager will inform the recruitment coordinator of the selected interview option via email.

   3. If the interview committee option is used, the hiring manager will name the committee and committee chair. The names of the selected committee members will be communicated to the recruitment coordinator via email. Other criteria for the committee composition are as follows:

      1. The committee must consist of a minimum of three (3) persons.

      2. One (1) individual must be from another area or department (can include non-Reynolds employees).

      3. Each person on the committee must be within the same pay band or in a higher pay band than the vacant position (exception allowed for special expertise in the field).

      4. Each committee must have a diverse representation of Reynolds employees who reflect the college community.

3. Committee tasks

   1. Prior to the closing date of the vacant position, the hiring manager and/or the committee chair will provide the recruitment coordinator with a listing of the interview questions. The hiring manager and/or the committee chair may add a demonstration of ability to the selection process (i.e., skills assessment, writing sample, presentation, portfolios of work, etc.). If a demonstration of ability is added, a copy of the demonstration and the evaluation/rating method must be provided to the Office of Human Resources.

   2. Within five (5) workdays after the vacant position’s closing date, the college’s recruitment coordinator will:

      1. review interview questions (and demonstration of ability, if appropriate) for fairness and equity;

      2. conduct a full screening of all of the applications received by the closing date using the qualifications and veteran status and forward the list of applicants to be interviewed to the hiring manager. Those whose total scores are the highest will be invited for interview; or,

      3. Recruitment coordinator will provide all applicants to the screening committee for full screening, or,

      4. Recruitment coordinator will work with the departmental representative on conducting the screening concurrently and then comparing the scores to determine those highly qualified for interview.

   3. If there is lack of qualified applicants, the recruitment coordinator will confer with the hiring manager to determine the need for additional recruitment efforts.

4. The interview process

   1. Upon receipt or determination of the list of candidates to be interviewed, the hiring manager or committee chair will determine the interview schedule with the committee, contact the applicants for interview, and review the following documents, which will be provided by Human Resources:

      1. Listing of interviewees/applicants

      2. Reynolds ADA General Information (chair to sign)

      3. Reynolds EEO Statement for Search and Screening Committees (chair to sign)

      4. Copy of the EWP and/or the position announcement

      5. Interview questions

      6. Demonstration of ability and rating determination (if applicable)

      7. Selection Committee Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Agreement (each committee member will sign)

   2. The college is not required to offer an alternative interview date/time if an applicant is unable to select from the initial interview dates/times offered. The hiring manager, designee, or committee chair is required to make two (2) attempts to contact the applicant for an interview; including phone and email.

   3. Interviews may be conducted in-person or virtually (i.e., Zoom) or a combination for first- and second-round interviews.

   4. The hiring manager, designee, or interview committee will conduct the interviews for the invited candidates using the interview questions and applicant demonstration of ability (if applicable) provided by HR with the interview package. The hiring manager, if not a committee member, may elect to sit in on the initial interviews as a silent observer. Additionally, the committee chair will:

      1. conduct each interview within the same amount of time;

      2. give a brief overview of the college and the position;

      3. use the same list of questions to interview each applicant;

      4. provide each applicant with the same opportunity to conduct a demonstration of ability (if applicable)

      5. give each candidate the opportunity to ask questions of the committee; and,

      6. review candidate’s state application for unusual patterns, i.e., lapses in employment, reason for leaving, incomplete information, and then ask any follow-up questions of the candidate as needed.

   5. Each interviewer or committee member will record notes on the candidate’s interview responses on the Reynolds Interview Question Sheet, and indicate the overall interview rating score on the Reynolds Interview Question Sheet for each candidate.

   6. Based on the outcome of the submitted application materials, interview, and applicant demonstration (if applicable), the hiring manager, designee, or committee chair (with input from the committee members) recommends the name(s) of the top candidate(s) for further consideration to the hiring manager/next level manager.

   7. The names are forwarded to the hiring manager via email or memorandum, in ranked order, listing the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate interviewed. At a minimum, the summary must include the following:

      1. names of interview committee members;

      2. description of the screening process utilized;

      3. number of applicants interviewed and dates of interviews; and

      4. strengths and weaknesses of each candidate interviewed.

   8. After the recommendations are made, the next level manager / Executive Cabinet Member may conduct second interviews, or approve the top candidate for hire.

   9. Telephone references may be conducted by the hiring manager, or designee, using the Telephone Reference Check Form (Classified). The timing that the references are conducted is at the discretion of the hiring manager, these can be done prior to recommending the top candidate(s), or at the conclusion of the second interviews and may be conducted on the top candidate only or on all top candidates being considered. It is preferred that at least two (2) former supervisory checks be made for each candidate. If two (2) supervisory references are unattainable, at least one (1) former supervisory reference and one (1) character reference should be obtained.

   10. Once the final selection is made, the hiring manager should communicate this to the Office of Human Resources by email/memorandum and ensure that all documents related to the search are uploaded to the committee’s SharePoint site or provided as hard-copy to the college’s recruitment coordinator.

   11. The Office of Human Resources will create the salary offer email for the hiring manager/executive cabinet member consideration. The hiring manager extends the job offer to the selected candidate and determines the new employee’s starting date.

   12. The hiring manager sends the confirmation of acceptance of the job offer, starting salary, and first day of employment to the recruitment coordinator via email. The Office of Human Resources will begin the onboarding process immediately.

Other Information:

Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) Policy No. 2.10, Hiring

VCCS Policy Section 3.03, Recruitment and Selection

Reynolds Policy No. 3-01, Recruitment and Selection for College Positions

Reynolds Policy No. 3-11, Reasonable Accommodation

Reynolds Policy No. 3-25, Equal Employment Opportunity and Nondiscrimination

Reynolds Policy No. 3-39, Employment Background Screening

Reynolds Demonstration Topic and Rating Sheet

Reynolds Interview Question Sheet

Reynolds Search Committee Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Agreement

Reynolds Telephone Reference Check Form (Classified)