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> MSU Policy and Procedures > Recruitment & Hiring Manual
MSU Recruitment & Hiring Manual
For Executives, Administrators, Faculty, and Contract Professional Employees
Revised July 2006
400.00 INTERVIEWING CANDIDATES
SECTION 400 CONTENTS
411.00 Interview Priority Policy
411.10 Exception for the Top Ranked Finalist in a Homogeneous Pool
411.20 Exception for Injured MSU Workers
412.00 Types of Interviews
412.10 "Pre-Interviews" at Job Fairs, Conferences and Professional Meetings
412.20 Telephone Interviews
412.30 On-Campus Interviews
413.00 Interview Approval
421.00 Typical Interview Schedule
422.00 Equal Treatment Policy
422.10 Schedule
422.20 Evaluating Teaching Ability
422.30 Cost of Interviewing
423.00 Interviewing Candidates with Disabilities
423.10 Responding to Requests for Accommodation Made during the Interview
423.20 Assessing the Need for Reasonable Job Accommodation during the Interview
424.00 Interviewing Foreign Nationals
425.00 Confidentiality/Release of Information
426.00 Interview Questions
426.10 Progressive Questioning
426.20 Feedback Forms
431.00 Committee Report to the Hiring Authority
432.00 Committee’s Report to the Hiring Authority
432.10 Advisory Function of the Committee
432.20 Ranked Lists of Candidates
433.00 Committee Reports
433.10 Contents of Reports
433.20 Minority Reports
400.00 INTERVIEWING CANDIDATES
This section discusses the interview process and the relationship of interviews to the hiring process.
410.00 Purpose of the Interview
SECTION 410 CONTENTS
411.00 Interview Priority Policy
411.10 Exception for the Top Ranked Finalist in a Homogeneous Pool
411.20 Exception for Injured MSU Workers
412.00 Types of Interviews
412.10 "Pre-Interviews" at Job Fairs, Conferences and Professional Meetings
412.20 Telephone Interviews
412.30 On-Campus Interviews
413.00 Interview Approval
410.00 Purpose of the Interview
The interview stage of the search process should:
- Assess the candidate's interactive skills, decision-making style, and other attributes described in the “Successful Candidate Will” section of the vacancy announcement.
- Reveal the candidate's views on the substantive issues facing the campus and department.
- Observe and evaluate the candidate's performance in job-related situations.
Note: Candidates for tenurable faculty positions involving classroom teaching or distance learning must be given the opportunity to demonstrate their teaching abilities. The candidate should teach a section of a class or seminar or have the opportunity to demonstrate her or his skills using educational technologies.
- Explain key aspects of the duties, terms and conditions of the job.
- Answer candidates' questions and address their issues and concerns about the position and the University.
411.00 Interview Priority Policy
The hiring authority establishes the interview pool in conjunction with HR/AA. University policy requires hiring authorities to interview women, minorities, covered veterans, and persons with disabilities who are in the finalist pool. HR/AA knows the protected class status of applicants from the EEO forms it has sent to and received from applicants.
There are no requirements as to the number of candidates who must be interviewed, except the above requirement to interview protected class finalists. The hiring authority should base the decision about whom to interview on such factors as the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each finalist, the needs of the department, and the resources available to bring candidates to campus, as well as the University's interview priority policy.
Example:
The search committee identifies four finalists. Upon checking with HR/AA, the hiring authority learns that there are three men and one woman in the finalist pool. One man is Native American. The hiring authority and HR/AA staff agree to invite the Native American, the woman, and one of the other two men to campus for interviews.
411.10 Exception for the Top Ranked Finalist in a Homogeneous Pool
If the finalists constitute a homogeneous pool (e.g., all white male, all minority, all female, or all protected class members from different groups), the hiring authority, with HR/AA approval, may elect to interview only the top ranked candidate. If that candidate is acceptable, the hiring authority may make the hire without interviewing other candidates. If the candidate is not acceptable or does not accept the position, the hiring authority may then invite the second ranked finalist for an interview.
Example:
A search committee identifies five finalists, all of whom are white males. The hiring authority invites the top ranked finalist for an interview. He is unacceptable, so the hiring authority invites the second ranked finalist to campus for an interview. He is acceptable and is offered the position, but declines it. The hiring authority then invites the third ranked finalist who is acceptable. He is offered and accepts the position.
