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Staffing and Recruiting Toolkit

1. NOAO seeks to hire the candidate best suited for each position when a vacancy occurs. To facilitate this, we determine the labor market area for each open position and advertise widely within the appropriate recruitment area. NOAO is an equal opportunity employer with an active affirmative action plan, and (in Arizona only) a preferential hiring practice for Native Americans living on or near the Tohono O'Odham Nation.
2. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCEDURES
   
   
   1. Personnel Requisition
      
      
      1. Supervisor completes a Personnel Requisition including justification and budget information for unbudgeted positions. Recruitment budget for advertising and relocation must be designated on the requisition form. A job description must be attached prior to obtaining approvals. For new positions, the supervisor may be required to develop the job description
      2. Division/Project Manager approves requisition, and forwards it to Human Resources office.
      3. The requisition is reviewed for position control purposes, and approved by AD Administration and Facilities or designee.
      4. Director approves requisition, for new positions and returns it to the Human Resources office.
      5. Position is open for recruitment as soon as the approved requisition is returned to Human Resources.
      
      
      
   2. Recruitment File
      
      
      1. Human Resources assigns a job number to each position for tracking purposes, and establishes a recruitment file for all correspondence and applications. A Human Resources contact person will be assigned to interface with the hiring supervisor or search committee chair.
      2. Files are separated by each individual applicant, within the job file, to track receipt of application materials.
      3. Recruitment efforts are documented in the recruitment file, and maintained in active paper files for 1-year. Records after 1-year will be archived in paper or electronic files for one additional year. After 2-years, recruitment files are deleted (electronic) or shredded (paper).
      
      
      
   3. Advertising
      
      
      1. All positions are advertised internally in the weekly NOAO recruitment notice, which is available on the NOAO website, or electronically via email attachment or FAX by request.
      2. The hiring supervisor or search committee chair consults with Human Resources regarding external advertising needs. Human Resources will arrange for, and verify the placement of advertisements, and the length of time each ad will be actively posted in each source. For Scientific Staff and Post-Doctoral recruitments, Human Resources will prepare and mail fliers to an extensive list of Universities and Institutes with Ph.D. programs in Astronomy or related field.
      3. The hiring supervisor or committee chair drafts the advertisement, which may be edited or refined by Human Resources or the advertising publication. If edited, the hiring supervisor or committee chair will approve any changes before the advertising order is placed with the procurement department for purchase.
      
      
      
   4. Applications
      
      
      1. Interested applicants are directed to provide a resume or application to the Human Resources office. For Scientific Staff or other complex recruitments, additional application materials may be solicited. Applicants will be requested to refer to the advertised/posted job number in order to facilitate application tracking. Application materials will be scanned for electronic files, as well as paper copies retained throughout the active recruitment period. Application materials received directly by the hiring supervisor, committee chair, or others should be sent to the Human Resources Manager in order to be added to the official applicant file.
      2. Resumes or other application materials received in Human Resources will be date stamped, scanned, and logged into a database and/or spreadsheet (where multiple application materials for each candidate must be tracked), and a receipt notification postcard or email is sent to each applicant. For Scientific Staff positions, or those with multiple application materials to be tracked, a spreadsheet with application receipt status will be available periodically through the assigned Human Resources contact person, so the hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair has up-to-date information regarding the application materials received.
      3. For positions with no closing date, resumes will normally be made available to the hiring Supervisor as soon as they are date stamped, scanned, and logged in.
      4. For Scientific Staff or other positions with a closing date, application materials will be held until after the advertised closing date. One week before the closing date, applicants with incomplete application materials, will be notified that not all materials have been received, and will be reminded of the closing date. In the event the search committee wishes to solicit additional application materials after the closing date, all candidates on the short-list will be offered the same opportunity to provide additional materials. Completed applications will normally be available to the search committee chair within two business days after the position closing date.
      5. Resumes and applications will normally be made available to the hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair online via password-protected websites. Applications may also be available via email attachments, FAX, or internal mail as requested. The hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair may designate additional persons to have access to the website (such as administrative support staff or search committee members).
      6. The hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair (or designee) will screen application materials. If the applicant does not meet the qualifications for the position, the supervisor will notate this, and return the resumes to Human Resources.
      7. The hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair (or designee) will determine a short -list of candidates for interview or further consideration. Applications no longer being considered should be so notated and returned to Human Resources.
      8. Upon making a selection and hiring a new staff member, all remaining resumes should be returned to Human Resources for required files.
      9. Human Resources will send notification letters to candidates interviewed, yet not offered the position, or other candidates as appropriate.
      
      
      
   5. Interview and Selection
      
      
      1. The hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair (or designee) coordinates interviews with Human Resources. Either the Human Resources office or the Department Administrative Assistant may make travel and lodging arrangements for candidates who require travel to the interview site.
      2. When a selection is made, the hiring Supervisor or Committee Chair concurs with Human Resources Manager that the selection process is compliant and discusses offer information such as salary, expected start date, and other pertinent information. Upon Human Resource Manager approval the offer may be made verbally, however all offers will be confirmed in writing.
      3. Written offers will include a form for the candidate to sign, indicating their acceptance and starting date in writing.
      4. For expatriates who will be based at NOAO-South, a Service Agreement including policies and benefits unique to that location will also be prepared and must be signed by both the new employee and the Appropriate Director or Associate Director.
      5. The Supervisor or Human Resources may make inquiries (or conduct reference checks) regarding past employment, and educational verification during the interviewing and selection process. For Scientific Staff or other designated positions, letters of reference may be solicited during the application process.
      6. If a candidate is not selected for a particular position, yet is a potential candidate for another open position, the candidate will be contacted by Human Resources to determine if they wish to remain in consideration for the other position.
      
