UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

GUIDELINES FOR RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
OF FACULTY MEMBERS

Overview
Policy
Process
      Advertising the position
      Establishing Applicant Pool
      Reviewing Applications and Identification of Semifinalists
      Consideration of Semifinalists and Identification of Finalists
      Interviewing Finalists and Selecting the Best Qualified
      Offering the Job and Providing Notification


AUTHORITY: CM-M-17.00-03/99
The university president or designee determines which positions have special advertising requirements designed to increase the representation of women and minorities in the University's faculty positions and to meet the goals identified in the USF Equity Accountability Plan. The university president or designee may waive the announcement of a position when a waiver is in the best interest of the university.

I. OVERVIEW
Search and Recruitment Processes must conform to these Guidelines and to those issued by individual organizational units. In case of conflict between these Guidelines and those issued by organizational units, these Guidelines must be followed pending resolution of the conflict.

These Guidelines summarize the minimum Equal Employment Opportunity requirements pertaining to the recruitment and selection of faculty members.

II. POLICY
The University is committed to the principles of equal educational and employment opportunities for individuals who are similarly situated without regard to race, color, marital status, sex, religion, national origin, disability or age. Furthermore, the University recognizes the importance of a culturally diverse faculty to its mission and quest for institutional excellence. The University is also committed to the employment and advancement of qualified veterans of the Vietnam era with disabilities. The University provides reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities.

Heads of hiring departments/units will ensure that all recruitment and selection activities comply with Rule 6C-5.900 FAC and CM 17.00-03/99 of the Board of Regents; and rules, policies and procedures of the University; UFF/BOR Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 8 (whenever applicable); as well as applicable federal, state and local regulations (e.g., Exhibit #1). Heads of hiring departments/units will ensure that good faith efforts are made to generate applicant pools that are diverse in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. The roles and responsibilities of the Provost and Vice Presidents, Human Resources (HR), the Office of Equal Opportunity Affairs (EOA), Heads of hiring departments/units, Unit Equal Opportunity Liaisons (EOLs), and Screening/Search Committees are described in Exhibit #2.


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III. THE PROCESS

A. Preparing for Recruitment

1. The head of the hiring unit will obtain approval of the appropriate authority to recruit for the position.

2. The head of the hiring unit will establish a Search Committee, if one is required or voluntarily utilized for the position recruited, and charge the Committee. A Search Committee is required for all faculty positions at the rank of Instructor/Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor and comparable positions. Search Committees may be established for other faculty classifications by the Hiring Authority. She/he must ensure that the Search Committee is as diverse as is reasonably possible in terms of race/ethnicity and gender.

3. A Search Plan must be approved for all faculty recruitments (See Exhibit #3). The Office of Equal Opportunity Affairs delegates this authority to the Provost/Vice Presidents. Units operating under delegated authority must ensure compliance with search procedures. The Office of Equal Opportunity Affairs shall periodically monitor this process for quality assurance purposes and serve in an advisory capacity.

4. If a search committee is utilized, the Chair of the Committee or hiring authority will give appropriate notice of meetings and will ensure compliance with the Sunshine Law and Public Records Law of Florida (Exhibit #4).

5. The Committee or hiring authority will ensure that the job description (if applicable) is current and reflects the duties and responsibilities of the position.

6. The Committee, or hiring authority, will develop specialized minimum and preferred qualifications for the job, based upon the requirements reflected on the SUS General Faculty Class Specification for the Class or rank and described in the job description (if applicable). Substitutions for minimum qualifications must be advertised. Consideration of ABDs must be advertised in accordance with the standards stipulated by Academic Affairs and the Health Sciences.

7. All search committee chairs and the heads of units in which recruitments are taking place must attend a training session(s) on search procedures.

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B. Advertising the Position
All vacant positions must be advertised unless exempted as specified in this Section.

1. The following circumstances do not represent bona fide position vacancies and no advertising is required:

a) Academic rank promotions

b) Internal rotation, e.g., a faculty member is elected/designated to serve as chairperson/associate chairperson consistent with the provisions for rotation/selection.

c) The reassignment of a faculty member to a different position.

d) The reclassification of a filled faculty position.

e) A change of funding to/from a contract, grant, auxiliary funded position with no change in duties, responsibilities, or classification if the incumbent was hired according to these Guidelines.

