Toolkit for Inclusive Searches

Overview

Fair and equitable searches require deliberateness from the outset. Applicants will form opinions of Western based upon their assessments of each search process’s fairness, professionalism, and timeliness. How we conduct searches evidences our departmental and institutional values. And in the end, the individuals hired will shape Western’s culture far into the future. This page should be read in conjunction with the information provided on the Human Resources Hire an Employee web page.

Forming the Search Committee

Consider factors including potential committee members’ relevant expertise, ability to offer a diverse perspective, ability and willingness to interrupt assumptions and biases and support the candidacy of highly qualified non-traditional or other applicants, and experience serving on search committees. Every committee member’s participation at all stages of the search will help the University obtain the strongest and most diverse applicant pool possible.

Training Requirement

All search committee members must complete CRTC's required online Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action training prior to review of any applications (this includes review of any potential Dual Career Assistance applicants - see next section). The online training can be accessed through the  Western Training Portal. Search chairs are responsible to ensure that this training requirement is communicated to all committee members and that the required training is completed in a timely manner. The training is more of a “read through” training, so CRTC recommends asking committee members to complete the training individually by a certain date and then re-convening the committee afterwards to discuss any questions they may have or anything that would be helpful to review as a committee. Search chairs are also encouraged to share with the committee CRTC’s Toolkit for Inclusive Searches, which contains important resources and information for search committees. Questions may be directed to CRTC.

The online training explores what equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements mean in practice as we conduct searches and with respect to the individuals we employ. It is the policy of the University not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. It is also the policy of the University  to take affirmative action to employ and to advance in employment, qualified women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and protected (or covered) veterans, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements. Affirmative actions include training programs, outreach efforts, and other positive steps. This policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, recall, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship, at all levels of employment. Furthermore, the University will provide qualified applicants and employees who request an accommodation due to a disability with reasonable accommodations, as required by law.

Dual Career Assistance

University Policy 1600.01 and accompanying Procedure 1600.01A provide current employees and prospective employees the ability to request Dual Career Assistance (DCA) for their spouse/partner. DCA appointments further Western's commitment to recruiting and retaining highly qualified faculty and staff, and strengthen the University's capacity to meet institutional objectives. Prior to being posted externally, all applicable University recruitments are posted for 5 business days to an internal employment posting, allowing for interested DCA candidates to submit an application for the position. Following the 5-day internal posting, if there are no DCA applicants, the position will then be posted externally. If there are DCA applicants, the position will not be advertised publicly until all DCA candidate applications have been considered as outlined in Procedure 1600.01A. For Classified staff searches, additional internal postings apply per collective bargaining agreements.

Discrimination

It is critical for committees to have open discussions about the legalities of what can and cannot be asked of candidates, or considered during the evaluation process. See the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, and Human Resources Pre-Employment Inquiry Guide for more information on this topic. Do not ask candidates’ about their citizenship or immigration status. All position announcements on Western’s website state that new employees must verify their eligibility to work in the United States prior to beginning work at Western, and Human Resources obtains this verification. Offers of employment should be contingent on obtaining this verification. Hiring departments interested in assisting the candidate of choice in working to obtain work authorization should contact Human Resources as early as possible in the hiring process. It is against the law to ask questions regarding protected characteristics such as an applicant’s national origin, race, marital or familial status, sexual orientation, age or disability. 

Implicit Bias

All search committee members should be aware of the possible impact of unconscious biases on the evaluation of candidates, and work vigilantly to assess candidates only on the required and preferred qualifications articulated in the position announcement and listed on the evaluation matrix. It is important to acknowledge that “even people who are strongly committed to egalitarian values and believe they are not biased can hold implicit or unconscious assumptions that influence their judgments.”[1] To learn more about the ways each of us hold unconscious biases, search committee members are encouraged to independently take one or more of the Implicit Association Tests provided by Project Implicit. Note, that biases can both advantage candidates and disadvantage candidates.

To help ensure that all candidates are reviewed fairly, the search committee should discuss the precise meaning of the position qualifications and how they will be assessed before beginning to screen applications. Committees should be mindful that the best qualified candidates may not be those with the most years of experience, the greatest number of publications, or the largest number of other accomplishments. For example, an applicant who took time away from work or schooling to have a family may not generate as thick a CV, but the substance and quality of that applicant’s work may render the applicant better qualified for the position. Placing too much value on the amount of external grant funding secured, the number of publications, and other such markers of success might also unintentionally result in adopting implicit biases that may have prevented people in underrepresented groups from obtaining that grant funding or publishing in prestigious journals.

