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Policies

Hiring Employees For Regular Positions

Human Resources Policy: 20.011

Selection of Candidates for Regular Positions

The recruitment of candidates for regular positions at Brown University is the mutual responsibility of the Employment section of Human Resources and the department which has the job opening.
The responsibility for justifying the necessary staffing level and job responsibilities assigned to a position resides with the hiring department.
No department at Brown University may make an offer or arrangement to hire, promote, establish or change a salary, or provide any level of benefits without prior review and authorization by the Department of Human Resources. The hiring department is responsible for following the procedures outlined in the instructions for the Online Employment System in preparing the Job Requisition in the Online Employment System (OES), developing, reviewing and, if necessary, updating the Job Description, completing the Hiring Plan and, if advertising is anticipated, drafting the employment advertisement and identifying possible placement locations and dates for each position. Additionally, hiring departments should follow the recruiting process outlined in the Recruiting & Hiring Guide.

Classification of Regular Positions

Responsibility for classification of job responsibilities within the salary grade system resides with the Department of Human Resources. Prior to posting, the Employment and/or Compensation sections will review all Job Requisitions for new positions or replacement positions with new Job Descriptions and establish the appropriate title, grade and hiring salary range.

Opening of Regular Positions with Financial Responsibilities

The recruitment of candidates with financial responsibilities in regular positions at Grade 9 and above is the mutual responsibility of the Employment section of Human Resources, a designated individual from the division of Finance and Administration and the department posting a position vacancy. This responsibility extends to new hires, transfer requests, promotion requests, career path moves and waiver requests for positions of this type.
To provide the designated individual from the division of Finance and Administration the opportunity to review the applicant pool and qualifications of the candidates for a position with financial responsibilities, the Director of Employment or HR Generalist will provide a copy of the Job Requisition, the Job Description and the Hiring Plan to that individual at the time the position is opened. The designated individual from the division of Finance and Administration will review these documents and determine an appropriate level of participation in the search and selection process. The level of participation will be communicated to the hiring supervisor. The Director of Employment will also notify the hiring supervisor that the position vacancy comes under this policy as well as provide the name of the designated individual from the division of Finance and Administration.

Opening of Regular Positions with IT Responsibilities

The recruitment of candidates with information technology responsibilities for regular positions at Grade 9E and above is the mutual responsibility of the Employment section of Human Resources, a designated individual from the Department of Computing and Information Services and the department with a position vacancy. This responsibility extends to new hires, transfer requests, promotion waiver requests submitted through the Online Employment System for positions of this type.

To provide CIS adequate opportunity to review the requirements for a position with IT responsibilities (grade 9E and above) and qualifications of candidates for such a position, the Director of HR Services or designee will provide a copy of the job description and the hiring plan to the Human Resources IT Specialist in CIS at the time the position is opened. The Human Resources IT Specialist in CIS or designee will review these documents and determine an appropriate level of participation in reviewing the job description, as well as in the search/selection process. The Director of HR Services or designee will also notify the hiring supervisor that the position vacancy comes under this policy and will provide the name of the designated individual from CIS who will partner in the recruitment process. The level of CIS participation will also be communicated at that time to the hiring supervisor.

Posting of Regular Positions

All vacant regular positions are posted in Human Resources, listed on the Human Resources "Job Opportunities" website, and available through various other sources on campus. Jobs will be posted for a minimum of five working days. No offer of employment may be made during the five-day minimum period.

Reopening Positions

Posting may not be necessary when incumbents leave positions during their probationary periods. In such cases, supervisors should contact the Employment section in writing to either select the next candidate on the Hiring Report, if acceptable, and request approval to make an offer (or) reopen the position and interview candidates from the original applicant pool and/or recruit new candidates.

