Approved by the Board of Trustees of Rockland Community College on August 18, 2005
The College benefits from a skilled labor force with employees that are prepared and qualified to assume greater responsibility and the College is committed to providing opportunities for internal mobility within the institution that are consistent with the College’s equal opportunity and affirmative action goals. It is desirable under limited circumstances to suspend or waive the Standard Personnel Recruitment Policy and conduct an internal personnel search to fill a new or vacant position, provided that the internal search is conducted consistent with the College’s equal opportunity and affirmative action goals.
The President may request approval from the Board of Trustees to waive the standard personnel recruiting procedures and conduct an internal personnel search under certain special circumstances such as the following situations:
a pool of current employees who are qualified in terms of education, skills and experience; or
an employee has been performing an administrative position on an acting basis for twelve months, the Board of Trustees has agreed to make that position permanent and the employee has met the relevant performance standards in the most recent formal evaluation by his or her direct supervisor.
To be eligible to participate in an internal personnel search, an employee must have initially been appointed to a position through a standard personnel recruitment search and be a full-time, permanent employee. Submission of an application for a position vacancy will not have an adverse effect on the status of the employee’s current position. Among the factors to be considered prior to appointing a current employee to a new or vacant position through an internal search is whether it is likely that a more qualified and diverse applicant pool may be found by conducting a standard personnel recruitment search. The President is authorized to establish certain procedures for internal personnel searches, as he shall determine, to be followed by those College employees responsible for recruiting and hiring employees, provided that all offers of employment must be cleared by the Director of Equity and Compliance to ensure compliance with the College’s equal opportunity and affirmative action objectives and approved by the President and the Board of Trustees.
Procedure
In order to implement the Internal Personnel Search Policy, the following procedures must be followed.
STEP 1: Preparation of the Waiver Request
The hiring manager (the individual responsible for making departmental hiring decisions) shall submit a request for waiver of the standard personnel recruiting procedures and approval to conduct an internal personnel search to the Human Resources Office for approval by the President.
A waiver request shall include (A) the Position Requisition (identifying (1) the name of the departmental hiring manager; (2) the name of the relevant department; (3) the position title and union position group; (4) a position description, including the major functions and responsibilities of the position; (5) consistent with the relevant union contract, the minimum qualifications or skills required and any preferred skills that could be used to further refine the employment search if necessary; (6) an analysis of the relationship of those skills to the position; and (7) wage rate or salary range); and (B) a description of the special circumstances involved that would justify a waiver.
Prior to submission to the President as part of the waiver request, the Position Requisition must have been approved by:
- the Vice President in charge of the department hiring;
- the Finance Department;
- the Director of Human Resources;
- the Equity and Compliance Officer;
- the Vice President of Finance and Administration; and
- the President.
The Human Resources Office shall ensure that all waiver request documentation is complete and deliver such documentation to the President for review and approval.
The President shall give each waiver request due consideration and determine whether to recommend to the Board of Trustees that the standard recruiting procedures should be waived.
If approved by the President, the President shall recommend that the Board of Trustees review and approve the waiver request, including the Position Requisition, and authorize the execution of an internal search.
STEP 2: Posting the Position Announcement
Upon authorization from the Board of Trustees to conduct an internal search, the Human Resources Office shall post a position announcement internally on various bulletin boards throughout the College for a minimum of ten (10) business days.
All position announcements shall identify the minimum qualifications needed to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position and any preferred skills. All position announcements shall state that the College is committed to increasing the number of faculty and staff of color, and strongly encourages applications from African, Latino/a, Asian and Native Americans and persons with disabilities. All position announcements shall comply with federal, state and local regulations pertaining to equal opportunity.
During the ten-day posting period, no interviews will be conducted nor a job offer extended to any candidate although applicants may be screened and evaluated.
STEP 3: Screening and Interviewing Process
The hiring manager with the assistance of the Human Resources Office shall appoint a search committee and select a chairperson.
The search committee shall screen applicants based upon the minimum qualifications needed for the position and the preferred skills, if any. Any applicants who do not meet the minimum qualifications for the position must be eliminated from further consideration. The remaining applicants should be scheduled for interviews with the search committee.
The search committee shall recommend at least three (3) finalists, depending on the number of qualified candidates in the applicant pool, and provide an explanation for its decisions to the hiring manager and the Human Resources Office.
The hiring manager shall check the references and the personnel record for each internal candidate interviewed. To the extent possible, all questions raised during reference checks should be consistent for all candidates. Questions during reference checks should be designed to elicit information about the candidate’s skills and qualifications for the position. Any comments which are unrelated to the candidate’s skills or performance must be disregarded.
Based on the search committee’s recommendations and the results of the reference checks, the hiring manager shall identify a proposed hire and notify the Human Resources Office of that decision.
STEP 4: Review of Proposed Hire and Process by Director of Equity and Compliance
Once a search is completed and a proposed hire is identified, the Human Resources Office must compile all the internal search documentation.
The internal search documentation consists of: (A) the waiver request; (B) copies of all position announcements; (C) the Applicant Pool Report (identifying the demographics of the applicant pool); (D) a complete set of resumes received for the position; (E) an analysis of the proposed hire’s credentials that support the appointment; (F) relevant reference check information; (G) the Affirmative Action Summary (identifying the current demographics of the relevant department, the hiring goals for the relevant department and an explanation of the impact of this hire on the goals); (H) a description of a convincing pattern of affirmative action in past hiring activity of the department, if the proposed hire does not contribute to the satisfaction of an affirmative action goal; and (I) a description of the current labor market that addresses the likelihood that a more qualified and diverse applicant pool may be found by conducting a standard recruitment search.
Once complete, the Human Resources Office shall deliver the internal search documentation to the Director of Equity and Compliance for review and clearance.
The Director of Equity and Compliance shall review the internal search documentation to ensure that the search was consistent with the College’s equal opportunity and affirmative action objectives.
STEP 5: Proposed Hire Submitted to President for Approval
Upon clearance by the Director of Equity and Compliance, the employment of the proposed hire shall be submitted to the President for approval.
STEP 6: Proposed Hire Submitted to Board of Trustees for Approval
Upon approval by the President, the employment of the proposed hire shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval.
STEP 7: Offer of Employment
Upon approval by the Board of Trustees, an offer of employment may be extended to the proposed hire by the Human Resources Office or by the hiring manager with the prior approval of the Human Resources Office.
All candidates must be informed of the outcome of the search.
The Human Resources Office must retain all recruitment documentation for one (1) year