Creating the Job Posting

The position announcement drives the entire applicant review process. It must accurately describe the position responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, application instructions, and the date when review of applications will commence or acceptance of applications will close. The qualifications should be as clear to potential applicants as possible. Avoid language that may be understood only at Western, or within your department. Make sure everyone on the search committee ascribes to the same meaning to the qualifications. It is important to evaluate and eliminate any unnecessary barriers to meeting the job qualifications. Consider how well the draft qualifications measure candidates' likelihood of future success in the position. Ask yourself whether broader qualifications could still help you assess applicants’ ability to excel in the job.

ADEI Requirements and Qualifications

Write a position description that encourages accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI). Search committees are also encouraged to include information highlighting department-specific initiatives related to ADEI, and additionally provide links to Western's ADEI website.

As the diversity of Western’s student population grows – for example, students of color now represent over 25% of Western’s student body – experience or demonstrated ability to effectively serve a diverse student population becomes increasingly important. You are strongly encouraged to assess candidates on their multicultural competencies and to include one or more qualifications such as the following:

  • Demonstrated record of supporting the success of students traditionally underrepresented in the field.
  • Experience developing [courses/programs] that inclusively serve a diverse student population.
  • Demonstrated ability and commitment to cultivate learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of students with diverse social identities and backgrounds.
  • Demonstrated leadership in promoting equity and diversity.

These qualifications can be revised for professional or classified staff positions that work less directly with students.

Outreach

The search committee should create a robust Recruitment Plan, calling on the hiring authority for assistance as necessary. The Recruitment Plan must be provided as part of the Recruitment Request form in PageUp. Detailed instructions on how to initiate the Recruitment Request form in PageUp and route for approval are provided in the Recruitment Request Reference Guide provided on the Western PageUp Resources webpage. You can distribute the approved position announcement and short advertisements after the request has received all necessary approvals and has been posted externally by Human Resources. The search committee is responsible for advertising the position in accordance with the Recruitment Plan.

Federal law mandates that the University conduct proactive, targeted outreach whenever the position being filled falls into a job group in which women or racial/ethnic minorities are underrepresented according to Western’s Affirmative Action Plan. Federal law also requires proactive outreach to veterans and people with disabilities in every search.

Leveraging Personal and Professional Networks

Networking and advertising are critical to attracting a diverse applicant pool. Not only is such outreach legally mandated when racial/ethnic minorities or women are underrepresented in the relevant job group, and for veterans and people with disabilities in every search, but broader and targeted outreach may get the attention of excellent potential candidates who are not actively looking for job openings.

If you are well networked within diverse communities, consider sending postings to listservs, social media platforms and hashtag communities. Track your results to see how effective your efforts are and to gauge which of these channels yields the best results. Tracking tools like bitlinks allow search committees to assess outreach efforts.

Search Process when using a Search Firm

For some recruitments, hiring managers might consider contracting a private search firm to assist in the search process. Questions regarding the University’s contracting process should be directed to Business Services (Contract Administration). When using a search firm, University hiring procedures must still be observed. The following is a summary, however, search chairs and coordinators should also review and adhere to more detailed guidance related to the search process when using a search firm:

  • Completing a recruitment request through the PageUp Jobs application (the recruitment request should receive all necessary approvals prior to any job announcements/advertisements being published, and if applicable, the Dual Career Assistance posting and process must fully conclude prior to the commencement of any broader recruitment effort (see full DCA Procedure for more information);
  • Completing required Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Search Committee Training prior to any review of applications (including DCA applications, if applicable);
  • Receiving approval from Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance (CRTC) prior to interviewing finalists (this includes providing dispositions, or reasons for non-selection, for all applicants not being requested as Finalists or Alternate Finalists); 
  • Coordinating with Human Resources and CRTC to receive approval prior to extending an offer (this includes providing dispositions, or reasons for non-selection, for all applicants not being offered the position, including Finalists or Alternate Finalists not selected). 

If applications will be directly received by the search firm rather than through the PageUp Jobs application, additional coordination between the search firm and the CRTC will be required. In this case, the interview/offer approvals will need to be facilitated outside of PageUp. Hiring managers using private search firms should contact CRTC as soon as possible so that CRTC can be in contact with the search firm, and coordinate with the search chair in order to ensure that University hiring procedures are observed.

