16 Steps in the Hiring Process

Potential Barriers and Best Practices

DEHPD – Diversity & Equity in Hiring & Professional Development

Step 1

Assessment of Needs for Positions

  1. How are the needs for new and replacement positions assessed? Who has input on that assessment?
  2. How are diversity and equity with regard to students and communities in the service area factored into the assessment of needs for a position?
  3. How are gaps in the existing diversity, cultural competencies, and student relations represented by the staff of a particular department factored into the assessment of needs for a new or replacement position?
  4. How are budgetary decisions made in relation to new positions?

Best Practices

  1. Seek out and act upon feedback from identified campus diversity organizations when possible
  2. Complete departmental assessment and dialogue, such as the Departmental Diversity Self Study (D2S2), Green River College(Provide link to the doc)
  3. Consider ALL positions in relation to student achievement gaps
  4. Consider ALL positions in relation to existing diversity within a department or employee class rather than seeing positions in isolation, which should inform the development or revision of the job description (Step 3). (Use climate survey data when relevant/possible.)
  5. Include student leaders and representatives from under-represented, under-served, and under-achieving populations in the process of conducting a needs assessment for all positions.
  6. Also see Step 12: Role of the Appointing Authority
  7. Use resources to assess qualifications for the position. Examples provided at the link, including Oregon State University (OSU), specifically the checklist “Writing the Position Description” (Provide link to the docs)

Step 2

Open Searches vs. Internal Searches and Direct Appointments (internal promotions and interim appointments)

  1. What are the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) and SME (subject matter expertise) of current staff in the program/department relative to the needs in a vacant or new position?
  2. How is the need for diversity and equity in hiring or replacing positions balanced with the desire to reward faithful service? (also see Step 12)
  3. Who has the authority to decide how a position will be filled, based on what criteria?
  4. How is equity factored into internal promotions?

Best Practices

  1. Track demographics of who gets opportunities for internal advancement.
  2. Ensure professional development opportunities and resources for all staff, specifically including under-represented staff and faculty (especially adjunct faculty) to increase the pool of competitive candidates for positions as they become available within the system. Example: Social Justice Leadership Institute (Sayumi Irey, Bellevue College), WELA, Deans Academy, etc.
  3. Be mindful of nepotism, favoritism, and rewarding obedience over innovation.
  4. Also see Step 12: Role of the Appointing Authority

Step 3

Job Announcements (some overlap with Step 1)

  1. Who writes, revises, and reviews job announcements, and at what stage of the process?
  2. Which minimum & preferred qualifications refer to substantial cultural and professional competencies around diversity and equity?
  3. Do the minimum & preferred qualifications avoid artificial barriers?
  4. Are part-time faculty and staff position announcements carefully reviewed and posted in advance?

Best Practices

  1. Search committee should be formed to participate in the needs assessment and development of the job announcement and description.
  2. If job announcements are posted BEFORE hiring committees form, they should be reviewed by more than one or two department members and the supervisor. Ideally, there should be review by college members with some diversity training, e.g., a Search Advocate cohort from which hiring committee members may also be drawn.
  3. ALL job descriptions should be reviewed and revised rather than simply using the previous version on file. (See OSU Search Advocate resources on developing the job description.) (Provide link to the doc)
  4. Job announcements should identify direct and meaningful experience and leadership directly serving or representing under-represented, under-prepared, or under-achieving student populations.
  5. Add substantive language around relevant direct community engagement.
  6. Each college should have some standard language regarding the value of diversity and equity at the institution that is included in all announcements.
  7. Each college should have some discussion and consistency regarding years of experience that is needed for particular positions, with consideration of the skills, knowledge and abilities actually needed for the job, rather than arbitrary numbers.
  8. List of qualifications, when possible and appropriate, should not be so specific or high that they automatically exclude people with non-traditional backgrounds, including education and professional experiences.
  9. Adjunct faculty and part-time staff positions should have similar process as full-time positions.

Step 4

Outreach, Recruitment, and Advertising

  1. Who is responsible for outreach? Which additional stakeholders can be brought in for outreach?
  2. How much money is allocated for outreach?
  3. How much time is allowed before a job search is closed? (sometimes too short for searches where internal candidates exist)

Best Practices

  1. Support additional stakeholders to be involved in outreach and recruitment for specific positions, including identified campus diversity organizations and/or members of something like a Search Advocates cohort.
  2. Subscribe to or seek out networks and venues with a commitment to under-represented candidates of color.
  3. Allocate budget to send campus representatives to recruit at venues with a high concentration of under-represented candidates of color.

Step 5

Interview / Selection Committees

  1. At what stage are interview committees formed (before or after the writing of the job announcement)?
  2. What is the composition of the interview committees? Who has the right to be represented? Who should be represented?
  3. What diversity and equity training do interview committees receive?
  4. Are there members with specific diversity and equity expertise (e.g., through “Search Advocates” training)?
  5. How do committee members become aware of their own cultural biases (e.g., “Cognitive Errors”)?
  6. How do they assess the relevant KSAs, SME, and cultural competencies of applicants?

