For Hiring Managers

Determine who participates in the search process and plan what their role will be in the search. The actual assignment of roles and responsibilities should be defined at the initial planning meeting. One person could serve in multiple roles.

Department Head

• identify and communicate the position that needs to be filled
• provide the charge to the search committee
• decide on the finalist to recommend for hire

Search Committee Chair  

• receive the charge of the department head
• carry out the mission of the search
• coordinate all aspects of the search

Administrative Coordinator  

• manage the UB Jobs application including input of position description and updating applicant statuses

Search Contact  

• communicate with applicants both via phone and e-mail

HR Recruitment Specialist

• serve as advisor
• recruit candidates
• marketing specialist for the search

A thoughtful, intentional search plan is key to finding the best candidates. A great way to plan your search is using reverse order to plan the timeline for your recruitment. Start with the date you want your candidate to begin working and work backwards including all key milestones the search will require.

Keep in mind that the minimum posting period for each position type is predefined. Use the posting periods below and the key milestones of the search to develop a timeline.

End of Internal Posting Period: If an internal candidate is identified before the end of the internal posting period, the external posting period can be canceled. The end of the internal posting period is the last day to cancel the external posting period.

End of External Posting Period: At the end of the external posting period, the search committee should decide whether the applicant pool is sufficient or if additional outreach is needed.

Interviews: The search committee can begin interviewing immediately after the position is posted. Starting interviews right away will help minimize the time spent interviewing candidates and can help shorten the posting timeline.

Recommendation for Hire: After the search committee has interviewed candidates, they must deliberate and decide who they would like to recommend for hire.

Hiring Proposal Submission: Once a recommendation has been made, the hiring manager will need to submit a hiring proposal for approval in UB Jobs.

Hiring Proposal Approval: An offer of employment can only be extended after the hiring proposal has been approved. Once the hiring proposal has been approved, the department can contact the candidate to offer the job.

Offer Accepted: When the candidate has accepted the offer, the department can coordinate a start date and begin making onboarding preparations.

Date to be Filled: The date to be filled is the start date for the candidate who has accepted the position.

Market data can help make effective decisions when determining salary. Market data at UB includes:

• College and University Professional Association, for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) data
• Current staff, administrative, and faculty roles
• Departmental review of salaries
• Organizational position reviews are available as needed

The position summary is the applicant-facing preview of your job. The position summary is a marketing tool and should not be a job description.  The first sentence or 300 characters is critical to draw an applicant’s interest to want to learn more about your position.

When writing a position summary, it is important to create a summary that markets the job effectively and is welcoming to applicants from all backgrounds. In an increasingly competitive market, it is key to keep position summaries brief with broad qualifications to ensure a broad and diverse applicant pool can be considered. When crafting your position summary, consider the following:

• Make the most of the first 150-350 characters
• Use bulleted lists to describe the essential job duties (5-10 bullets max)
• Avoid using gendered language; when referring to the candidate, use ‘you’ – for example, “in this position, you will…”
• Make text understandable to external applicants – avoid UB specific language

Minimum and preferred qualifications play a huge role in developing a pool of qualified applicants to consider. It is important to understand that narrow qualifications can unintentionally limit the diversity of your applicant pool. When defining qualifications, be sure to:

• Be clear and realistic about the requirements
• Focus on competencies rather than experience
• Talk about successes as a qualification
• Avoid listing number of years and instead, define specifically what the best candidate needs to have accomplished in their experience
• Consider using qualification equivalencies to consider candidates with a variety of educational and experience backgrounds

• Make the most of the first 150-350 characters
• Include a marketing paragraph or use a department specific paragraph if one is available at the very end
• Include a statement highlighting the value the department places on diversity and inclusion
• Write a posting that describes a normal business day to the applicant

Consider using some of the statements below as a guide to craft a statement that demonstrates the university’s commitment to diversity and encourages applicants that diversify our workforce to apply. Ideally, a diversity statement should be thoughtfully developed by the department to reflect their own values.

• The university is especially interested in qualified candidates who can contribute, through their research, teaching or service to the diversity and excellence of the academic community.
• Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply.
• The university seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Buffalo, to maintain the excellence of the university and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives and ways of knowing and learning.
• The school/department is interested in candidates who have demonstrated commitment to excellence by providing leadership in teaching research or service toward building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment.
• We welcome candidates whose experience in teaching, research or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence.

Use a marketing statement at the end of the position summary to highlight your department or the university. Consider using a mission statement from your department's website. Copy and paste the university's marketing statement with links to the UB website amd one of the following benefit summaries.

About the University at Buffalo
The University at Buffalo (UB) #ubuffalo is one of America’s leading public research universities and a flagship of the State University of New York system, recognized for our excellence and our impact. UB is a premier, research-intensive public university dedicated to academic excellence. Our research, creative activity and people positively impact the world. Like the city we call home, UB is distinguished by a culture of resilient optimism, resourceful thinking and pragmatic dreaming that enables us to reach others every day. Visit our website to learn more about the University at Buffalo. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer. 

