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Chapter 7: Faculty Hiring Procedures for Chairs
Hiring Requests for New Full-Time, Term Positions or Tenure-Track Replacements Positions
Requests for all tenure track and full-time term hires must be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by June 1 for searches to take place during the following academic year. Chairs must make the case for a tenure track position based on analysis of pertinent data, such as the department's number of major/minor affiliates, number of graduates, curricular pressures on enrollment, changes in the workload of existing faculty, and curricular directions suggested by the strategic priorities of the colleges or the department's most recent program review.
Authorization to Hire
The vice provost, academic dean and the associate dean will review the staffing requests and make a recommendation to the provost in light of the information submitted by the chairs. New positions, especially new tenure-track positions, are rare. The provost will authorize a position only when adequate funds are available for the position and when the position is consistent with larger institutional needs and priorities. Once a hire has been approved, the Chair can begin the requisite paperwork involved in the recruitment process with the Human Resource Office. Departments will be informed of the provost's decision no later than August 15th.
Elements of the Recruitment Process
Tenure track positions require a national search, and thus all of the procedures below are to be followed. (National searches are encouraged for one-year term or sabbatical replacement searches, but not required. However, the other procedures noted below are to be followed.)
Chair Checklist
The Human Resource website includes a chair recruitment checklist which should be used for every search. In addition, a recruitment and hiring workshop is conducted at the start of every fall semester by the HR Office and vice provost. It is expected that representatives (e.g., chair, department coordinator, chair of the search committee) from departments who have received permission to hire will attend this workshop.
CSB vs SJU Contract
The decision of whether a contract will be a CSB contract or an SJU contract is made by Academic Affairs in consultation with HR. The decision will be based on maintaining a CSB/SJU faculty balance within each department and other institutional priorities.
Position Description and Recruitment Authorization
If you are planning on submitting a request, please note you will need to use the electronic approval process and applicant tracking system. You may contact Marlene Ergen in Human Resources (ext. 3128 or ext. 5282) if you need assistance with this process. (https://employment.csbsju.edu/userfiles/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1304099835505) The vice provost with the assistance of the Human Resources office, will review the description for accuracy, consistency with CSB/SJU goals, appropriateness of language, and related issues. The provost gives final approval for all position descriptions.
In addition, chairs are asked to address the office location of the position they are seeking, indicating what departmental office space is available for the position.
Position Ad
Position ads will be created by the chair, in consultation with other members of that department or others as appropriate, and reviewed and approved by the vice provost and the Human Resource Office before being submitted for publication. Every effort will be made to place the ad in media the department deems appropriate, but budget considerations may limit the number of journals used or the number of times an ad appears. All ads will request a letter of application, a statement of teaching philosophy, three letters of recommendation, CV and official transcripts and other materials as applicable.
A Note on Diversity
The College of St. Benedict and St. John's University are equal opportunity, affirmative action employers. It is imperative that departments make a good faith effort to diversify the candidate pool, and it will be the vice provost's responsibility to certify that effort. Please note that if a pool of candidates does not display adequate diversity, the appropriate action by the vice provost may be to continue the search until adequate diversity is achieved or to declare a failed search.
Handling the Candidate Pool
The Human Resources Office is responsible for the processing of candidate information and credentials. As applications are received, the Human Resource Office will acknowledge receipt by letter to the candidates. Candidates will be sent a voluntary Affirmative Action Data Reporting Form as part of our Affirmative Action Reporting/Data Collection process. Applications and credentials will be logged and available for review by the search committee. The search committee should periodically obtain application materials from the Human Resources Office while the search is open.
After application materials are in the possession of the search committee, the Search Chair is responsible for the care and security of the documents until they are no longer needed and are returned to the Human Resources Office.
Telephone Interviews
After a review of applicant files the department conducts phone interviews of the top five candidates. Telephone interviews can be replaced with an interview at a national conference. Guidelines for telephone (or conference) interviewing include the following:
• write down questions in advance;
• ask questions that will reveal the professional expertise of the candidate;
• use the same questions for each candidate;
• ask "leading" questions that will draw out a candidate rather than "yes and no" questions;
• remind committee members to introduce themselves to the candidate to personalize the search process.
• avoid asking questions that are not job relevant (e.g., family status)
The top five candidates are ranked in order of candidate preference after the telephone interviews.
Reference Calls
Reference calls must be conducted before any candidate is invited to campus. Ordinarily, this would mean conducting reference calls for the top two candidates. It is a good idea to verify the existence/position of the reference, for example by checking the web site of the college/university of the reference and calling a general phone number of the institution to request to speak to the reference, rather than using the phone number provided in the reference letter.
