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UNM is dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities in all areas of occupation without regard to age, ancestry, color, mental or physical disability, gender, serious medical condition, national origin, race, religion, sexual identity, sexual orientation, spousal affiliation, or veteran status, according to state, and federal laws.
Prior to beginning the recruitment process within your department, conduct a review of the position needs, current staffing structure, budget/funding, qualifications, and requirements, etc. It is also recommended that you review UAP 3210: Recruitment and Hiring to familiarize yourself with University Administrative Policy for staff recruitment.
After evaluating your position needs, it will be important to identify the appropriate position classification description based on the duties to be performed. Some classifications require HR Compensation approval prior to posting. If you are not certain on what classification to use or have questions, HR Compensation can provide guidance. Visit Classifications Requiring HR Compensation Approval Prior to Use for more information and to request assistance with the submission process.
Once you’ve evaluated the position needs and properly classified the position, the following topics will help guide you through the remainder of the recruitment process.
Review UAP 3210: Recruitment and Hiring, section 4. Tier I and Tier II Recruitment and Hiring. This section identifies recruitment and advertising requirements.
Review UAP 3200: Employee Classification, which outlines the various types of classification. As a helpful tool, an employee classification table has been provided below.
Information you will need to collect for your recruitment process includes:
The purpose of a Search Committee is to ensure that the search process is fair and equitable to all applicants and promotes the recruitment and selection of the best qualified applicant. Search committees should be comprised of at least three (3) members and include at least one female and one under-represented minority, which cannot be the same person (see UAP 3210: Recruitment and Hiring).
Search committee processes should be standardized and search committee members should remain consistent throughout the process and serve with an understanding that recruitment, screening applications, interviewing applicants, and conducting reference checks is confidential. Applicant information should not be released by departments. Public records requests should be referred to the UNM Custodian of Public Records.
Resources/Tools:
Requisitions to post vacant positions are submitted through UNMJobs at https://unmjobs.unm.edu/ and clicking on the turquoise log in box at the top of the page. Or you can log in to my.unm.edu and click on UNMJobs on the right-hand side underneath UNM Business Applications/Transaction and Real-time Query Systems. UNMJobs navigation steps, information, and required documents can be found at Creating a Staff Requisition – Staff. Prior to beginning your requisition, we recommend that you review the navigation steps and gather the information that will be needed to complete the action.
The posting period is from the date the position is initially posted to your “For Best Consideration Date.” The posting period should allow enough time for your target audience to consider the position and apply if interested. As a standard, this period should include at least one weekend, and may not be less than five (5) business days. However, underutilized positions may require different posting times. Please refer to Creating a Staff Requisition – Staff, see “Duration of Posting” in the Details Section. For positions that are more difficult to recruit, it is recommended that the posting period be long enough to allow sufficient time to place multiple external media source advertisements.
Serving as the state’s premier institution of higher learning and provider of health care, UNM is dedicated to the peoples and places of New Mexico. Advertising beyond the UNMJobs posting site is strongly encouraged and should target New Mexico residents as well as other audiences with a goal of obtaining a diverse and qualified applicant pool.
Most postings with online media sources will be for 30 days, so consider this when establishing your posting period. There is no specific advertising requirement; however, your goal should be to make a good faith effort in obtaining a qualified applicant pool by placing advertisements in media sources that target applicants with the knowledge, skills, and abilities for your position.
Our Recruitment and Staffing team is happy to assist in the placement of your advertisements. You can request these services by completing the UNM HR Recruitment and Staffing Services Request Form and selecting “Advertising Services” from the Services options. In utilizing Advertising Services, a 25% service fee is applied to the requested site(s) standard costs along with any additional applicable posting fees. There are a number of advertising options which UNM provides to departments at no cost or low cost, and these are available UNM HR Recruitment and Staffing Services Request Form. However, there may be other external advertising options you may wish to consider at the department level. Advertising options include, but are not limited to:
Please note the following deadlines for printed advertisement requests:
Applicants are required to apply online for University vacancies unless an external consulting firm is utilized. The search committee must evaluate and screen applicants to identify those that meet the posted minimum and preferred qualifications. Review and screening of the applicants can begin while the posting is open, however, interviews, references checks, or any other contact with the applicant must not occur before the posting close date or the For Best Consideration date. All applicants who applied before this date should be considered.
A chart or matrix may be devised listing all applicants and listing job related criteria needed to successfully perform the position, such as experience, education, key skills, knowledge, abilities, and other job-related preferences, etc. The criteria are developed from the posting announcement and job description. This approach helps the committee organize and display the pertinent information in identifying applicants for interview.
Under the Veteran Hiring Preference program, qualified veterans who elect to participate in the program will be granted a minimum of an initial interview for all regular staff positions, excluding contract staff classifications, for which they have applied. For instructions, see Veteran Hiring Preference Program.
