• Section 1 - Overview
• Section 2 - Procedures
• Overview
• Five Stages of Recruitment and Selection
• Timelines
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Equity
• Record Keeping
• Section 3 - Definitions

Section 1 - Overview

Section 2 - Procedures

Overview

(1) There are five main stages to recruitment and selection at UNE:

1. Pre-recruitment
2. Recruitment
3. Selection
4. Appointment
5. Induction and orientation

Five Stages of Recruitment and Selection

Pre-recruitment

(2) Evaluation of needs

(3) Develop/Review Position Statement (Professional staff appointments)

(4) Establish a Recruitment Strategy

1. Redeployment (Professional staff only): The BRM will refer to the University Redeployment list in the first instance and advise the Hiring Manager if there are suitable candidates. Suitably qualified staff are to be considered for the position prior to advertising, in accordance with the relevant redeployment clause in the University's Collective Agreements.
2. Transfer on Grade: The Director, HRS, or nominee, may approve the transfer of a continuing staff member to a continuing position at the same grade, in accordance with the relevant clause in the University's Collective Agreements.
3. Secondment: A vacant position may create a secondment opportunity for current University staff. Secondments must be from two (2) to twelve (12) months duration, except where the Vice Chancellor or Director, HRS approves a longer period, and will be advertised internally through an Expression of Interest. Such appointments must follow the normal selection process to ensure applicants are assessed on merit. A secondment of up to six months may be exempt from the requirement to advertise if sourced through the Secondment Register or Redeployment list. The release and return of a seconded staff member should be negotiated on a case-by-case basis between the releasing and accepting business unit and the staff member.
4. Non-advertised recruitment: In some circumstances, the business unit may need to make a short-term appointment, up to twelve (12) months without advertisement or selection. The BRM should be consulted prior to proceeding with a non-advertised, short-term appointment.
5. Advertised Recruitment: All vacancies of twelve months or more are advertised both internally and externally. An exception to this is Academic Level A or B positions.
6. Where a suitable field of casual employees exists, vacant Level A and B positions will be advertised initially as an Expression of Interest within the relevant School or Directorate. Only academic staff within the School or Directorate who hold an existing casual appointment or have been employed casually within the previous 12 month period will be eligible to apply. Normal merit selection processes will apply. Where an appointment is not made following this process, the position may be advertised externally.

(5) A suitable field will be three or more casual academic staff, with the qualifications and experience recognised as appropriate for the relevant discipline area.

(6) Develop the job advertisement

(7) Determine Selection Panel

1. The Hiring Manager will recommend to the relevant HRS Officer a Selection Panel for approval.
2. In determining the membership of the Selection Panel, the Hiring Manager should consider the composition of a mix of people so that as a whole it has:
   1. An understanding of how the role contributes to the business area (normally the direct supervisor);
   2. A member with the expertise or relevant knowledge on the same, or similar field, as the vacant position;
   3. Include staff at and above the level of the position being recruited;
   4. At least two people, including the Chair, who have the relevant formal selection panel training (or relevant recruitment/selection experience as determined by the Director, HRS or delegate)
   5. Include a person external to the Cost Centre of the role being recruited;
   6. Gender representation; and
   7. A person from a particular culture or group for positions that require knowledge and/or membership of that particular culture of target group.
3. Membership of a Selection Panel cannot change once the shortlisting meeting has been held, except where a member has stood down due to a conflict of interest that has emerged. All panel members must take part in both the shortlisting and interview process. Exceptional circumstances should be referred to the Recruitment Team, Human Resource Services.
4. An applicant, upon request, is to be advised of the membership of the Selection Panel.
5. The following provides guidelines for the composition of Selection Panels - see below:
6. Professorial appointments only: The membership of the Panel shall be determined by the Vice-Chancellor on the advice of the Chair. One additional person may be co-opted at the discretion of the Vice-Chancellor.

