This procedure provides guidelines for the conduct of recruiting to fill vacancies for staff exempt and staff non-exempt vacancies and for certain elements of recruiting to fill faculty vacancies. A generalized description of the recruiting process is followed by information appropriate to particular categories of vacancies. Other procedural matters are discussed in later sections including affirmative action requirements, reference checking, and verification of academic credentials.

1. Generalized Recruiting Steps
   1. The supervisor completes and submits to the Human Resources Director/Affirmative Action Officer (HRD/AAO) one copy of the Employment Requisition and Registration of Affirmative Search, UTSIPO Form 2, referred to as the requisition. The supervisor signs as the requisitioner and obtains other approval signature(s) internal to his/her division as appropriate. UTSIPO Form 2 appears as Appendix 1 to this procedure. Blank copies may be obtained from the HRD/AAO.

   2. The HRD/AAO reviews the requisition for suitability of job title, suggested salary parameters, required education and experience, budget status, and funds source and resolves any questions or problems with the supervisor. After review, the HRD/AAO signs the requisition forwards it to the Associate Vice President for review and approval, following which the requisition is returned to the HRD/AAO.

   3. The requisition is assigned a consecutive search number and recorded in a database by the HRD/AAO. The vacancy is posted for search by (1) placing a job description in a new Recruiting Bulletin or in a supplement to the last published Recruiting Bulletin; (2) sending the job description by email to the Tullahoma office of the Department of Employment Security for placement in that agency's applicant referral system; (3) preparing a search folder with appropriate forms to record recruiting activity.

   4. The UTSI Recruiting Bulletin is published not less frequently than monthly and is distributed to universities, professional associations, and public interest organizations. When a new vacancy is posted, either a new Recruiting Bulletin will be published or a supplement to the most recent bulletin will be published, depending upon the extent of mailing considered appropriate for the position. Staff non-exempt positions are typically publicized with a bulletin supplement which is mailed to internal and local addressees. Faculty or staff exempt vacancies are typically reflected in a new issue of the bulletin with its more extensive mailing.

   5. If the supervisor and the HRD/AAO determine necessary, the HRD/AAO drafts external advertising content, proposes publication outlets, and estimates costs which are reviewed by the supervisor. After approval by the supervisor, and/or the appropriate director, the HRD/AAO places the advertising. All recruiting advertising for UTSI vacancies, regardless of type, is placed by the HRD/AAO.

   6. Applications are received by mail, electronically, and in person following the opening of public recruiting. (Applications are accepted for posted position vacancies only).

   7. Applications are reviewed by the HRD/AAO to see that those meet announced qualifications and to verify that the applicant has submitted at least the minimum required affirmative action information (see below). Those applications meeting announced qualifications are referred to the supervisor under cover of a properly completed Recruitment Routing/Referral Form (UTSIPO Form 3), which appears as Appendix 2 to this procedure. Applicants not meeting the qualifications will be noticed in writing by the Human Resources Office.

   8. The supervisor reviews the applications referred and makes recommendations for interviews. Interviews may be conducted anytime during the recruiting cycle, but offers of employment may not be considered until the minimum public recruiting time period according to type of vacancy has elapsed (see below). The Recruitment Routing/Referral Form contains two major check blocks, one for "Intermediate Handling" and one for "Final Disposition". For applicants whom the supervisor wishes to interview, the appropriate block is checked in the "Intermediate Handling" section of the form along with notation of desired date, time, and interviewer(s). The HRD/AAO arranges employment interviews for the applicant and the supervisor. The HRD/AAO will notify the supervisor when arrangements for an interview have been concluded and resolve any corrections necessary to schedules. Questions of financial support for travel expenses for out-of-town applicants are resolved by the HRD/AAO with the supervisor. Recommendations for interview for faculty applicants may be handled differently (see below).

   9. Interviewees report first to the HRD/AAO for a general review and orientation to UTSI, the vacancy being recruited for, employment fringe benefits (as appropriate), type of payroll, method of payment, and other terms and conditions of employment. The HRD/AAO escorts or sends the applicant to the supervisor who conducts an interview focusing on specific job requirements and technical job content. The HRD/AAO is available to assist the applicant and/or supervisor through the remainder of the interview process. The host division is responsible for the preparation of travel authorizations for interviewees whose travel expenses can be reimbursed. The HRD/AAO assists in obtaining applicant signatures on travel authorizations. Interviews for faculty applicants may be handled differently (see below).

