50.01 - Hiring Procedures for UI Faculty and Exempt Employees

A. General. UI is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. See FSH 3060 Equal Opportunity and FSH 3065 Equal Employment Opportunity in Recruitment and Hiring.

A-1. Objectives of Equal Opportunity Hiring Procedures. Equal Opportunity is a set of focused procedures and efforts the UI conducts to ensure that equal opportunities are provided for all employees and applicants. See FSH 3065 Equal Employment Opportunity in Recruitment and Hiring. Except for students applying for the work-study program, postdoctoral fellows (post-docs), or teaching/research assistants, anyone seeking UI employment should be directed to the Human Resources (HR) Website to view all available openings. See HR Website . The academic units make teaching and research assistants and post-doc appointments. Please see Section D below.

A-2. Obligations to Provide Reasonable Accommodations. See FSH 3060C. The University extends reasonable accommodation to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to apply for positions for which they can perform the essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. The University will offer to provide reasonable accommodation in employment or in application for employment for individuals with disabilities who request accommodation, while avoiding making pre-employment inquiries about the presence of disability. Because the University cannot inquire into the existence of a disability which would affect the ability of an applicant to apply for a UI position, it is the applicant’s responsibility to request reasonable accommodation of disability in the application process and to specify the reasonable accommodation requested.

B. Process. The University is committed to an open competitive recruitment and hiring process, which is open to all applicants and is publicly advertised for a designated period. Exceptions to the process are reviewed and approved by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance (EOC Office).

C. Procedures. The steps for hiring faculty and exempt employees are listed below.

C-1. Obtain Permission to Fill Position. The Hiring Authority responsible for filling the position obtains approval from appropriate authorities through the electronic recruitment system or process established by the Provost/EVP or VP. The electronic authorization should include information on the title, estimated salary, and position control number. [Note: Regents’ approval must be obtained before initiating recruitment for major administrative positions--consult the EOC Office for information on positions subject to this requirement.] The written authorization should include a position authorization form identifying the title, salary, and position control number (obtained from the Budget Office, or may be downloaded from the Provost , Budget or Human Resources websites.

C-2. Review Hiring Procedures. Refer to [FSH 3065] Equal Opportunity in Recruitment and Hiring.

C-3. Develop or Revise the Position Description (if faculty) or University of Idaho Job Description (if exempt). The Hiring Authority or designee, with assistance from the unit/college equal opportunity coordinator, will create or update the position description for faculty vacancies or the University of Idaho job description

C-4. Prepare the Vacancy Announcement. The vacancy announcement is auto generated by the electronic recruitment system. The Hiring Authority or designee may add limited information to the vacancy announcement before posting.

a. The vacancy announcement must be consistent with the job description. Additional information about the area, college or department may be included to market the position.

b. "Required" qualifications are the minimum or basic qualifications that an applicant must possess to be considered for a position. Required qualifications should be non-comparative, objective and relevant to the performance of the job. Once defined, they are inflexible. An applicant who does not have all required qualifications cannot be interviewed or hired.

c. "Preferred/Additional Preferred" qualifications are desired qualifications beyond the required qualifications that demonstrate additional experience, education or credentials.

d. The vacancy announcement must include the University’s current equal opportunity statement.

C-5. Appoint a Search Committee Chair and Members of the Search Committee. The Search Committee Chair is appointed by a Hiring Authority and has primary responsibility to ensure the recruitment and hiring process complies with Equal Employment Opportunity requirements and non-discrimination laws. A hiring authority also appoints the Search Committee. The Search Committee’s primary role is to help recruit a talented pool of applicants and recommend, by using the UI hiring process, the best candidate, or candidates to the Hiring Authority.

a. At least three members should be appointed to the committee. Most committees have five to seven members.

b. Committee membership may include staff or faculty from within the department or from other departments who will interact with the individual selected to fill the position. It is often appropriate to include students, or stakeholders from outside the University.

C-6. Advertise the Position. The University has adopted a centralized placement of job advertisements. The list of centralized advertising venues is maintained and updated annually by the EOC Office. Departments are encouraged to actively recruit and place additional paid or unpaid advertisements. The Hiring Authority is responsible for payment of costs associated with advertisements beyond the centrally funded job posting venues.

The announcement must say “the University of Idaho is an equal employment opportunity employer, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.” If a background check, education verification or post offer medical screen is required for the position, it must be stated in the announcement. The advertisement is a condensed version of the announcement and at a minimum must include the job title, first consideration or closing date, contact information and the tagline “EOE.”

C-7. Review of Applications.

a. Applicants apply for positions through the electronic recruitment system. Applications submitted through the electronic recruitment system will be available for Search Committee members to view.

b. Initial applicant screening by the Search Committee is based on the required qualifications and submitted application materials. An applicant must meet all required qualifications to be considered for interview or hire. Intermediate screening by the Search Committee for preferred qualifications is used to make distinctions among minimally qualified applicants and identify the most qualified applicants to consider for interview.