      
      
   6. Beginning Employment
      
      
      1. Human Resources completes a Personnel Action Form, and Payroll enters the employee data into the HR/Payroll database.
      2. Human Resources establishes an employment file for documentation of employment records.
      3. Human Resources meets with the new employee regarding employment and benefits paperwork to be completed (or mails this information to remote locations and coordinates the completion and return of the required documents).
      4. The Supervisor is responsible for ensuring appropriate departmental orientation and mentoring for the new employee. Assistance from the Human Resources Manager is available by request.
   
   
   
3. SCIENTIFIC STAFF UNIQUE PROCESSES
   While the general procedures outlined in B apply to both Non-Scientific and Scientific Recruitments, some additional processes unique to Scientific Staff recruitments are provided in more detail below.
   
   
   
   1. Standing Committee Recruitments. Certain Scientific Staff recruitments will be functions of standing committees. The NOAO Director will appoint committee members and designate committee chair. Recruitments by these committees will normally be conducted annually.
      
      
      1. 5-year Science Fellowship Standing Committee: Committee membership as of March 2003 includes Arjun Dey, Nick Suntzeff, Tod Lauer, Dave DeYoung, Sidney Wolff, and Bob Blum.
         
         
         1. The NOAO Director will appoint the Committee Chair, on or before 1 September.
         2. An administrative staff member will be assigned as Secretary to the Chair for purposes of supporting the Committee and coordinating with Human Resources in the application gathering, interviewing, and selection process.
         3. The advertisement will be drafted by the Chair or Designee and approved by the Committee before 15 September (there may be delays in timely advertising placement after this date)
         4. The advertisement will be posted at a minimum in the AAS job register, and the NOAO website for not less than 2 months, and the position closing date will normally be 15 December. Additionally posters and/or fliers will be developed and mailed to a wide range of Universities as appropriate to the field of Astronomy. The Committee Chair may determine additional advertising needs.
         5. Applicants will be sent a receipt acknowledgement from the Human Resources office by email (preferred) or postcard (if no email access) within 24 hours of receipt of an applicant's c.v. Applicants with incomplete applications 1-week before the closing date will receive notification from the Human Resources office detailing the incomplete application components and reminding the applicant of the closing date.
         6. Human Resources will maintain communication with the Committee Chair and Committee Secretary, and will share the application tracking spreadsheet on a weekly basis in order to provide up to date status information.
         7. Application materials will be forwarded from Human Resources to the Committee Chair within 2 working days after the closing date.
         8. The Committee will submit a short list to the NOAO Director and AD for Science timely, so that an offer can be made before the deadline for responses to other offers (such as the Hubble Fellowships by STScI).
         9. When an offer has been accepted, Human Resources will notify remaining applicants that the position has been filled
         
         
         
      2. Other Standing Committee Recruitments will follow the same or similar process as above, although the timing may be changed to meet applicable recruitment deadlines.
      
      
      
   2. Ad Hoc Scientific Recruitments. For non-routine recruitments, The NOAO Director or appropriate Associate Director will normally appoint an Ad Hoc Search Committee and designate a Committee Chair. Processes will normally be conducted similarly to the procedures for Standing Committee Recruitments, with the following possible exceptions.
      
      
      1. Ad Hoc Search Committees or the Chair may determine that an open deadline, rather than a closing date is more appropriate to their search. In such cases the Human Resources office would not gather and hold application materials through the closing date, but would arrange with the Chair to either forward application materials as they are received, or to hold the applications temporarily and forward them periodically (such as weekly or bi-weekly, for example).
      2. Ad Hoc recruitments handled by the PI or co-PI for a specific research grant or proposal may choose to act as the hiring Supervisor without formulation of a Search Committee, or may choose to appoint his/her own Search Committee. Procedures specific to the recruitment would follow those generally outlined in Section B of this document.
      
      
      
4. FAST TRACK Recruitments (for sole source, temporary or emergency recruitments)
   In certain circumstances, modified fast-track recruitment may be appropriate for a position. Such cases include, but are not limited to, positions funded by a grant, in which the grantee will be hired; or positions of a temporary nature not to exceed 6 months duration. Permission for using fast-track recruitment must be authorized by the Human Resources Manager before submitting the personnel requisition. Once permission for fast-track is obtained, the following minimum recruitment process will be acceptable:
   
   
   
   1. Personnel Requisition must be completed by hiring supervisor, submitted to Human Resources, and routed for position control review and approval signatures as required. Human resources will facilitate obtaining approvals as quickly as possible. A job description including minimum qualifications must be attached to the PR prior to approval. Positions must be posted on the website and recruitment posting notice for not less than 3 days before a job offer is made.
   2. Job candidates must submit a resume or job application.
   3. Human Resources must verify that the selected candidate meets minimum job requirements and is eligible for employment.
   4. Human Resources must provide a written job offer letter to the selected job candidate (this may be done via email if necessary to facilitate the process, or in rare cases in-person on the first day of work following a verbal offer by Human Resources). Hiring managers may not make an offer to a prospective candidate without prior Human Resource manager confirmation.
   5. Job candidate may not begin work until the above 5 steps of the fast track recruitment process have been completed.