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Advanced preparation of interview questions provides a uniform basis for evaluating applicants. Prepare open-ended questions that will assist in evaluating the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for a new employee to be successful on the job. Inappropriate questions that relate to an applicant’s personal life or protected class status cannot be asked. The interview questions must remain consistent throughout the process.
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Search Committees may conduct interviews after the For Best Consideration date of the posting. Telephone interviews and/or face-to-face interviews provide viable information about the applicant’s knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job. As a standard practice, it is recommended that interviews be conducted in a consistent setting. The interview will also provide valuable information to the applicant about the department, university/branch campus, and the local area. In structured interviews, the same questions are asked of each applicant. Responses to each question should be documented for further evaluation of the applicants. Generally, a minimum of three (3) qualified applicants are interviewed.
Interviews will be conducted by the members of the Search Committee. The interview gives you an opportunity to further evaluate the applicant’s job-related knowledge, skills, and abilities. This interview also provides the ability to gather additional information about critical points on the application or to resolve any inconsistencies or contradictions that were noted.
It is good practice to notify your finalists of your intent to conduct reference checks. Search Committees can minimize the risk of hiring an employee who will not be able to succeed in the new job by contacting previous supervisors to ask about job performance. Contacting references provided by the applicant is an essential step in cross-referencing information received. You should only conduct reference checks on finalists for the position. Many companies will only confirm employment dates and positions held.
For internal applicants, you are encouraged to review the applicants HR personnel file. To schedule an appointment to review a personnel file, email the HR Service Center at hrfiles@unm.edu. Be sure to include the applicant’s name and Banner ID number.
References will often feel more comfortable confirming information provided rather than being asked a general question about job performance. If you are unable to obtain sufficient references, the next step would be to contact the applicant and let him/her know that without references, you cannot pursue his/her candidacy further.
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Now that you have completed the screening processes for your candidates, it is time to determine the successful candidate. When qualifications, abilities, and past performance of candidates are substantially equal, the hiring official must consider the following criteria:
Salary decisions for new hires, rehires or promotional opportunities are part of UNM’s larger workforce planning strategy. An appropriate starting salary can attract the candidate that is best suited for the needs of the unit while balancing salary relationships with existing employees.
Salary placement parameters are determined by using the Salary Placement and Equity Tool (SPET) as defined in the Salary Determination and Internal Equity for Staff Employees guidelines.
Hiring Officials will attach the completed SPET Grid in the documents tab found in the applicant profile page in UNMJobs. Hiring Official will need to attach ePAN(s) to the Requisition documents tab in UNMJobs if the new hire or promotion creates inequities within the department.
For bargaining unit employees please refer to the appropriate collective bargaining agreement.
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Call your applicant and make a tentative verbal offer, contingent on appropriate approvals, which will be followed by a formal offer letter issued by HR, if accepted. It is recommended that you allow your selected applicant time to consider your tentative offer (generally a day or two). Once your applicant has accepted the tentative offer, you will outline all of the final details and terms of hire. This will include determining a start date and identifying a few pre-hire steps. Please review the procedure section in Creating Hiring Request – Staff and the Before You Arrive section of the New Employee Experience website. The start date must be a future date allowing time for processing, and the standard is a Monday start to facilitate new employee orientation. Typically start dates will be Monday through Friday, excluding weekends and holidays, and should coincide with New Employee Experience (NEE). If the first day of the month is a weekend, then the start date will be the first business day of the month. Exceptions would be based on documentation that the employee will be performing work. This does not apply to internal regular benefits eligible applicants.
The Hiring Official must provide written justification for the selection to include an evaluation of the qualifications of each finalist interviewed relative to the job requirements. Before extending a formal offer, the hiring official must obtain approval from HR.
Resources/Tools:
Collect the completed information required for the Recommend for Hire action in UNMJobs. UNMJobs required documents and navigation steps can be found at Creating Hiring Request – Staff. Human Resources will conduct a standard review, including, but not limited to, verification of qualifications. Refer to the Managing your Applicant Pool for instructions to deselect the remaining applicants. Ensure that you have the appropriate approvals for your hiring action, see Designated Approving Authorities – Staff Transactions.
Human Resources offers institution-level new employee orientation, as well as general guidance through the process, however, this is not a substitute for department-focused onboarding for new staff. To assist you with successfully onboarding your new employee, visit https://newemployee.unm.edu/index.html.
After your Recommend for Hire has been approved, the department will need to change the status of the remaining applicants within UNMJobs, which will notify them that the position has been filled. This information is used to record and summarize recruitment activities for the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Program reporting requirements.
It is the department’s responsibility to contact the finalists interviewed but not selected in person. It is important to notify them as soon as possible once you filled your position.
All application documents generated externally from the UNMJobs process must be scanned and attached as supplemental documents to the Recommend for Hire action. Departments should be aware that these documents may be released to the public under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (NMIPRA). Examples of the application documents include but are not limited to: interview notes, applicant assessments, reference checks of finalists and online disposition of each applicant. For more information regarding records retention visit https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/6000/6020.html.