Selection panel composition guidelines

(8) Request to Recruit approval

Recruitment

(9) Establish Advertising Strategy

1. The time from the first appearance of the advertisement to the closing date for applications will normally be at least ten (10) calendar days.
2. Positions that may be filled by non-Australian citizens must meet the criteria as determined by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Detailed information should be obtained from HRS.

(10) Additional Recruitment strategies

1. Executive
2. Specialist
3. Professorial

(11) Selection Panel processes

1. The Selection Panel conducts all selection processes for a vacancy up to and including making an appointment recommendation to the relevant HRS officer.
2. The Chair will take overall responsibility for the selection process and ensure all Selection Panel members:
   1. are provided access to the Staff Recruitment Policy and Procedures as well as other relevant policies and procedures;
   2. agree on the recruitment process and determining selection techniques appropriate to the position that provide the opportunity for candidates to demonstrate evidence of their ability to perform the duties required;
   3. review the quality, quantity and diversity of the field;
   4. are involved in shortlisting and other particular tasks such as reading articles or attending seminars / presentations. This may be undertaken by a sub-group of the Selection Panel, provided that at least two members make an assessment of merit;
   5. act in a professional manner, including declaring and properly manage any conflicts of interest; and
   6. exercise independent judgement by recommending the preferred and other appointable candidate/s to the relevant HRS officer.
3. Should a panel member become unavailable during the process, the relevant HRS officer will determine whether a replacement member should be appointed.
4. The Chair may exercise discretion in accepting late applications by taking into consideration the circumstances put forward by the applicant, the impact on timelines and fairness of the recruitment process. The Chair is not bound to consider late applications.
5. To ensure consistency, the same selection process will be applied to all applicants. Where the selection process arrives at two closely matched applicants, additional steps may be used to distinguish between them.

Selection

(12) Shortlisting

1. The Chair must ask all Selection Panel to declare any conflict of interest prior to the shortlisting meeting.
2. Using Web Kiosk, Selection Panel members can view the applications online.
3. When assessing an application, the panel needs to consider all documentation provided. This will include the applicant's Curriculum Vitae and, where provided, their response to the selection criteria. Where an applicant does not specifically respond to the selection criteria, the panel needs to consider whether the information provided in the Curriculum Vitae is sufficient to demonstrate the applicants' capability.
4. The merits of an application must be assessed against the selection criteria as a whole. Generally an applicant is expected to demonstrate capability in each selection criteria. However, an applicant may be shortlisted notwithstanding that not every selection criteria is met where the panel determines that the application overall is strong enough to warrant shortlisting.
5. For academic staff, other factors that may be considered against the selection criteria include publication list and grant income; review of student experience survey results for teaching and courses; peer review of teaching; and analysis of significant work undertaken.
6. The Selection Panel will determine the mode of interview, e.g. teleconference or videoconference for interstate or international candidates.
7. The Chair of the Selection Panel is responsible for arranging the interviews with the successful candidates.
8. Candidates should be notified of details of their interview at least four (4) calendar days prior to the interview date.
9. The University may fund travel and accommodation for candidates to attend a selection interview. The cost will normally be borne by the business unit. The Chair of the Selection Panel is responsible for making the necessary arrangements with the candidates involved.
10. Where a seminar is to be conducted as part of the selection process, the Panel will decide on the topic and format for the seminar and have a clear understanding of what is to be assessed (may include teaching ability and/or research capability). Candidates must be informed of the topic and format for the seminar when advised they have been shortlisted.
11. When only two staff members apply for a position that has been advertised internally only, the Selection Panel should interview both, unless one is manifestly unsuitable with respect to the selection criteria. Where there is doubt about the suitability of a preferred internal candidate, and to ensure selection of the best person for the job, the position should be advertised externally.
12. The Chair of the Selection Panel will confirm with HRS the applicants shortlisted for interview. All other applicants will be notified by HRS that their application has not been successful.
13. Professorial appointment only:
    1. The Head of School will ensure that shortlisted candidates have the opportunity to meet with key staff of the School. The Head of School should ensure that, through these meetings, candidates become familiar with the accommodation, infrastructure and administrative support in the School, School plans and key research activities; and
    2. Staff from the School may subsequently convey their views individually and/or collectively to the Selection Panel through the School representative or by email to the Chair directly. The Selection Panel will take these views into consideration.