2. The following vacant positions are exempt from advertising requirements:

a) Positions funded from contracts or grants if (i) the principal investigator and other proposed incumbents are specifically identified by name in the contract/grant, or (ii) an incumbent is placed in a grant or contract funded position and similar essential duties are to be performed.

b) Positions to be filled by persons who have been laid off and who have recall rights under the rules or bargaining agreement.

c) Positions of 0.5 or less FTE.

d) Other Personnel Services (OPS) positions.

e) Positions to be filled by employees who completed in good standing a university educational leave program.

f) Positions to be filled in settlement of litigation, grievance or arbitration.

3. The following positions are exempt from advertising, if the hiring unit does not have under-utilization of women and minorities in the job group in which the vacancies occur.

a) Positions to be filled as visiting appointments for up to one year.

b) Positions funded from newly established or newly expanded contract/grant, if proposed incumbents are not specifically identified by name in the contract/grant.

c) Positions to be filled from applicant pools generated by advertisements of other positions reflecting the same qualifications for the positions to be filled, if the selection occurs within the last four months following the close of the search which generated the pool.

4. Positions that are not exempted as described above in 1,2, and 3 must be advertised as described below.

a) Full-time regular, research, joint, affiliate or clinical faculty positions at the rank of Instructor/Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor and comparable positions must be advertised in national mainstream publications. Advertising must also be placed in women/minority oriented recruitment sources and media. This requirement will be satisfied by the University ad in the referenced media which refers potential applicants to the USF Position Vacancy Listing (see EOA Manual of Media and Recruitment Resources) http://usfweb.usf.edu/eoa/home-page/rec1sour.htm

b) Other faculty positions must be advertised in state mainstream publications. Advertising must also be placed in women/minority oriented recruitment sources and media. This requirement will be satisfied by the University ad in the referenced media which refers potential applicants to the USF Position Vacancy Listing (see EOA Manual of Media and Recruitment Resources) in http://usfweb.usf.edu/eoa/home-page/rec1sour.htm

c) All faculty positions that are required to be advertised must be placed on the USF Position Vacancy Listing for a minimum of 14 calendar days.

5. Units may conduct "Continuous Advertisement" for contract/grant funded positions. A "Continuous Advertisement" is to be used to create a pool of qualified applicants from which future position vacancies will be filled. Accordingly, positions may be advertised as anticipated vacancies for which applications are accepted on a continuous basis. Positions advertised under "Continuous Advertisement" will be processed in accordance with these Guidelines.

Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications will be so informed and their applications will be maintained in an open pool for a maximum period of one year. Applicants will be informed that they may update their applications at any time during the year, and must reapply every 12 months if they wish to be retained in the open pool. Applicants may reapply for a "Continuous Advertisement" at any time.

When position vacancies occur, all applications that are in the open pool will be reviewed including all applications received by the units as of the date of the first meeting of the search committee.

6. The President or designee (the Office of Equal Opportunity Affairs) may waive the announcement of a position when a waiver (Exhibit #5) is in the best interest of the university (e.g., budgetary and/or time constraints, hard to fill positions, potential contribution of candidate's skills/abilities/knowledge/experiences to achievement of the mission or the Equity Accountability goals of the university, etc.).

7. The Hiring Authority or the Search Committee, if one is utilized, will prepare and submit the University Position Vacancy Announcement (Exhibit #6) to the Provost/Vice President or designee as part of the required Search Plan. Upon approval, Human Resources or designee will enter the advertisement into the University Vacancy Listing System. The Committee or hiring Authority, as appropriate, will be responsible for placing the approved advertisements as designated in section B.4 above.

8. Deadline for application, salary, Full Time Equivalency, required and preferred qualifications and tenure earning status must be consistent in the University Vacancy Listing System and in paid advertisements.

9. If the deadline for application, the salary, the Full Time Equivalency, tenure earning status, or a required or preferred qualification is subsequently modified, the Chair/Director will resubmit the PVA and draft advertisement for approval and re-advertisement (Exhibit #6). The position must be re-advertised in the same listings and media as the original advertisement noting the change in requirements and new deadline date; further, it must be posted again in the University Position Vacancy Listing for at least seven calendar days.

