Recruiting and hiring individuals to work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is one of our most important cooperative responsibilities. This toolkit is designed to provide resources to guide you through the various stages of the search process, to ensure the university is recruiting talent and making hiring decisions, in a fair and equitable way.  

Search Guidelines

• Recruitment and Hiring Guidelines
• Overview of Search Process by Employee Group
• Applicant Status and Disposition Code Guidance
• Cornerstone and JDXpert Aid 

Develop Job Description

• Writing Inclusive Job Descriptions and Position Announcements
• 6 Ways to Successfully Signal Your Company’s DEI Commitment in a Job Posting (LinkedIn)
• Physical Demands and Working Conditions

Select the Search Team 

• The Best Search Committees (The Chronicle)
• Forming a Search Committee
• Diversity Advocate Guidelines
  
• EEO Officer and Vice Chair Guidelines
  
• AY24 EEO Officers and Vice Chairs
• Hiring Manager Guidelines
• Search Committee Chair Guidelines
  
• Search Committee Member Guidelines

Train the Search Team 

• DiversityEdu Training

  Hiring managers and search committee members are required to complete DiversityEdu every three years.

  Understand and Mitigate Bias

  To learn more about implicit biases and ways to reduce bias, please visit the following.

  • Project Implicit (Harvard)
  • 8 Ways for a Search Committee to Be Inclusive (The Chronicle)
  • How a Search Committee Can Be the Arbiter of Diversity (The Chronicle)
  • 10 Myths and Facts About Hiring People with Disabilities (Work to Include)
  • 16 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to Avoid Them in the Workplace (Built In)

   

  Review Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) Resources

  To set up an account with HERC please go to their login page and click on Register here. Once an account has been established members can access many resources, including a Faculty Search Committee Training Toolkit which has short films about The Committee, The Recruitment Plan, Reviewing the Applicants, as well as Campus Visits and In-Person Interviewing.

  Additional Educational Resources

  • Broaden Perspectives
  • Challenge Assumptions
  • Enhance Objectivity
  • Overcome Stereotypes

   

Search Committee Forms

• Confidentiality in the Search Process
• Confidentiality Statement
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Search Committee Member Acknowledgement

Develop a Recruitment Plan 

• Custom Applicant Source Code Job Aid
• HERC – Diversity Recruitment Toolkit: Strategies for Targeted Populations (Member Login Required)
• Recruiting Diverse and Excellent New Faculty (Inside Higher Ed)
• Wanted: Disabled Faculty Members (Inside Higher Ed)
• Targeting Veterans for Hire (Circa)
• 5 Pros and Cons of Recruiting with Social Media (Berkshire Associates)

Track and Evaluate Good Faith Efforts  

• Good Faith Efforts Job Aid
• Good Faith Efforts Spreadsheet Example
• Good Faith Efforts Spreadsheet Template
• Diversity of the Pool and Source Report Job Aid
• Applicant Demographics by Source Code and Diversity of the Pool Report Access

Assess Applications 

• Example Evaluation Forms
• Why Your “Objective” Screening Rubric Produced Bias Results (The Chronicle)

Conduct Interviews 

• Gender in the Job Interview (The Chronicle)

Develop Interview Questions

• Asking the Right Questions: Crafting Inclusive Interviews (HERC Webinar)
• Diversity-Related Interview Questions 
• Pre-Employment Inquiries – Topics to Avoid

Share Benefits Information with Finalists

• University of Illinois System Benefits
• Dual Career Talent Attraction Resources
• You’re Welcome

Reference Checks

Campus Reference Check Resources

• Urbana Reference Check Form
• Reference Checking Guidelines
• Reference Checking FAQs
• Off-List Reference Checking Approval Form

Additional Reference Check Guidance

• Admin 101: How to Interpret Reference Letters (The Chronicle)
• Is It Time to Eliminate Recommendation Letters? (The Chronicle)
• Off-List References (The Chronicle)