Generally, references should be asked questions like the following: What is your position? In what capacity and how long have you known the candidate? At CSB/SJU, faculty are evaluated in several areas (teaching effectiveness, scholarship and creative work, service to the institution, community, etc.), please provide your assessment of the candidate's strengths or professional development needs in each of these areas. Can you give me some examples of how you form your assessment of this person's potential as a teacher/scholar?
If the outcome of a reference call is unsatisfactory, the ranking of the top five should be adjusted, and reference calls will be completed for the top two candidates.
After phone interviews and reference checks, departments should forward their recommendation of the two candidates to invite for on-campus interviews, along with the complete files of the top five candidates to the vice provost. The vice provost reviews the files and gives approval to extend an invitation for on-campus interviews for two candidates. Advance notice to the Academic Affairs office before submitting these files will help ensure a prompt response from the vice provost.
The Chair should inform the Human Resources office of candidates who are no longer under consideration. They will send a letter to inform them of their status.
Departments should follow similar procedures as described above for internal candidates.
Campus Interviews
Ordinarily, two candidates are brought to campus to interview for a position. All candidates must be interviewed by the vice provost. Candidates selected for campus interviews will be required to complete an employment application form.
The Chair or department secretary should schedule interviews and help make appropriate transportation arrangements and work with the Academic Affairs Office to coordinate the interview schedule with the vice provost.
Procedures for interviews, meals, lodging, and airfare are as follows:
Airfare
Advanced planning can save a great deal of money on air fares. When making airline reservations, check dates for a savings in the air fare and check an assortment of flight times and options. Airfares of over $500 must be approved by Academic Affairs.
Housing
Unless unavailable, on-campus housing should be reserved for candidates. At SJU, candidates may stay at the Abbey Guesthouse. At CSB, there is a guest apartment available as well as a monastery guesthouse. If on-campus housing is not available, candidates should stay at a moderately priced local motel.
Meals
When possible, meals should be eaten on campus. Meal tickets can be obtained from the Academic Affairs office for the candidate. Lunch is a good time for candidates to meet with students. Departments may also reserve a meeting room and order a meal from dining service. Meals are part of the interview process and should be conducted as such. When off campus meals are necessary, only moderately priced meals should be considered; in order to facilitate the conversation needed for an effective interview, should ordinarily include only 1-2 departmental faculty. Requests for reimbursement should include a completed check request form, itemized receipts and the names of people attending the meal. Reimbursements in excess of these guidelines will not be honored. Check request forms should be submitted to the Academic Affairs office.
Last Steps
In preparation for the on campus interviews, the Chair may secure Candidate Evaluation Forms from the Human Resources Office or use one prepared by the committee for its written review. These forms must be returned to the Human Resources Office for the recruitment file.
After the on-campus interview process, the department makes its recommendation for hire to the vice provost. The recommendation should include an explanation of the reasons for the decision. In the case that the two top candidates are essentially equivalent, the more diverse candidate for the department is expected to be recommended.
Ordinarily, an on-campus interview should include both a scholarly and teaching presentation. Students should participate in one or both presentations and their feedback should be obtained after the presentation. In addition, the department faculty, and faculty from other departments as applicable, should be invited to the presentation.
Job Offer
The vice provost will review the departmental recommendation with the provost, who approves the hire. The vice provost will contact the candidate and make the job offer. All negotiation with a candidate is done by the vice provost. Once the department has recommended a candidate, the department must separate themselves from the process until the negotiations are completed. When a candidate accepts a position, the vice provost will inform the Chair. The vice provost's office will prepare the necessary Pre-Contract Data Form which is sent to the Human Resources Office for issuance of the contract. No contract will be issued until an official transcript is received. (Candidates can be asked to provide official transcripts at the time of the on-campus interview to speed up this process.)
Post-hire
The Chair returns all application materials and evaluation forms (including those for the individual hired) to the Human Resources Office so that files may be closed and all materials placed in storage. Once the Human Resources Office has received the candidate's complete file including official transcripts (not copies) they will send a contract to the candidate with information confirming benefits and a link to the faculty handbook. The Chair should notify other finalists that the position has been filled or request that the Human Resources Office does so.
The Chair should remain in contact with the new hire to provide assistance during the transition and work internally with Academic Affairs and the HR Office regarding such things as office space, teaching schedule, identification cards, etc.
Last updated: November 4, 2011