Recruitment, Assessment, and Selection of Academic Staff, Faculty, Limited and University Staff Employees

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Policy Number:
UW-5008
Old Policy Number:
3.01
Responsible Office:
Office of Human Resources

University Policy

Rationale/​Purpose:

The University of Wisconsin—Madison is committed to hiring talented people from all backgrounds to support the university. This policy establishes criteria for the efficient, effective, fair, and legal recruitment, assessment, and selection of UW-Madison’s highly talented, qualified, and diverse workforce. 

Definitions:
Applicant
Job seeker who has applied for the vacancy.
Assessment
Process by which job-related criteria are applied using various tools and steps to select the best-qualified individual for each position. Examples include phone screens, interviews, and reference checks.
Blue-Collar Multi-Shift
University Staff titles that work in multiple-shift environments (e.g., first shift, second shift, third shift).
Candidate
Applicant who has met the required qualifications for the position.
Centralized Recruitment
Process in which the Office of Human Resources (OHR) helps divisions manage the recruitment, assessment, and selection of high-volume and continuously recruited positions.
Employee
Anyone employed by UW-Madison, regardless of employee category or appointment type.
Final Candidate
Candidate who will be offered a position of employment.
Hiring Manager
The supervisor for a particular position who has the authority to make the final hiring decision. The hiring manager works closely with the primary recruiter to complete all aspects of the search process in accordance with established policies.
Internal Recruitment
Merit-based recruitment process that requires that applicants be currently employed at a UW System institution.
Merit-Based Recruitment
The recruitment process that selects candidates based on their demonstrated knowledge, skills, and aptitude to do a job.
Outreach
For purposes of this policy, the process of advertising a position and interacting with prospective applicants through social media, networking sites, job boards, and other channels to encourage individuals to apply for the job.
Primary Recruiter
Individual who is responsible for ensuring the recruitment, assessment and selection process for a particular position is completed in accordance with established policies.
Standard Recruitment
Merit-based recruitment process used to fill most positions, including most situations when there is a business need to change a position from the organizational contributor track to the manager track or from Academic Staff or University Staff to Limited Appointee. The process is open to all applicants.
Scope:

This policy applies to the recruitment, assessment, and/or selection of Academic Staff, Faculty, Limited Appointees, or University Staff.

Policy:

  1. Recruitment, Assessment, and Selection Principles

    1. Employees who recruit, assess, or select academic staff, faculty, limited appointees, or university staff are responsible for following this policy and their department or division policies and procedures.
    2. UW-Madison conducts a merit-based recruitment: 
      1. For all new or vacant academic staff, faculty, limited appointee, and university staff positions,
      2. In most cases when a business need changes a position from the organizational contributor track to the manager track, 
      3. In most cases when a business need changes an academic staff or university staff position to a limited appointee position.
    3. Before the recruitment, assessment, and selection process begins, the primary recruiter must ensure the job description is reviewed for job title and salary range.
    4. Primary recruiters are responsible for providing applicants with a positive experience, which minimally consists of writing clear job postings that comply with policy and communicating with applicants about status and decisions in a timely manner.

  2. Recruitment Strategies

    The primary recruiter must evaluate each position to determine which of the following recruitment approaches to use:
    1. Standard Recruitment. This strategy is used to publicly post new and vacant positions. The hiring unit manages the screening of applications.
    2. Centralized Recruitment. For specified vacancies with high volume applicant pools, OHR will manage the initial intake and screening of applications.
    3. Internal Recruitment. In limited situations where a specific business need or unique skillset is needed, the hiring unit can utilize this strategy wherein only current employees within UW System institutions, UW-Madison, or the college, school, or division are considered eligible for the vacancy.

  3. Exceptions to Recruitment

    1. Recruitment Waiver: Recruitment for specific academic staff, faculty, limited appointee, and university staff vacancies is not required when certain criteria are met.
    2. Referral Priority for Academic Staff: Opportunity for laid-off employees of long-term academic staff non-renewed for reasons other than performance to be considered for an open position. (See UW-703 ASPP Chapter 3, Nonrenewal of Fixed-Term Renewable Appointments and UW-705 ASPP Chapter 5, Layoff for Reasons of Budget or Program)
    3. Blue collar multi-shift: Transfer opportunities for designated employees.
    4. University Staff Reemployment after Layoff: Notification of open positions to, or mandatory placement of, laid-off employees. (See UW-5077 Layoff of University Staff ).
    5. Reuse of Applicant Pool: Primary recruiters are encouraged to conduct a recruitment for each open position, however when approved by OHR, an established applicant pool may be used to fill subsequent vacancies.

  4. Initial Screening Criteria

    In limited situations, open positions may be filled without conducting a recruitment
    1. Initial screening criteria are used to determine which applicants meet the required qualifications and will advance within the assessment process.
    2. Primary recruiters are responsible for ensuring these screening criteria are:
      1. Related to the qualifications, knowledge, and skills needed for the position,
      2. Nondiscriminatory,
      3. Developed with input from additional stakeholders, such as the hiring manager and/or search committee, and
      4. Developed prior to posting the position.