(13) Reference Checks

1. Academic Staff: The Chair of the Selection Panel is responsible for obtaining verbal or written referee reports, prior to or following the interview, for appointable candidates. The referee should be provided with the relevant documentation to gain an understanding of the requirements of the position to provide informed comments with respect to the candidate's suitability.
2. Professional Staff: The Chair of the Selection Panel is responsible for obtaining verbal or written references for the first ranked candidate following the interview.
3. Referees should normally include at least one person who has been the applicants direct supervisor. The Chair of the Selection Panel may ask a candidate to nominate further referees or request a referee's report from someone not nominated by the candidate, noting point e. below.
4. Selection Panel members must not agree to act as a referee for any applicant. If an applicant does nominate a member of the selection panel as their referee, the applicant must be asked to nominate a replacement referee.
5. Reference information must only be obtained from referees nominated by the candidate. If additional information is required, the candidate must be asked to nominate additional referee/s. Where the candidate does not provide additional relevant referee/s the Panel may decide to not proceed with consideration of the candidate.
6. In all cases, the consent of the candidate is required before contact is made with referees.
7. The Chair of the Selection Panel must obtain HRS approval where the Selection Panel determines references are not required.

(14) Selection Decision

1. A semi-structured interview should be conducted, with the same questions asked of each candidate. Additional specific questions for each candidate should also be considered, but without limiting the chance for Panel members to pursue issues with individual candidates arising from their responses to questions.
2. Selection Panels have discretion in the relative weighting of selection criteria, the judgement of the merits of candidates against those criteria and in the assessment of potential or ability to perform other duties. A candidate may not meet one of the selection criteria, but more than compensates with strengths in others and, accordingly, will still be able to make a significant contribution. Panels should deliberate and apply collective judgement, rather than develop a strictly mathematical approach to weighting criteria and methodically assessing compliance.
3. The Selection Panel will base its decision on the principles outlined in the Staff Recruitment Policy, on assessment of the candidate against the selection criteria and all information gathered as part of the process (incorporating the application, interview, referee reports and seminars, where relevant).
4. A Selection Panel will normally make its decision on the basis of consensus, however where this is not possible, the Chair may make a determination based on the majority of members.
5. The Chair of the Selection Panel will provide HRS with the completed Selection Panel Report.

(15) Seminars

1. Shortlisted applications for academic appointments will normally present a seminar as an integral part of the selection process as a means of demonstrating their knowledge and skills.
2. Seminars should be conducted prior to the interview and must not be attended by other candidates.
3. Candidates may be exempted by the Vice-Chancellor (or delegate) from a requirement to deliver a seminar as part of the recruitment process on the grounds of confidentiality. To facilitate such approval, an explanation must be provided to the Director, HRS.
4. Academic staff of the School/Centre may attend and provide feedback on candidates' seminar to the Selection Panel prior to interview. Confidentiality must be scrupulously observed. The Selection Panel will take this advice into account along with the other information available to it.

Appointment

(16) Making an Offer of employment

1. When the Selection Panel Report has been approved by HRS, the Chair of the Selection Panel may advise the successful candidate that a formal offer of employment will be forthcoming.
2. Prior to this approval, the Chair may verbally advise the preferred candidate that they have been recommended for the position, subject to HRS approval, in order to commence negotiations.
3. All negotiations must be made on the clear understanding that they do not commit the University until the formal written offer of employment is made.
4. Professorial appointment only:
   1. HRS will submit the Selection Panel Report to the Vice-Chancellor, or delegated officer, for approval.
   2. On acceptance of an offer of appointment, Council will be advised and provided with the appointee's summary CV. When the offer has either been accepted or has lapsed, Council will be informed of the outcome before any announcement is made.

(17) Issuing an Offer

(18) The University reserves the right not to make an appointment and to invite applications from other persons.