Waiver of Posting

Under certain circumstances requests for a waiver of the posting process may be authorized by the Employment section of Human Resources. Example situations include:

• The position requires specific, unique skills related to the position; the likelihood of a search identifying a more qualified candidate is negligible; and an immediate hiring need exists.
• The position is of short, fixed duration (no more than one year) and it is imperative that a person be hired immediately.
• The position is an established internship of limited duration (two years or less) and precludes opportunity for reappointment.
• A grant awarded or moved to the University requires that a highly skilled employee begin work effective immediately and also that the selected candidate was previously associated with the particular project.
• The selected candidate is a Brown employee who meets the qualifications for the position and whose current position is being or has been eliminated.
• The department has filled a similar position within the past six months, does not underutilize women and minorities, and wishes to use the same applicant pool.
• The department has undergone a reorganization and wishes to reassign an existing employee to an open position.
• The department is promoting an employee in accordance with the Intradepartmental/Intradivisional Promotion policy (20.022).

Note: Waivers of the posting process may not be granted to hire employees currently working on the Limited Duration or student payrolls into a regular-payroll position, except as provided in Policy # 20.012.

Advertising for Regular Positions

Advertising, when deemed necessary, is generally drafted by the hiring department and then finalized and placed by the Employment section of Human Resources. Advertising costs are borne by the hiring department.

Screening and Referral for Regular Positions

The Employment section is available to conduct the initial screening of applications and/or interviewing of applicants. Qualified applicants will then be referred to the hiring department. Applicants for employment may be asked to provide evidence of competence in one or more skills required for the job being sought. All applicants for a specific position must be judged on the same objective, job-related criteria and may be required to take any tests deemed representative of the skills required. No screening or placement tests may be given without the approval of the EEO/AA Office and Employment section of Human Resources. Departments wishing to screen applicants with a placement test must submit the request and a copy or description of the test to the EEO/AA Office and Employment section of Human Resources for their prior authorization before administering any such test. Search Committees are not required, but may be used for positions with broad University responsibilities, at the discretion of the hiring department.

Applications and Reference Checks

All applicants interviewed must complete and sign an employment application. It is required that references be checked on all internal and external final candidates and that checking must result in a demonstration of prior satisfactory work performance. A Human Resources Generalist is available to check references or assist hiring supervisors in doing so.
Note: If hiring supervisors conduct their own reference checks, they must submit with their Hiring Reports copies of the completed reference checking forms (or the reference notes). Hiring supervisors are required to seek references from three prior work supervisors. However, when prior supervisors are not available as references, alternative sources may be substituted after discussion with an HR Generalist. See also HR Policy #20.031, Reviewing Employee Files.
If the final candidate is a former or current employee, the hiring supervisor must contact the Human Resources Generalist to make arrangements to review the information relevant to job performance in that employee's file.

Offer of Employment for Regular Positions

In addition to the posting period mentioned in the "Posting of Regular Positions" section of this policy, no offer of employment to an individual should be made until mutually agreed upon by the Employment section of Human Resources and the requesting department. This agreement is evidenced by the Hiring Report having been signed by these departments. Furthermore, no offer of employment may be made to an individual for a position with financial or IT responsibilities covered by this policy unless approval has been granted by the designated individual from the division of Finance and Administration or CIS. In addition, all other policies regarding employment practices remain in effect and apply equally to positions covered under this policy.
Upon request, the Employment section of Human Resources may extend the formal offer of employment to the successful candidate, negotiate a start date, note any special conditions of employment and inform the candidate of the date of the next New Employee Orientation. The requesting department is notified when the results of the offer are known. If desired, the hiring department may choose to extend the offer, but only after the Hiring Report has been approved.

Post-Offer Pre-Employment Screenings

For some positions a health evaluation conducted through arrangement by Brown University may be a post-offer pre-employment requirement, and the candidate's employment eligibility will be based on the results of the evaluation. Under certain circumstances, an employee may be required to be examined by a physician hired by the University.
For other possible post-offer pre-employment screening requirements, please see HR Policy #20.014, Reference and Employee Screening.

Interview and Moving Expenses

The University may reimburse departments or individuals for some expenses associated with employment interviews for full-time exempt positions. Details regarding reimbursement and eligibility are outlined in HR Policy # 30.017, Interview Expense Reimbursements.
Individuals hired for full-time positions may be eligible to have certain moving costs reimbursed. Details regarding eligibility are outlined in HR Policy #30.016, Moving Expenses.

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