   10. When the required minimum recruiting period according to type of vacancy has elapsed and when a sufficient number of interviews in the judgment of the supervisor and the HRD/AAO have been conducted, the supervisor may recommend an individual for hire. The appropriate information is entered by the supervisor in the block captioned "Final Disposition" on the Recruitment Routing/Referral Form.
       1. For hires, a proposed starting date and starting wage/salary is recommended by the supervisor and the head of the budget unit on the appropriate block on the Recruitment Routing/Referral Form. The HRD/AAO reviews the proposal and determines that it is within the established salary parameters and within the provisions of compensation and other UT/UTSI Human Resources Policies and Procedures. Any problems are resolved with the supervisor. The HRD/AAO endorses the proposed appointment to the Associate Vice President who authorizes the offer of employment.

       2. For applicants rejected, the supervisor must check the "reject" block on the Recruitment Routing/Referral Form and record a specific, objective, job related reason for the non-selection. In any subsequent review of recruiting records, as by an external regulatory agency, the supervisor is responsible for justifying any non-selection for employment.

       3. The appropriate block on the Recruitment Routing/Referral Form is checked if applicants either withdraw from consideration, fail to respond to invitation for interview, or become unavailable for employment.

   11. The supervisor is responsible for safeguarding and returning to the HRD/AAO all applications referred against a recruiting vacancy. Closure and offer of employment appointment may be withheld until all applications are returned to the HRD/AAO. In the event of multiple vacancies under the same requisition, all applications must be returned by the time the last recommendation for hire is submitted to the HRD/AAO.

   12. Following proper authorization of offer of employment, the HRD/AAO generates the appropriate offer letter. The applicant is requested to call or write the HRD/AAO with his/her decision on acceptance or rejection of the offer of employment. After approval of proposed staff exempt or staff non-exempt appointment is properly received, the supervisor may contact the applicant and verbally extend the offer of employment. Since the original offer of employment may be modified by the HRD/AAO or the Associate Vice President, the supervisor should make sure that the details of the proposed offer of employment are consistent with the offer as actually approved by the HRD/AAO and the Associate Vice President.

   13. Following acceptance of the offer of employment by the applicant, the recruiting search is closed. The job description is stricken from the Recruiting Bulletin. The Tennessee Department of Employment Security is notified. The search folder is reviewed and missing documents or information solicited. The database is updated to reflect selection and statistics on the applicant pool.

2. Recruiting for Faculty Vacancies
   1. Certain steps associated with recruiting for faculty vacancies are different from those taken for staff exempt and staff non-exempt vacancies. The generalized recruiting steps described above apply with certain limitations to recruiting for faculty vacancies. The sequence of actions taken in support of faculty recruiting is described in the UTSI Affirmative Action Plan. The paragraphs below identify those recruiting steps which are significantly different from the generalized recruiting steps described above.

   2. The faculty have significant involvement in the selection of persons for faculty appointment. The Dean for Academic Affairs will consult with the faculty whenever recruiting for a faculty vacancy is requested. The faculty contribute to the decision-making on the qualifications stipulated in the search, the adequacy of the candidate pool assembled, the selection of persons to interview, and the recommendation for appointment. The Dean for Academic Affairs submits recruiting requisitions for faculty positions to the HRD/AAO. Applications from faculty candidates may be referred to the chairperson of an appointed faculty search committee or to an individual faculty member designated by the Dean.

   3. Candidates for faculty appointments typically present a local seminar, interview with local faculty, and interview with the appropriate academic department at U.T. Knoxville. Interview/seminar arrangements for faculty applicants are arranged by the Office of the Human Resources Director.

   4. Faculty applicants are not required at the outset to complete an application form (Academic Personnel Information form). However, when invited for interview/seminar the completion of this form becomes necessary, and the Dean for Academic Affairs will solicit completion of this form.

   5. A recommendation for faculty appointment is made by the degree program chairperson to the Dean for Academic Affairs. The Dean for Academic Affairs confers with the HRD/AAO to make sure that all affirmative search requirements have been satisfied. The HRD/AAO may prepare a narrative summary of search efforts which may be sent to the UTK Provost at his request. The Dean for Academic Affairs reviews the proposed selection with UTSI faculty and with representatives of the appropriate department at UTK. With the concurrence of the Dean for Academic Affairs the HRD/AAO closes the faculty search.

   6. The Associate Vice President may tender an unofficial and non-binding offer of appointment to the prospective faculty member. If that offer is accepted, the Dean requests the UTK Provost to extend an official offer of employment.

3. Recruiting for Staff Exempt Vacancies

   The minimum period of public recruitment for a staff exempt position is four weeks starting from the date on which the position is added to the Recruiting Bulletin and on which notification of the vacancy is mailed to the Tennessee Department of Employment Security.