411.20 Exception for Injured MSU Workers
As required by Montana law (39-71-317, MCA), MSU-Bozeman gives preference to injured employees who apply for positions comparable to the positions which they vacated due to injury. An injured worker is an employee who was injured and who has received a medical release to return to work. Injured workers shall be given interview priority over other applicants consistent with the following:
- The employee must have been an MSU employee within two years of the date of interview and have been off work because of a documented, on-the-job injury.
- The employee cannot return to his or her previous position within MSU because of the injury.
- A vacancy for a comparable position exists and the employee applies for that position.
Note: As part of the application process, the hiring authority may ask the injured employee for a physician's release relative to his or her ability to perform the specific duties of the vacant position. This is necessary to ensure that the injured worker's physical condition and abilities are consistent with the requirements of the position.
- The injured worker meets the required qualifications of the position. The committee evaluates the injured worker as being a finalist. (To be a finalist, the injured worker's qualifications must be substantially similar to or equal to the qualifications of the other finalists.)
In these circumstances, the injured worker shall be granted an interview.
If the hiring authority does not hire the injured worker, the hiring authority shall write a justification for that decision and submit it to HR/AA for approval.
Example:
A finalist pool consists of four candidates, two white males, a Vietnam era veteran and an injured employee. The hiring authority must invite the veteran and the injured employee for interviews and may invite either or both of the other finalists. The hiring authority decides to hire the injured worker and writes a justification explaining the job related reasons why she does not want to offer the position to the veteran. The justification is submitted to and approved by the HR/AA office before she makes an offer.
412.00 Types of Interviews
Employment interviews may be conducted by telephone, may take place on campus, or may involve meetings at off campus sites or teleconferencing from remote sites.
412.10 "Pre-Interviews" at Job Fairs, Conferences and Professional Meetings
Many professional associations encourage employers to recruit potential employees during annual conferences or job fairs. If an MSU representative meets with potential applicants at a professional conference, he or she must be careful to explain that the meeting is not a formal interview. If appropriate, the University representative should encourage the potential applicant to apply for the position or continue to consider MSU for future employment but should not promise the person an interview or a job.
412.20 Telephone Interviews
The committee may substitute telephone interviews with candidates for on-campus interviews in the following circumstances:
- The position is part-time, and/or
- The position is temporary, and/or
- The position is entry level with a direct reporting structure, and/or
- No funds are available to bring candidates to campus.
Telephone interviews are most commonly used for research professional positions and nontenurable academic support positions.
If the employment interview is to be conducted by telephone, the committee chair must inform candidates that the phone interview is the final selection procedure and they will not be invited to campus, and the entire search committee needs to be present. The committee should follow the same protocols used for on-campus interviews, including sending the interview questions to HR/AA for approval.
412.30 On-Campus Interviews
The on-campus interview is the culmination of the search or screening committee’s review process and is essential both for assessing the skills, abilities, and fit of the candidate and also for selling candidates on MSU. To ensure fairness and equal opportunity in the interview process, the interview experiences of one candidate should be essentially the same as the experiences of every other candidate. In other words, if one candidate has an informal meal with the search committee, all candidates, even internal candidates, should have the same opportunity. But, except for dinner which tends to be a more formal occasion, the meal itself doesn’t matter. One candidate may be invited for breakfast, another for lunch.
In addition, all “stakeholders” in a position should be invited to participate in the interview process and should receive feedback sheets so they can communicate their evaluations of the candidates to the search committee.
413.00 Interview Approval
Because of MSU-Bozeman's priority interview policy, the hiring authority must obtain HR/AA approval before inviting candidates to campus for interviews. HR/AA bases its approval, in part, on the information obtained from the EEO form.
To prevent discrimination during the screening process, HR/AA will not make information about the protected class status of applicants, except applicants seeking veteran's preference, available to the hiring authority until after the committee has established the finalist pool.
Search committees for University executive and academic administrative positions at the director or department head level or above need to schedule the candidate for a half hour interview with HR/AA.
[Main Table of Contents]
[Sections 400-430 Contents]
[Section 410 Contents]
420.00 The Campus Visit
SECTION 420 CONTENTS
421.00 Typical Interview Schedule
422.00 Equal Treatment Policy
422.10 Schedule
422.20 Evaluating Teaching Ability
422.30 Cost of Interviewing
423.00 Interviewing Candidates with Disabilities
423.10 Responding to Requests for Accommodation Made during the Interview
423.20 Assessing the Need for Reasonable Job Accommodation during the Interview
424.00 Interviewing Foreign Nationals
425.00 Confidentiality/Release of Information
426.00 Interview Questions
426.10 Progressive Questioning
426.20 Feedback Forms
420.00 The Campus Visit
As much as possible, the interview should be an enjoyable experience for both the candidate and staff of the University. In planning the campus visit, search committee members should schedule free time for candidates to relax and prepare for their next activity. The committee should also recognize that candidates want to spend as much time as possible getting to know their potential immediate supervisors and co-workers and should keep ceremonial occasions to a minimum.