Best Practices

  1. At least one non-departmental member with recognized expertise in diversity and equity (e.g., apluralism representative or“Search Advocate” as described in the OSU model, etc.).
  2. Under-served student representative (based on achievement gap statistics); chosen through Diversity offices rather than student government.
  3. When possible, interview committees should be formed before job descriptions are finalized, so that the public written framing of the job will benefit from the care an institution may take in assembling a committee.
  4. Substantive trainings on the hiring process offered multiple times throughout the state for supervisors.
  5. Interview questions, presentation prompts, and/or teaching demonstrations should reflect diversity and equity lenses.
  6. Track demographics of hiring committees.
  7. The entire search committee should have training regarding the hiring process, including the impact of implicit bias, strategies to develop relevant questions regarding skills and abilities relating to diversity and equity, and how to gain consensus regarding appropriate answers to the interview questions developed. (Link some examples of what the training can look like)

Step 6

Application Process (point of view of applicant)

  1. Does the application process avoid artificial barriers?
  2. What are the diversity and equity questions/sections in the application?

Best Practices

  1. Process should be streamlined without unnecessary redundancy.
  2. Diversity and equity questions should be substantive and thoughtful rather than generic, including the education, training, application or outcome of skills, and leadership.

Step 7

Screening Applications

  1. Who reviews them (HR or the hiring committee)?
  2. Who interprets the gray area with regard to applicants who don’t appear to meet all of the minimum qualifications?
  3. How is diversity of a pool assessed at each stage? (note that this data analysis will be retrospective and will not be shared with the hiring committee during the hiring process)
  4. What are the criteria to cancel or re-open a search because of insufficient diversity?
  5. How do diversity and equity factor into the review of candidate strengths and weaknesses used for the selection of candidates for interview?

Best Practices

  1. Track demographics at each stage: composition of pool at application, list of interviewees (semi-finalists), finalists, and those offered the job (again, retrospective data analysis that will not be shared with the hiring committee).
  2. A diversity and equity lens should be applied in reviewing cover letters and applied to all elements of the rubric/scoring sheets.

Step 8

Interview Process

  1. How are applicants welcomed to or escorted on campus?
  2. Which interview questions seek to measure education, experience, and leadership related to diversity and equity?
  3. Which interview questions seek to measure cultural competencies and other relevant KSAs or SME?
  4. Are there any aspects of the interview process that may create artificial barriers or that may not be inclusive, accessible, or equitable?

Best Practices

  1. Shoreline CC’s Multicultural Interview Rubric is one example.
  2. Interview questions around diversity, equity, and community engagement should be substantial and get at specific knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences.
  3. Selection committee members should reflect on their own biases during the interview process (e.g., “Cognitive Errors”).
  4. A designated committee member with diversity and equity expertise should be empowered to play a productive and recognized role on the committee (e.g., “Search Advocate”).
  5. Use resources such as the Shoreline CC Multicultural Interview Rubric and/or OSU Search Advocate handouts to develop the interview questions. (Provide link to the doc)
  6. Discuss the expected “Best” answers before the interviews and determine the committee’s agreed upon answers.
  7. Have a written format for each interview that includes the questions, expected answer components, and space for each committee member to take notes for each question. (Link CrisCullinan handout as example)

Step 9

Ranking and Recommendation of Candidates

  1. How significant are the applicants’ experiences relating to diversity, equity, and cultural competencies in the ranking?
  2. What critical awareness do hiring committees have around the criteria for “collegiality” and the implications for excluding candidates?

Best Practices

  1. Do not allow the focus on collegiality, which is culturally coded and loaded, to dominate assessment; recognize that outstanding colleagues can also pose useful challenges to “business-as-usual” and entrenched ways of thinking.
  2. Be willing to invest resources in training a new hire rather than automatically privileging those who can “hit the ground running.”
  3. Give priority to those who can represent and/or serve (in a variety of ways) one or more under-served student populations with achievement/opportunity gaps and/or under-represented communities in a college’s service area.

Step 10

Campus Forums (if applicable)

  1. How is the talk or workshop shared with and contextualized for the campus?
  2. How is the applicant hosted and supported during the campus visit?
  3. What are the diversity and equity elements of the campus forum?
  4. How is the feedback viewed or considered within the final decision?

Best Practices

  1. Encourage attendance from under-represented, under-prepared, or under-achieving student groups.
  2. Forum topic/prompt should include diversity, equity, and/or community engagement.
  3. Search committee reviews written feedback from those who attended campus forums.
  4. Videotape the forums and provide the link to the campus community so that those who cannot attend can still review them and provide feedback.
  5. Consider which positions should have campus forums. Typically college leadership positions will provide these opportunities for community feedback, such as Dean positions and higher level administrators.

Step 11

Reference Checks

  1. Who conducts the reference checks?
  2. How do reference checks assess the applicant’s experiences with diversity, equity, and cultural competencies?