4. Recruiting for Staff Non-Exempt Vacancies
   1. The minimum period of public recruitment for a staff non-exempt position is one week from the date on which the position is added to the Recruiting Bulletin and on which notification of the vacancy is mailed to the Tennessee Department of Employment Security.

   2. Applicants for staff non-exempt employment may request that their applications be reviewed for particular staff non-exempt recruiting vacancies if the application is not more than three months old. Successive requests for referral of applications may be made by applicants for successive recruiting searches so long as the application is less than one year old at time of review.

5. Reference Checking and Verification of Academic and Experience Requirements
   1. Employment references are checked and required academic preparation and required experience are verified on all staff exempt and staff non-exempt employment appointments made at UTSI, according to the following procedure:

   2. Ordinarily employment references will be checked and be found satisfactory before tender of offer of employment. If supervisors to whom applications are referred check references themselves, perhaps to verify pertinent technical background or technical capabilities, the supervisor's notes on those checks should be sent along with the application when returned to the Human Resources Office. Otherwise, absent receiving any such notes from the supervisor, the HRD/AAO will check employment references. Former employers will be asked about the attendance, punctuality, reliability, honesty, and quality and quantity of output of the proposed hire.

   3. Personal references may be checked at the supervisor's discretion but may be of limited utility because of the generally positive reports rendered by personal references.

   4. On positions with a stated minimum educational requirement beyond graduation from high school, the Human Resources Office may request in the offer of employment letter that the applicant have his/her educational institution send the Human Resources Office directly an official copy of the applicant's transcript. This will be monitored by a Human Resources Office representative.

   5. Persons whose employment will require that they handle cash or checks or have use and possession of expensive, moveable assets (eqiptment or instruments) will have a police agency records check run on them. An unsatisfactory result on the police agency records check will be brought to the attention of the hiring division and the Associate Vice President.

   6. Specific references to satisfactory results on employment reference checks or satisfactory results on police agency records checks will typically not be reflected in offer letters, but will be discussed with applicants.

   7. References citing potential problems with the employee, failure to provide appropriate transcripts, or poor results on police agency records check will be clarified and discussed with the hiring supervisor. Unsatisfactory results from these checks may be a bar to employment or may result in the termination of persons already hired. For regular, staff non-exempt appointments, the probationary period will be used as a period of time in which to gather the necessary verifications of academic preparation, reference checks and results of police agency records check.

6. Affirmative Action Impact on Recruiting
   1. The UTSI Affirmative Action Plan, while having impact on a variety of human resource activities, has a significant influence on the conduct of recruiting. Personnel Procedure 220, Subject: Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action, may be consulted for a general overview of provisions of the UTSI Affirmative Action Plan.

   2. Data is reported in the Affirmative Action Plan for females and minorities in seven EEO occupational categories. This yields 14 areas in which the utilization of females and minorities is assessed against their estimated availability in the recruiting market. Underutilization exists if females or minorities are utilized in an occupational category at a lower level than their availability and if one or more persons would be required to overcome the underutilization. In such cases a goal is set to try to affirmatively employ net additional members of the protected group sufficient in number to overcome the underutilization.

   3. When recruiting requisitions are posted, the HRD/AAO will advise the supervisor of any goals that are in effect for the occupational category appropriate to the posted vacancy. The supervisor will be invited to carefully review the applications of members of protected groups and try to interview them to the extent permissible. For recruiting positions which are not the object of affirmative action goal-setting, the supervisor will be asked to review applications in an objective and non-discriminatory fashion.

   4. For recruiting vacancies which are the subject of affirmative action goal setting, the HRD/AAO will carefully review the recruiting search at recommendation to hire. If qualified members of protected groups were present in the applicant pool but were not interviewed, the HRD/AAO will solicit from the supervisor an explanation of why not. If members of protected groups in such cases are more qualified than the individual whose hire is recommended, the HRD/AAO may decline approval of the appointment and may direct that additional interviews or further solicitation of applications be accomplished before authorizing an appointment to staff exempt and staff non-exempt appointments.

   5. For faculty positions, with the relationship that exists between UTSI and UTK, the HRD/AAO may prepare at the conclusion of faculty recruiting a narrative summary of search efforts and statistical profile of the applicant pool to send to UTK at the request of the Provost.

   6. Affirmative action information is requested from each applicant for employment.

   7. At the conclusion of recruiting, appropriate statistics on the search and the applicant pool sufficient to satisfy federal reporting requirements are entered in the appropriate database in the Human Resources Office.