Outstanding Benefits Package
Working at UB comes with benefits that exceed salary alone. There are personal rewards including comprehensive health and retirement plan options. We also focus on creating and sustaining a healthy mix of work, personal and academic pursuit - all in an effort to support your work-life effectiveness. We support your growth and development through our career coaching and training department and we qualify as a public service loan forgiveness organization. Learn more about the great benefits the University at Buffalo has to offer.

Determine where advertisements for the posting will be placed. Utilize a variety of print or web advertising and listservs to reach the largest possible applicant pool.

The university’s affirmative action statement is required on all postings. Be sure to include one of the following statements on all external advertisements:

“University at Buffalo is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and, in keeping with our commitment, welcomes all to apply including veterans and individuals with disabilities.”

 - Or -

"As an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer, the Research Foundation will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and veteran or disability status."

• Identify national pools of qualified candidates for the field as a whole and for subfields for which you are considering hiring
• Identify institutions that are successful in educating women and/or underrepresented minority doctoral or post doctorates in your field or subfield. These institutions become a great recruitment source

The Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) has compiled a table of local census data by profession that can be used to determine what your applicant pool should look like.

• Learn about successes and challenges in recruiting underrepresented candidates from previous searches. Talk with the search chair from successful searches to learn about what made them successful.

• Contact the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for assistance
• Include an external diversity advocate on search committees
• Highlight diversity throughout the language used in the vacancy announcement and all other advertisements
• Send notifications to minority and women’s professional interest groups regarding all new vacancies
• Place ads in targeted journals and on specialized websites 
• Reach out to discipline-based organizations
• Advertise with publications, web sites and professional organizations that specialize in the recruitment of diverse staff members
• Attend national and regional meetings

A search committee is responsible for advertising a posting, reviewing all applicant materials and recommending the best candidate to fill a vacancy.

Look for key characteristics when identifying search committee members:

• Demonstrates good judgment
• Savvy about people
• Can discern talent who know and insist upon high quality work
• Known for their personal integrity
• Performs independently
• Devoted to the goals of UB
• Willing and available to assume the committee assignment

Value employees that take on a search committee role by:

• Acknowledging and commending their efforts
• Demonstrating respect and confidence in their decisions

The details related to the search must be kept strictly confidential including:

• Applications and resumes
• Any related search documents
• Information, such as names of references
• Completed screening materials or tools
• Responses to interview questions
• Conversations or comments made in search committee meetings

Search committee training is key to getting the search committee ready to interview candidates effectively. Have the search committee complete these trainings as part of their preparation for the search.

In addition to search committee trainings, search committee members should familiarize themselves with university policies and federal laws related to recruitment and employment.

The Workforce Planning and Recruitment department can help staff your search by providing a recruitment specialist to serve on the search committee for State and UB Foundation searches.

Including an HR recruitment specialist in your search can provide a variety of benefits to your department.  Our recruitment specialist will:

• Assist with completing the search within the planned timeline
• Ensure that candidates meet the minimum qualifications
• Provide a diverse perspective to the search committee
• Ensure compliance with state and federal laws

If you are interested in having HR staff your search, please inform your Workforce Recruitment and Position Specialist during the posting meeting.

After a position description has been approved in UB Jobs, you will need to schedule a posting meeting with a member of our recruitment team using the form below. At this meeting, one of our recruitment specialists will help you finalize your search plan and identify tools that may be useful for your search. Some of the features available in UB Jobs are outline on the page below.

There are many tools available in UB Jobs to make your search easier. Consider the following points when planning how you will use UB Jobs:

Supplemental questions are questions that applicants must answer when completing their online application.

• You can develop open-ended questions or questions with predefined options
• Point values can be assigned to supplemental questions, which can be used to sort applicants
• Supplemental questions can be used to disqualify applicants who do not meet the minimum qualifications

You can identify which documents are required and/or optional for applicants to submit.

• Commonly used documents include resume or CV, cover letter, and contact information for references
• You can develop new documents specific to the needs of your posting

UB Jobs can be a useful tool for collecting references from applicants.  There are several different ways to collect references.

• The system can generate an email to references asking them to upload a letter of recommendation - you can designate a minimum and maximum number of references as well as a deadline by which references must be received
• Applicants can attach contact information for references as a document
• Applicants can attach letters of recommendation as a document

At the posting meeting, a member of our recruitment team will discuss all aspects related to the planning of your posting. At the time of meeting, you will need to know:

• The salary range for the posting
• The contact person who will answer applicant questions
• The diversity outreach efforts that will be made throughout the recruitment, which may include search committee training and additional advertising
• The complete search committee with a chair identified

It is at the discretion of the department to determine who needs to attend the posting meeting. To plan the search as effectively as possible, participants in the meeting should:

• Know which screening features the search committee will want to use when reviewing applicants
• Be aware of the timeline for interviewing applicants and making decisions
• Have prior approval for the posting so it can be posted live at the end of the meeting

“Pooled postings” are utilized for positions that are frequently recruited for and require an easily accessible “pool” of candidates. Follow the steps below to use a pooled posting.