421.00 Equal Treatment Policy
The most important thing to consider in determining interview schedules is that all candidates must be treated equally. If one candidate is interviewed by telephone, all candidates must be interviewed by telephone. If one candidate is brought to campus for an interview, all other candidates must be interviewed on campus. If one candidate lectures on his or her research, all other candidates must be given the opportunity to present their research.
Each candidate's visit should also be as much like another's as possible in regard to time for interviews, social time, free time, meals, and meetings with the committee. This helps ensure fairness and guarantees that committee members evaluate candidates based on similar experiences. Conversely, it also gives candidates an equal amount of time with those making the hiring recommendation and decision.
422.00 Interview Requirements
422.10 Schedule
To help them make informed comparisons among candidates, the committee should schedule interviews with the various candidates as closely together as possible. Most on-campus interviews last one and a half days and involve the following:
- Interviews with the search committee,
- Interviews with constituent groups or co-workers,
- Brief meetings with members of central administration with whom incumbent will work,
- Lectures, seminars, or demonstrations presented to students or clients, when teaching is an expectation of the position,
- Presentations at lectures or forums to which members of the University community are invited,
- Social occasions such as receptions, lunches, or dinners with the hiring authority or members of the search committee, and
- Exit interviews with the hiring authority.
Search committees for academic administrative positions at the director or department head level or above need to schedule the candidate for a half hour interview with HR/AA.
422.20 Evaluating Teaching Ability
When teaching is a responsibility of a position, the committee and the hiring authority must give candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their teaching abilities and their ability to apply new instructional technologies and active learning methods. Such opportunities might include lecturing to a class, presenting a seminar, demonstrating distance learning techniques, or modeling clinical techniques.
422.30 Cost of Interviewing
The department is responsible for paying the costs of interviewing candidates, including travel, lodging and meals. In cases where an interviewee is out of the country, the candidate is responsible for getting to the U.S. mainland; the department pays the travel expenses from the entry city to Bozeman.
If the department does not have enough money to pay for search expenses, the committee should conduct telephone interviews with the candidate or request additional funds from the appropriate dean or vice president.
Note: The Extension Service has been permitted to require interviewees to pay their own travel expenses to interviews for County Agent positions.
423.00 Interviewing Candidates with Disabilities
MSU is committed to making reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant, unless accommodation would impose an undue hardship. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, "reasonable accommodation" means "any modification or adjustment to a job, employment practice, or work environment that makes it possible for an individual with a disability to enjoy an equal employment opportunity."
423.10 Responding to Requests for Accommodation Made during the Interview
It is the responsibility of the person with a disability to request an accommodation in the interview process. HR/AA sends the Equal Opportunity form to all applicants. A candidate may contact HR/AA to request accommodation or may notify the hiring authority directly.
The following protocols will be observed when an applicant requests accommodation:
- If the initial request for accommodation is made through HR/AA. HR/AA staff will immediately inform the search committee chair and the hiring authority that a candidate has requested accommodation. If the request for accommodation is made to the hiring authority or the committee chair, that person will inform HR/AA of the request.
- The chair and hiring authority will evaluate the request and offer the candidate a reasonable accommodation. Accommodations may include moving interview activities to accessible locations, providing temporary handicapped parking for the candidate, providing text telephone or other assistive devices, and/or providing a sign language interpreter.
- The hiring authority will ensure the accommodation is made.
423.20 Assessing the Need for Reasonable Job Accommodation during the Interview
One purpose of the employment interview is to assess each candidate's ability to do the job. Hiring authorities justifiably want to use the interview to learn if a candidate needs accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job. The ADA limits the types of questions employers can ask. The hiring authority may ask about any need for accommodation or may ask candidates to demonstrate how they would perform specific tasks, provided:
- The hiring authority asks all candidates the same questions or requires all candidates to perform the same demonstration; or
- There is a reasonable basis, because of a candidate's obvious disability, for the hiring authority to believe that the candidate will need accommodation; or
- The hiring authority believes a candidate will need an accommodation because the candidate has made her disability known; or
- The candidate has voluntarily disclosed that he will need an accommodation.