(19) Declined Offers

(20) Communicating with Candidates

1. The Chair of the Selection Panel is responsible for communicating the outcome of the process with all interviewed candidates once the Selection Panel Report is approved by HRS.
2. Where a selection process is prolonged or delayed, the Chair will ensure that affected candidates are advised of the likely timeframes.
3. Once the Selection Panel Report is approved, HRS will provide formal confirmation of the outcome of the recruitment process to unsuccessful but appointable candidates and non-appointable candidates.

(21) Valid period of Selection Panel Report

(22) Induction and Orientation

Timelines

(23) The following HRS timescale is included as a guide for the recruitment and selection process:

1. Step 1: Completed Request to Recruit form received in HRS, including attachments to the position being advertised = up to 5 working days.
2. Step 2: Position advertised to closing date = minimum 10 calendar days
3. Step 3: Closing date to shortlisting meeting = minimum 3 working days
4. Step 4: Shortlisting meeting to interviews = minimum 4 calendar days
5. Step 5: Interviews to Selection Panel Report submitted to HRS for approval = up to 3 working days
6. Step 6: Completed Selection Panel Report received in HRS to Report approved and offer of employment made = up to 3 working days
7. Step 7: Offer of employment made to acceptance of offer received = 7 calendar days.

(24) Note: this is provided as a guide only. Where additional approvals, or steps such as reclassification, additional days need to be factored in for planning purposes.

Roles and Responsibilities

Equity

(25) One of the principles of the Staff Recruitment Policy is that recruitment and selection will be based on the principles of equity.

(26) At the request of an applicant or selection panel member or where, in the opinion of the Chair, equity issues are likely to arise, HRS will nominate an EEO representative to attend any part of the selection process as an observer.

Record Keeping

(27) All files relating to the recruitment and selection procedures will be recorded in accordance with the UNE Records Management Policy.

Section 3 - Definitions

(28) Child-related Employment means employment of certain kinds that primarily involves direct contact with children (under the age of 18) where that contact is not directly supervised by a person having the capacity to direct the person in the course of their employment as defined in Section 33 of the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998.

(29) Cost Centre means the relevant School, Directorate or other business unit.

(30) Director HRS means the Director of Human Resource Services.

(31) Collective Agreements means the University of New England Academic and ELC Teaching Staff Collective Agreement 2014-2017, the University of New England Professional Staff Collective Agreement 2014-2017, each as extended or varied from time to time, and is taken to include any agreement that replaces or varies one or more of these documents.

(32) Early Career Academic appointment means an appointment under Clause 11.5.4 or 21.12 of the University of New England Academic and ELC Teaching Staff Collective Agreement 2014-2017.

(33) Head of Cost Centre normally means the Head of School or Director (as the case may be) of the relevant School or Directorate. Where it is not appropriate for the Head of School or Director to act, or where the circumstances relate to a position reporting directly to a Senior Executive, the Head of Cost Centre will be taken to mean the relevant Senior Executive. Where the matter relates to a Senior Executive, the Head of Cost Centre will be the Vice Chancellor.

(34) Hiring Manager normally means the staff member from the relevant School or Directorate responsible for the recruitment process.

(35) Merit selection - means a formal selection process that is designed to find and select the most capable candidate for the position being recruited. In determining the most capable candidate, regard should be had to the nature and duties of the position and the abilities, qualifications, experience and standard of work performance of the candidate that are relevant to the performance of those duties. Note: In this policy, internal expressions of interest, in accordance with clause (4) of the Policy, are permitted within the definition of merit selection, and are permitted only in relation to Early Career Academics and appointments for less than 12 months.

(36) Recruitment means the process of sourcing, selecting and appointing the best qualified candidate for an open position and includes analysing the requirements of a position, attracting applicants, screening and selecting applications, hiring and integrating the new employee into the University.

(37) Senior Executive means the Vice Chancellor and his/her direct reports, excluding support staff.

(38) Selection criteria means an appropriate statement of the skills, knowledge, experience and attributes considered essential for the position.

(39) Supervisor means the role to whom a position reports to.