Submit a position description request in UB Jobs. Be sure to include in the notes section that you will be using the pooled posting.

After the position description has been approved, you will be added as a hiring manager on the pooled posting. At this time you can review the pool or, using the quicklink for posting, invite candidates to apply to the pool.

Move the candidate you would like to hire to the status of “recommend for hire”.  When using the pooled posting, you will need to scroll down and select the position description you submitted in step 1 before starting the hiring proposal. If you select the generic pooled posting description instead, your hiring proposal will need to be canceled.

Review the department listed on the hiring proposal prior to submitting it. The department listed should match the department where the person will be working. If the department is listed as “The University at Buffalo”, you can correct this by clicking on the “settings” tab.

Check the hiring manager with access field to be sure you are listed. As hiring manager, you can monitor the progression of approvals and receive system notifications related to the hiring proposal. 

After the hiring proposal has been approved, you can make the offer to the candidate. If the candidate accepts the offer, the final step in UB Jobs is updating the hiring proposal to “offer accepted – initiate background check”. DO NOT update the status of other applicants in the pool.

Human Resources maintains pooled postings for the following commonly used Research Foundation titles:

• Counselor
• Education Specialist
• Educator
• Postdoctoral Associate
• Research Scientist
• Research Support Specialist
• Research Technician I
• Research Technician II
• Senior Research Analyst
• Senior Research Support Specialist

RF pooled postings are continuous recruitment efforts and are reposted annually. The minimum posting period for the pooled postings has already been fulfilled so you can submit a hiring proposal as soon as a candidate has been identified.  

Communication throughout the search process with your applicants is critical. Learn about the tools available through HR and UB Jobs to help you identify key contact information for applicants.

Use an applicant list to make communication of applicant updates between you and your search committee easier. The tool provides step by step instruction about how to populate the applicant information as well as a worksheet for search committee members to update an applicant's status.

Applicants appreciate timely communication about their application status. You and the search committee should update applicant statuses as soon as a candidate is not under consideration for a posting.

For competitive classified positions, HR provides list eligible candidates who have taken the civil service exam and are reachable based on their score. Applicants can also apply for transfer, reassignment, or reinstatement.  

Applicants who apply directly to the posting must fit into one of the following categories to be considered:

Transfer: Transfer applicants must have a current permanent appointment with a minimum of 1 year of service in a position of the same or transferable title. This includes applicants who are applying from outside of UB but work in the same title at a different state agency.

Reassignment: Reassignment applicants must hold the same title at UB. This includes applicants working at UB in a different department under the same title. There is no minimum length of time a person must work in order to be reassignment eligible.

Reinstatement: Reinstatement applicants are former state employees requesting to return to a title they used to work in (or a transferable title). This includes applicants who used to hold a state appointment but have separate from state service.

Human Resources can review these candidates to ensure they meet eligibility requirements before making them available to the search committee for review. Please get in touch with your Workforce Recruitment and Position Specialist
if you would like HR to review candidates for a competitive classified posting.

• Consider only the candidate’s ability to perform the essential function of the job; do not make assumptions based on perceived race, ethnic background, religion, marital or familial status, age, disability, sexual orientation or veteran status.
• Ask for feedback forms previously circulated to interviewers
  
• Ensure that the discussion of the candidates remains focused on the search criteria and evidence about the qualifications of the candidates for the position.

At the conclusion of a search, the search committee will need you to submit a hiring proposal for the candidate recommended for hire.

Prepare and submit your hiring proposal:

1. Click on the Applicant Tab
   
2. Choose View Application under the action menu
   
3. Click on Start PD Hiring Proposal
   
4. Verify your position is selected
   
5. Click on the Select Position Description button at the bottom of the page
   
6. Click OK if a pop-up message appears
7. Populate the missing information
8. Click Save
   
9. Click Next on the Hiring Proposal Documents tab
10. Choose the next level approver under the Take Action on Hiring Proposal menu
    
11. Receive an approval email once final approval is given on the hiring proposal

Approvers in the UB Jobs system will need to submit a hiring proposal for approval by Human Resources before an offer of employment can be extended.

At the end of a search, ensure that all applicant statuses have been updated so that there are no remaining active applicants.  Seriously considered candidates should be communicated with a personal letter or a phone call that includes an appreciation of their talents and intersest in the University at Buffalo. Once all of the applicants have been properly coded in UB Jobs, contact your HR recruiter to request that the position be marked as filled.

A posting may go unfilled for the following reasons:

• The selected candidate declined the job offer
  
• You are no longer recruiting for a position
  
• The posting recruitment period has expired
• You need to change any of the details on a posting

To cancel your posting:

• Disqualify all your appliants using Not Selected for Interview No Letter for the reason that the Position is Canceled
• Send an email including the posting number to your HR recruiter
  

You may need to repost a job to either:

• Extend a posting period to meet a journal deadline
• Reopen the posting for new applicants

To repost your posting send your HR recruitment specialist an email and include in your message:

• Posting number
• Title of position
• New posting start date
• New posting end date
• New date to be filled
  

HR will notify you when your posting has been reposted.