In such cases, the hiring authority may ask a candidate:
- If she can perform essential functions of the position with or without accommodation, and
- How he would perform the essential tasks and with what suggested accommodation.
Examples:
The vacancy announcement for a research associate in the Oceanography laboratory aboard the University's research submarine Ringo states that lifting heavy scuba equipment is an essential function of the job. During the interview, a candidate reveals that he has partial nerve damage in his left arm. The hiring authority asks the candidate: "Can you lift scuba gear, with or without accommodation?" The candidate answers that he can lift full oxygen tanks with a pulley, and the hiring authority provides the pulley for the demonstration. The hiring authority does not ask questions about the severity of the nerve damage or how the disability was acquired.
A person with diabetes applies for a position as an adjunct instructor and tells the hiring authority she needs periodic breaks to take her medication. The hiring authority asks her how long the breaks will last and how often she needs them but does not ask about the diabetes itself.
A person with a visual impairment applies for a position as a research associate which requires entering data on a computer. During the interview, the hiring authority notices that the candidate has trouble reading the computer screen in the laboratory and asks the candidate if he will need accommodation to perform the data entry functions of the job. The candidate answers "Yes," and the hiring authority asks, "What hardware and software do you need?" "Who makes that?" "Do you need a particular brand?" Had the candidate answered "No," the hiring authority could not have asked additional questions.
424.00 Interviewing Foreign Nationals
Civil Rights laws prohibit search committees from discriminating against applicants on the basis of national origin. Immigration and naturalization laws require that employers hire only "aliens who are eligible to work in the United States." Learning the latter without violating the former is difficult.
Committees may ask interviewees the following: "Are you eligible to work in the United States?" They may follow this up with a question, "What type of Visa do you currently have?"
Note: If committee members ask one candidate about her eligibility to work, they must ask all candidates the same question. Fortunately, it is usually not necessary to ask this question at all since most foreign nationals are potentially eligible to work in the U.S.
425.00 Confidentiality/Release of Information
The names, qualifications and status of applicants in the search process are confidential and should not be discussed by anyone who is not on the search committee or part of the search process.
When finalists have been contacted and have accepted interviews, their names and resumes become public information and may be released to the campus community, the public and the press.
The names of applicants who were not selected for interviews are not public information and should never be released.
426.00 Interview Questions
The search committee is responsible for developing the questions they will ask candidates. These questions must be job related and should carefully avoid asking about a candidate's religion, marital status, number of children, age, or personal habits or disabilities. (See Permissible and Impermissible Questions.)
426.10 Progressive Questioning
Many committees and interviewers repeatedly ask applicants the same questions ("What is your work experience?" "Where did you go to college?"), thus wasting valuable interview time and allowing candidates to get by with canned answers. Do not ask questions for which you already know answers which are contained in the application materials.
Progressive questioning, on the other hand, builds on information the committee already has. Because they are open-ended and cannot be answered "Yes" or "No,” progressive questions challenge candidates to answer thoughtfully and elaborate on their answers.
Examples:
"Describe an occasion when you faced a difficult personnel situation. How did you resolve it?"
"How do you assess user satisfaction with the services you provide?"
"Why is long range planning important to a department such as this and how would you conduct a long range planning effort for this facility?"
426.20 Feedback Forms
The committee should develop feedback forms for persons who are not members of the search committee to use to evaluate the candidates. (Sample forms are available from HR/AA.)
Search committees should provide feedback forms at every meeting or public forum. Since students and/or clients must now be involved in evaluating the teaching abilities of any faculty member who will have classroom instruction responsibilities, their evaluations are especially important.
Committees should evaluate the feedback and tabulate data for inclusion in the committee's final recommendation.
[Main Table of Contents]
[Sections 400-430 Contents]
[Section 420 Contents]
430.00 Committee’s Responsibilities in the Interview Process
SECTION 430 CONTENTS
431.00 Committee Report to the Hiring Authority
432.00 Committee’s Report to the Hiring Authority
432.10 Advisory Function of the Committee
432.20 Ranked Lists of Candidates
433.00 Committee Reports
433.10 Contents of Reports
433.20 Minority Reports
430.00 Committee’s Responsibilities in the Interview Process
The committee’s role in the interview process is to manage the interview process, serve as liaison to the department and the University, and make their own recommendations as to the suitability of candidates.