Best Practices

  1. Reference checks should be respectful, professional, and generous.
  2. Taking into account time, availability, and consistency in the process, have more than one committee member listen to or correspond with references.
  3. Be equitable in seeking background information on candidates.

Step 12

Role of the “Appointing Authority”

  1. What process and timeline will be followed?
  2. How is the need for diversity and equity in hiring or replacing positions balanced with the desire to reward faithful service?
  3. How will the appointing authority receive feedback from relevant stakeholders, departments, and constituencies in shaping the position?
  4. How will the appointing authority make the decision in relation to the hiring committee’s recommendations?
  5. What criteria will the appointing authority use to cancel or re-open a search based on insufficient diversity at each stage of the hiring process (initial screening of applications, those who are offered an interview, and finalists).

Best Practices

  1. Appointing authorities should have rigorous training with regard to diversity and equity in the hiring process.
  2. Be mindful of nepotism, favoritism, and rewarding obedience over innovation.
  3. Provide some oversight and direction in the crafting of job descriptions based on needs assessment (Step 1).
  4. Provide some oversight and direction with regard to the composition of hiring or selection committees (Step 5).
  5. In conjunction with HR and analysis of “workforce availability,” support minimum diversity in a pool at each stage of the hiring process.
  6. Take a “second look” at candidate applications from interview (semi-finalist) stage to finalist stage.

Step 13

Job Offer

  1. Who makes the offer?
  2. Are salary and benefits negotiable?
  3. What other resources are available to make competitive offers?
  4. What professional development opportunities are part of the job offer?

Best Practices

  1. Be intentional about how much flexibility there is in an offer, whether with regard to salary, relocation, anticipated professional development and training, timeline, etc.
  2. Job offer should be made in a welcoming and inclusive way. (What training or oversight is required to optimize this?)
  3. Relocation support and resources should be culturally responsive.

Step 14

Starting the Job

  1. How is the new staff member oriented?
  2. What other forms of support will the new staff have?
  3. How will the new staff be evaluated?
  4. How is the new staff member’s professional development to be implemented?

Best Practices

  1. Provide support and resources for new staff members to have mentors, not necessarily from their own departments.
  2. Provide training and resources for the new staff member’s transitional period.
  3. Address real campus climate issues and potential problems with the new employee with intentionality, honesty, and support.
  4. Involve campus diversity organizations in orienting new under-represented employees.

Step 15

Retention

  1. For faculty, what are strategies to support new FT faculty during the tenure process, and to helpFT/PT faculty to be successful in working with underrepresented students, achieving professional development goals, and having supportive networks/relationships in their work?
  2. For staff, what are ongoing professional development and resources for support and success in working with students of color and other underrepresented groups?

Best Practices

  1. Provide ongoing mentoring, with opportunities for employees to choose mentors.
  2. Provide affinity group support.
  3. Train supervisors to develop effective support plans.
  4. Establish clear strategies for how to develop and implement a professional development plan.
  5. Provide continuous all-campus training on cultural competency and strategies for building community.
  6. Integrate diversity and equity skill-building into all employee evaluations.
  7. Review campus climate surveys and address concerns.

Step 16

Promotion

  1. What opportunities for leadership skill development are provided?
  2. How do institutions work to counter the societal traditions of maintaining privilege and power via informal networks that have traditionally operated to benefit some and maintain the status quo?

Best Practices

  1. Provide leadership development opportunities for all employees on a consistent basis.
  2. Provide professional development focusing on systemic and implicit bias consistently to counter the societal biases favoring those with agency (i.e. white, male-identified, able bodied, middle class, US born people) for promotion.

***About DEHPD

DEHPD (Diversity & Equity in Hiring & Professional Development) is a coalition comprisedofemployeesfrom the 34 community and technical colleges (CTCs)in Washington state, serving approximately 400,000 students annually. DEHPD wasformed in 2014 inorder to respond tothe lownumbers of faculty, administrators, and staff of color and other underrepresented groups throughout the CTCsystem. Closing the demographicdisparities between employee diversityandour student populations (as well ascommunities in our service areas) is crucial forthe improvedsuccess of students of color and other under-represented groups.DEHPD brings together the experiences, expertise, and commitments of stakeholders at multiple colleges in order to develop collective analysis and proposals to addressstructural racism, unconscious bias, and other forms of exclusion with regard to the hiring process andprofessional development opportunities, among other aspects of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEHPD has identified "14 Steps in the Hiring Process," including barriers and best practices for each step. DEHPD provides training opportunities with regard to the hiring process andis alsocollaborating to developsystem-wide programs for therecruitment and mentoring of under-represented faculty, along withcurriculum development andcultural competency training through a diversity-equity-inclusion lens. Racial equityand accountability to the needs and aspirations of the increasingly diverse communities in WA state are not possible without placing the hiring practices of the CTCs at the center of our efforts.

DEHPD – 14 Steps in the Hiring Process (revised Summer 2015)Page 1