As with all recruitments, the University’s records retention schedule must be observed. The search chair, in coordination with the hiring manager and hiring department, should ensure that at the close of the search, all application/evaluative materials are received from the search firm so that these can be retained along with the rest of the search committee’s records for the necessary duration. 

Candidate Review and Selection

Evaluation Rubrics

Evaluation rubrics are an effective tool for assessing individual candidates while maintaining consistency.

The committee may decide to prioritize some of the qualifications more heavily than others. Such a decision should be made at the outset of the search, before review of applications begins. Making the decision early in the process helps ensure that it is based on departmental need rather than influenced by the qualifications of particular individuals in the applicant pool.

Initial Screening

Depending on the size and strength of your applicant pool, you may decide to conduct initial screening interviews by telephone or Skype with those applicants the committee designates as semi-finalists. These initial screening interviews may also be a good opportunity to explore whether applicants are still interested in the position and whether the salary range is acceptable to them. Conducting initial screening interviews does not require a  Request to Interview approval from the CRTC.

If you conduct initial screening interviews, remember that the questions asked should help you assess how the candidates satisfy the job qualifications. If you screen someone by phone or Skype, you should screen all semi-finalists by phone or Skype, even if one or more of them are internal or local candidates who could easily talk with the search committee in person.

Allocate the same amount of time for each call. When possible, at least two search committee members should participate in the calls, and ideally these should be the same individuals for each call. The committee members who make the calls should then report information learned to the entire committee.

Interviews

Prior to inviting finalists for interviews, the search committee must route through PageUp a Request to Interview, and receive approval from CRTC or Human Resources as appropriate. CRTC provides this approval for professional staff or tenure-track faculty recruitments, and Human Resources provides this approval for classified staff searches.

In submitting the Request to Interview in PageUp, dispositions, or reasons for non-selection, must be provided for all applicants not being requested as Finalists or Alternate Finalists. Detailed instructions on how to enter dispositions in PageUp, and how to route a Request to Interview for approval are provided in the Applicant Management and Request to Interview Reference Guide provided on the Western PageUp Resources webpage. For additional information, see the below section on “Entering Applicant Dispositions into PageUp."

Create thorough agendas for candidates coming to campus, providing both the finalists and individuals from Western involved in the interview with a clear outline of the visit. Identify a primary contact person responsible for welcoming the finalists and ensuring that their visits run smoothly. In advance of the candidate’s visit, provide a copy of their CV or resume to everyone with whom the candidate will meet. When relevant, ask whether the candidates have any dietary restrictions. Candidates should be informed of Western's commitment to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request, and that requests for accommodations should be directed to Human Resources Disability Services. Watch Microsoft's 'At a Glance' video series for suggestions on how to conduct inclusive interviews for people with disabilities.

Develop an interview protocol to ensure consistency in the questions asked, length of time allocated for, venue of, and people participating in each interview. To the greatest extent possible, if a search committee member is present for and evaluates some finalists’ interviews, they should be present for and rate all finalists’ interviews. Give the same opportunities to all finalists. 

All interview questions should help assess how finalists satisfy the required and preferred qualifications.

Use of Audio and/or Video Recording in the Hiring Process

It is not WWU’s practice to record any element of the employee selection process. The only exception is in the case of open forums with candidates, where broad community participation is invited, and the session is not limited in any way to certain groups, departments, divisions, etc.

In making the decision whether or not to record open forums with candidates, departments should be mindful that similar to other search records, recordings have the potential to be disclosed if subject to a public records request or in the course of a relevant investigation.

In the case of recording open forums with candidates, the following guidance applies: 

  • Notice must be provided 1) in advance to each candidate; 2) in the announcements advertising the open forums; and 3) at the beginning of each open forum session. The notice must state the following:
    • The sessions will be recorded;
    • Recordings will be publicly available for viewing afterward;
    • How to access the recorded materials afterward, including how long they will be available; 
  • Open forum recordings must be retained by the hiring department, along with other related search and recruitment records, for the necessary time period as outlined in the University’s records retention schedule.
  • Open forum recordings must not remain publicly available. If soliciting feedback related to the open forums, the hiring department must provide a clear process and deadline for each candidate. Access to recordings must be promptly removed as soon as the deadline to provide feedback for the candidate has passed, with recordings being publicly available for no longer than one week following the open forum. This timeframe applies whether or not a login credential is required to access the recording. 
  • It is the hiring department’s responsibility to ensure that any recordings that will be shared on the University’s website or otherwise distributed to the University community are accessible to individuals with disabilities, in compliance with Policy 1600.07 Ensuring Accessible Information Technology. If you require guidance or assistance on creating accessible media, please review the captioning for live and pre-recorded media webpage.