431.00 Committee’s Role in Interviews
The committee’s role in the on-campus interview is to:
- Schedule and manage the interview schedule;
- Inform the department, college, campus, and/or interested stakeholders of the schedule and invite their participation;
- Ensure that all travel arrangements are made for the candidates and escort them to interview activities;
- Develop and distribute feedback forms;
- Develop its own questions to ask the candidates;
- Conduct entry and exit interviews with the candidates;
- Summarize and analyze the feedback forms and share the analysis with the hiring authority;
- Conduct background checks on candidates as requested by the hiring authority (See Section 514.00); and
- Make its own independent and substantive recommendations to the hiring authority.
432.00 Committee’s Report to the Hiring Authority
Once the interviews have been conducted and, if assigned, background checks completed, the search committee should evaluate all candidates and make its recommendations to the hiring authority, in accordance with its initial charge.
The committee report should include the following:
- Determinations as to which candidates are acceptable and/or unacceptable,
- Assessments of the strengths, weaknesses and potential areas of concern of each candidate,
- Summaries of the feedback received from non-committee evaluators, and
- Summaries of the discussions about each candidate, including mention of dissenting opinions.
432.10 Advisory Function of the Committee
Committee members should remember that their function is advisory. The hiring authority frequently sees the needs of the department, the requirements of a position, or the strengths of a candidate differently than do members of the search committee. The hiring authority should make the hiring decision based on his or her own analysis as well as on the committee's recommendations.
In making their recommendations, committees should look for patterns of strengths and weaknesses in a candidate and assess her or his overall "fit" within the needs of the department and the University. Committees should also try not to be swayed by effusive praise for a candidate, particularly if this comes from a current employer. Such praise can sometimes mask serious problems with a candidate's performance and a supervisor’s desire to get rid of the employee. On the other hand, a candidate who is not lionized by a current supervisor may do an excellent job at MSU.
Search committees should remember that the objective of the hiring process is not to find someone who will be universally loved at MSU but someone who will do the job effectively.
432.20 Ranked Lists of Candidates
If the hiring authority has specifically asked for a ranked list of candidates, then the committee should provide such a list. However, HR/AA recommends that committees not submit a ranked list unless specifically requested to do so by the hiring authority.
Because it forces a vote or a consensus rather than a narrative recommendation, nothing creates dissension on a committee more than the ranking of candidates. This dissension can not only drive a wedge between committee members, the ranking is almost always reported to the eventual hire as a negative: “I don’t know how you got the job. You were ranked fifth by the search committee.”
Committees can avoid doing such harm by not ranking candidates if they do not have to and by remembering that, although crucial, their recommendations are advisory.
433.00 Committee Reports
Committees should send a written report of their analysis of each of the candidates interviewed for the hiring authority.
To prepare the report, the committee should first decide whether each candidate is acceptable, acceptable with reservations, or unacceptable. Then the committee should describe the each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and the reasons for their recommendations by referring to the qualifications contained in the vacancy announcement.
433.10 Contents of Reports
The point of the report is to share as complete and inclusive an analysis of the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses as possible. Thus, committees should include the assessments and feelings, both positive and negative, of all the members of the committee in the report.
Examples:
“The majority of the committee thought candidate Browne possessed excellent supervisory skills. The minority felt she would be better able to communicate effectively with supervisors than with people who report to her.”
“While the whole committee found candidate Green’s research to be cutting edge and compatible with department colleagues, a majority felt he would have difficulty working within the budget and space constraints of public Universities.
“Although some members of the committee felt that Candidate White’s would not be an effective teacher, most felt she could be effective mentoring graduate students and could learn, with appropriate mentoring, to be effective teaching lower division undergraduates.”
If this technique of including all views in the same report is used, there should be no need for committees to prepare separate minority and majority reports to the hiring authority, unless the hiring authority has asked for a ranked list of candidates and the committee is unable to come to consensus.
433.20 Minority Reports
Despite the usefulness of the inclusive references described above, members of a search or screening committee may wish to file a minority report under the following circumstances:
- They feel the committee report has not accurately summarized their position,
- They believe an aspect of the committee's recruitment and selection process has been biased, or
- They believe procedures described in this Manual have been violated.
Minority reports should be signed and presented to the hiring authority and HR/AA immediately following the issuance of the committee's report. HR/AA will respond to the Minority Report before approving any hire.
[Main Table of Contents]
[Sections 400-430 Contents]
[Section 430 Contents]
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