C-8. Requests to Interview. The Hiring Authority or their designee submits a request to interview via the electronic recruitment system. Documentation within the electronic recruitment system summarizes the status of applicants and provides job-related reasons supporting the interview requests. The EOC Office reviews and approves all requests to interview.

C-9. Requests to Hire Following interviews, the Hiring Authority or their designee submits a request to hire via the electronic recruitment system. Documentation within the electronic recruitment system summarizes the status of applicants interviewed and provides job-related reasons supporting the request to hire.

a. The list of acceptable candidates can form a roster from which other comparable vacancies could be refilled within six months without conducting a new search.

C-10. Check References. The Hiring Authority or their designee is responsible for checking references and documenting reference checks before making a job offer. Reference checks may be done before or after interviews -- the important thing is that references are checked. It is highly recommended that prior supervisors be contacted for reference checking. See HR Website for more information.

C-11. Contingent Offer of Employment. Contingent offers of employment may be extended by the Hiring Authority only after approval by the EOC Office and HR (exempt staff) or the Provost’s Office (faculty). The offer of employment is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a criminal history background check and other pre-employment requirements for the position. (See APM 50.16 ) The person may not begin the new position until satisfactory results have been received.

C-12. Notify the Selected Candidate. In extending an offer of employment, the Hiring Authority will typically telephone the preferred candidate listed and offer the position at a salary within the listed range. Upon receiving acceptance from the candidate, the Hiring Authority or their designee will send the selected candidate a letter that welcomes the applicant to the University. The letter includes details such as the title, initial hourly wage, and start date and informs the newly hired employee about employment processing procedures including benefits. See APM 55.31. An approved offer letter template for staff is available on the HR Website . An approved offer letter template for faculty is available on the Provost Website . A copy of the signed letter must be sent to HR for the personnel file.

C-13. Notify other Applicants. The electronic recruitment system can send automated notices to applicants who will not move forward in the hiring, but the Hiring Authority or their designee is encouraged to communicate with all interviewed applicants. Sample letters are available from HR.

C-14. Initiate Electronic Personnel Action Forms. The Hiring Authority must notify the departmental personnel responsible for coordinating the information necessary to appoint the successful candidate in Banner. Departments are responsible for ensuring that Electronic Personnel Action Forms (EPAFs) are promptly initiated and approved.

C-15. Certify Employment Eligibility. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requires employees to certify employment eligibility within 3 days of hire date. Please contact HR, 208-885-3638, to plan for employment certification and for benefit orientation information. See APM 50.04 . Designate a departmental employee to welcome and orient the new employee to the department.

C-16. Hiring Records Retention. Please retain all documentation associated with the hiring process for at least two years.

C-17. Salary Agreement. The Hiring Authority notifies the Provost or appropriate vice president of the offer and acceptance, and the date the new exempt employee will report for duty. The Provost or appropriate vice president prepares the Salary Agreement for Faculty and Exempt Personnel [See Sample Agreement at Provost Website] and forwards it to the Hiring Authority via the dean or director. The Hiring Authority delivers the agreement to the new employee. After the new employee signs the agreement, the Hiring Authority ensures that the original is returned to the Provost or appropriate vice president, the employee retains a copy, a copy is retained in the office of the dean or director, and a copy is forwarded to HR. HR retains the copy of the Salary Agreement in the new employee’s personnel file.

C-18. Regents’ Approval. All appointments of non-classified personnel are subject to Regents’ approval. The request for Regents’ approval is generated by entering the new employee in the Human Resources Information System.

D. Appointments of Research Assistants, Teaching Assistants. Appointments of research assistants and teaching assistants are not subject to the hiring and appointment procedures outlined above. Sample research and teaching assistant letters are available from the College of Graduate Studies.

E. Post-Doc Positions. These positions are temporary in nature, and applicants are selected based on academic qualifications, interest, referral, or other criteria unique to the position and the academic discipline.

E-1. The hiring procedures for post-docs are not the same as those that apply to the recruitment and appointment of faculty and exempt staff. However, the procedures for recruiting and appointing post-docs are expected to follow the same principles of equal opportunity employment. See guidelines on the EOC Office website.

E-2. Letters of Offer for Postdoctoral Fellowships can be found on the HR Website under Forms and Documents. Letters of Offer for Postdoctoral Fellowships must conform to the template offer letter and include contingency for passing criminal history background checks, if applicable.

F. Use of Retained or Contingent Search Firms. The use of a search firm must be approved by the EOC Office before starting the recruitment and hiring process. Refer to the EOC Office’s website for more information.

Version History

Amended August 2025. Updates throughout to comply with Executive Order 14173, SB 1198 and University equal opportunity in recruitment and hiring process commitments.

Adopted 2006