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C. Establishing the Applicant Pool

1. If there is a published deadline, only applications received by the published deadline will be accepted.

2. Upon receipt of applications, the hiring department will mail the Affirmative Action Data Form (AAD Form) (Exhibit #7) to all applicants. AAD Forms must be mailed with a postage-paid return envelope, addressed to an Equal Opportunity Liaison or his/her designee. Applicants will be asked to return the form within seven calendar days.

3. The Equal Opportunity Liaison or his/her designee will extract from the AAD Forms and enter the required information on the Applicant Data Summary Form (Exhibit #8).

4. The hiring department will log the applications and type the names of all applicants on the Recruitment Worksheet (Exhibit #9).

5. The Equal Opportunity Liaison or his/her designee will assess the acceptability of the applicant pool and certify the pool acceptable when:

a) there is evidence that the advertisements listed in the approved Search Plan were placed; or when:

b) there is evidence that the pool is "representative". A pool is "representative" when representation of members of the protected classes, among qualified applicants who have returned the AAD Form, is not less than their representation in the relevant labor market (i.e., a pool of 100 applicants for a position for which representation of women in the relevant labor market is 38% is representative if there are 38 women in the pool).

6. If the pool is not acceptable, via the provisions of Section C 5, the position must be re-advertised unless continuation of the search is approved by the Office of Equal Opportunity Affairs.

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D. Reviewing of Applications and Identification of Semi-Finalists

1. If the pool is acceptable, the Recruitment Worksheet (Exhibit #9) and the applications will be forwarded to the Search Committee or other reviewers.

NOTE: Information obtained from the AAD Form (race, gender, ethnicity, etc.) should not be forwarded to the Committee or other reviewers.

2. The applications will be reviewed in light of the selection criteria listed in the vacancy announcement.

3. An evaluation system will be utilized to eliminate those applicants who do not meet the minimum advertised requirements and to select the semi-finalists who shall receive further consideration. The evaluation system for selecting semi-finalists may be qualitative, quantitative, or any variation or combination of both.

NOTE: Personal/professional references may be considered by the search committee only from individuals identified by the candidates or where permission is given to contact non-specified references.

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E. Consideration of Semi-Finalists and Identification of Finalists

1. Additional selection devices (results of employment verifications, telephone interviews, performance evaluations, analysis of official transcripts, in-basket exercises, etc.) will be used to evaluate semi-finalists and identify finalists for further consideration.

2. A list of recommended finalists shall be forwarded to the hiring authority along with the completed Recruitment Worksheet.

3. All finalists must complete the Faculty Certification of Employability Form prior to interviews.

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F. Interviewing Finalists and Selecting the Best Qualified

1. The hiring authority shall consider the recommended finalists. However, if a Search Committee is utilized, the hiring authority may request that the committee reconsider its recommendations and submit other candidates for consideration. The hiring authority may, for cause, cancel the search and re-advertise the position.

2. The Hiring authority shall interview all of the finalists, and involve other appropriate individuals and/or groups in the process. The hiring authority shall select the applicant who best meets the needs of the University and record the reason(s) for his/her decision on the Recruitment Worksheet (Exhibit #9).

3. The Hiring Unit will complete the Hiring Report (Exhibit #10) and forward it with the Recruitment Worksheet to the Equal Opportunity Liaison with the applications/credentials of the finalists.

4. The Provost/Vice President or designee shall review the search and selection process for compliance with the Recruitment and Selection Guidelines, and recommend corrective actions whenever appropriate.

5. The Provost/Vice President or designee shall notify the hiring authority, in writing, and the hiring unit of his/her approval of the Hiring Report.

6. A copy of the approved Hiring Report will be forwarded to the Office of Equal Opportunity Affairs for retention, monitoring and reporting.

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G. Offering the Job and Providing Notification

1. Upon receipt of the Hiring Report (Exhibit #10) the hiring unit will submit required documents to the Office of the Provost/Vice President for approval of a Letter of Offer.

2. Upon acceptance of the offer by the selected applicant, all other applicants will be notified of the results of the search.

Effective Date: September 29, 1999.

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