Reference Checks

Think about when in the search you will conduct reference checks. Some search committees prefer to check references only after finalists are interviewed. However, in some searches, calling one reference for each of your semi-finalists may aid the committee in determining who the finalists should be. Other references can then be checked after finalists are interviewed. Consistency is what matters. CRTC recommends speaking with at least two professional references for each finalist. It is recommended that the same individual(s) conduct all reference checks.

Confidentiality

The search committee should treat its records and deliberations as confidential both during and after the search. At the first committee meeting, discuss what confidentiality means to the committee members, and come to an agreement about confidentiality. Committee members should also be mindful that the University may be required to disclose records in the course of an investigation.

Conflicts of Interest

If a search committee member knows a candidate, this should be disclosed to the full committee.  Committee member(s) should recuse themselves from considering any candidate who they cannot evaluate impartially. Whether committee member(s) should recuse themselves from considering a candidate they know well but feel they can assess impartially should be addressed on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the search committee chair and CRTC. 

Internal Candidates

When there are internal candidates for a position, the search committee must be especially vigilant about maintaining confidentiality. For example, avoid storing interview questions or search committee notes on shared computer drives or putting detailed information in Outlook calendars to which an internal candidate may have access. At the same time, some additional communication with internal candidates may be an appropriate professional courtesy, such as informing an unsuccessful internal candidate that finalists are being invited for interviews.  Internal candidates should not be involved in processing other applicants’ materials or evaluating their candidacy, even if the internal candidate is no longer being considered by the search committee for the position. 

Entering Applicant Dispositions into PageUp

Human Resources provides detailed instructions about how to enter applicant dispositions into PageUp. Please refer to the Western PageUp Resources webpage. For questions about using PageUp, contact Human Resources at 360-650-3774.

Search committees should keep the status of applicants (e.g. considered not selected, phone screen, alternate finalist, and finalist) up to date in PageUp. For all applicants other than finalists and alternate finalists, specific reasons for non-selection must be entered into PageUp before permission may be sought to interview finalists.  Ultimately, you will need to enter a reason for non-selection for every applicant except the person you hire. If an applicant inquires as to why they were not selected for the position, Human Resources will inform the applicant of the reason(s) for non-selection entered in PageUp.

The reasons for non-selection in PageUp must be specific and directly related to the qualifications in the job announcement. In PageUp you will select from a drop-down list that an applicant “Lacks Required Qualifications” or is Less Qualified” than the finalists (as well as alternate finalists if alternates are requested). After selecting one of these options, you must specify in the “comments” field which required qualification(s) the applicant lacks or the required and/or preferred qualification(s) in which the applicant has less experience or skill.

Making an Offer

After the search committee completes interviews and the hiring authority determines who will be offered the position, reasons for non-selection should be entered in PageUp for the remaining finalists and any alternate finalists, and the top candidate should be tagged as “Request to Offer.” Dispositions for alternate finalists should reflect the specific reason(s) they were initially determined to be less qualified than all applicants who advanced as finalists. Where a search is advertised as “open until filled,” the committee must provide dispositions for all complete applications received before someone is hired. Dispositions should be entered in PageUp for any applicants who applied between the date the Request to Interview was generated and the date of the Request to Make Offer.

In order to request approval to make an offer to the selected candidate, the Offer Details form should be completed in PageUp and routed for necessary approvals. A draft offer letter should be attached to the form as instructed. Coordinate with the hiring authority regarding who will complete this form – in some departments the hiring authority does this, while in others, the task remains with the search committee. Detailed instructions on how to initiate the Offer Details form in PageUp and route for approval are provided in the Offer Reference Guide provided on the Western PageUp Resources webpage.

After the Offer Details form has received all necessary approvals, the candidate may be contacted to extend the offer and the offer letter can be issued. Additional information pertaining to faculty hiring is available on the Provost's Office webpage.

Notifying Applicants That the Position is Filled

As a courtesy, once the candidate of choice accepts the offer, the CRTC recommends sending a brief communication to applicants informing them that the position is filled and thanking them for applying. These communications can be facilitated through PageUp using the "Bulk Communicate" feature. Phone calls or more personalized communications are recommended for finalists and for individuals who may have received an initial screening interview, but not advanced further. It is appropriate to notify any unsuccessful internal candidates in person, and to do so prior to release of any announcement that someone has been hired.