  5. Outreach

    1. Job Postings
      1. Unless otherwise noted in this policy:
        1. All jobs must be posted to the UW-Madison employment website.
        2. Job postings must include a description of the position, required qualifications, terms of the appointment (e.g., salary, duration, FTE, and title), instructions about how to apply, contact information, and an “ensured consideration” date. The primary recruiter must ensure applicants who apply by this date receive equal consideration.
        3. All postings must meet the required minimum posting period as designated by OHR.
      2. Edits to a job after it is posted must be infrequent and minimal to ensure a fair recruitment process.
    2. Primary recruiters are expected to do additional outreach beyond the UW-Madison employment website. Advertisements must contain a link to the job posting on the UW-Madison employment website to ensure applicants view the full job posting and apply in UW-Madison's applicant tracking system. 
    3. Primary recruiters must document all recruiting efforts in a Recruitment Efforts Plan (REP) to ensure that adequate recruitment and outreach steps are taken to attract and recruit a pool of qualified applicants.
    4. Hiring units may use third-party recruiters or search firms as approved by OHR.

  6. Assessment and Selection

    1. For all screenings, assessments, and interviews, the primary recruiter must ensure that:
      1. pre-determined assessment criteria is uniformly applied to all applicants,
      2. only job-related information is considered, and
      3. the process is fair and nondiscriminatory.
    2. The primary recruiter must ensure the following checks occur for the final candidate:
      1. Reference Checks:
        1. Professional Reference Check: Obtain information regarding job performance, experience, skills, and abilities as related to the duties and responsibilities of the job.
        2. Misconduct Check:
          1. Reference Check: Obtain information regarding employee misconduct (violations of law, university rule or policy; including any violation of sexual violence or sexual harassment policies; or conduct that adversely affects the employee’s performance of their job responsibilities).
          2. Personnel File Check: Additionally, review the personnel file for any final candidate who has held an appointment at a UW System Institution in the past 7 years to obtain information regarding employee misconduct, as defined above.
      2. Background Checks: Divisions must complete all other required background checks including but not limited to criminal background checks (see UW-5014 Criminal Background Checks).

  7. Job Offer

    1. All employment offers are contingent upon verification of the information the candidate provided during the assessment and selection process, passing appropriate criminal and other background checks as needed, and employment eligibility (I-9) verifications (see UW-5012 I-9 Verification of Identity and Employment Authorization).
    2. Employment offers cannot be extended until after the application deadline has passed and all qualified candidates have been considered.
    3. Except for one-time expenses (e.g., relocation stipend), the hiring unit can only negotiate within the terms of the position listed in the job posting (e.g., salary, FTE and title range).

  8. Recruitment Records

    1. Recruitment files must be retained in accordance with university records retention procedures.
    2. All requests for candidates’ names related to a specific recruitment must be directed to the UW–Madison Public Records Portal. The UW–Madison Office of Compliance will review the request and work with OHR and the appropriate division to respond to the request.

  9. Close the Recruitment

    1. After an offer is accepted the primary recruiter must notify each candidate who was not selected, in a timely manner.
    2. If the search is unsuccessful or the recruitment needs to be canceled for other reasons, the primary recruiter must notify all remaining candidates and close the recruitment in the applicant tracking system.

  10. Legal Considerations

    1. Hiring decisions are at the sole discretion of the hiring manager and cannot be appealed. 
    2. Candidates may contact OHR if they are dissatisfied with their experiences. The decision whether to act on this feedback is at the sole discretion of UW–Madison.
    3. Candidates who believe they have been discriminated against for a reason prohibited by state or federal law should contact the UW–Madison Office of Compliance, the State of Wisconsin Equal Rights Division, or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

  11. Response to Reference Check Requests

    1. When contacted by any potential employer, including other UW System institutions, UW-Madison must provide the following information about a current or former employee:
      1. Objective evaluation of their job performance, experience, skills, abilities and training, and
      2. Any employee misconduct (violations of law, university rule or policy; including any violation of sexual violence or sexual harassment policies; or conduct that adversely affects the employee’s performance of their job responsibilities).
    2. When contacted by UW System institutions, UW-Madison is expected to answer the questions outlined in University of Wisconsin System Administrative Policy 1275, Recruitment Policies.
Related UW-Madison Policies:
Related UW–Madison Documents, Web Pages, or Other Resources:
External References:

Policy Administration

Approval Authority:
Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
Policy Manager:
Associate Vice Chancellor/Chief Human Resources Officer
Contact:
Talent Acquisition Director -- Lauren Bowers, lauren.bowers@wisc.edu, (608) 262-3487
Effective Date:
06-24-2015
Revised Dates:

03-26-2020, 10-04-2021, 12-04-2023; 04-18-2025; 04-24-2025, 07-07-2025

Reviewed Dates:

07-07-2025

Retrieved:
10-11-2025 18:35:36