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You are: Human Resources / Guide to Managing Human Resources

Chapter 1: Employment

Because the campus depends on the quality and talent of its employees, hiring decisions are among the most important choices you make. The campus tries to recruit, select, develop, and retain a qualified and diverse workforce to promote and support the University in its mission. At each stage of the employment process, from determining your staffing needs through recruitment, interviewing, and selection, you have opportunities to make choices that will result in effective management of your operation. The Staffing & Compensation Analysts in Human Resources can advise you in making these choices, but in the end you are the person who knows which candidate best meets your needs.

Hiring Guidelines and Laws

Recruitment Policy

It is the general policy of the University to openly recruit from both within and outside of its work force to obtain qualified applicants. In addition, University policy stresses the need to make special efforts to insure that the recruitment process facilitates attainment of affirmative action goals. These policies on open recruitment are designed to further our organization’s objectives to foster a well-qualified and diverse work force.

In accordance with University policy, most career positions are filled through an open recruitment following a posting on the Human Resources website. Your HR Client Services Team can provide consultation and assistance and is available to discuss recruitment strategies such as networking with professional organizations & associations as well as newspaper, journal, and Internet advertising.

Non-Discrimination/Affirmative Action Policy

The purpose of affirmative action is to ensure equal employment opportunity by requiring all federal contractors to take affirmative action to prevent discrimination in employment practices and to report on their progress. Specifically, affirmative action requires contractors to implement affirmative action plans to assure equal employment opportunity for underutilized minorities and women, people with disabilities, veterans of the Vietnam era, and special disabled veterans.  As supervisors, managers, and administrators, you are responsible for helping the campus fulfill its equal opportunity responsibilities. This is accomplished by making good faith efforts toward meeting affirmative action goals and ensuring a workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment. Our goal is to employ and retain a diverse workforce of the best-qualified individuals.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects qualified individuals with disabilities. A qualified individual is an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the position that the individual holds or desires. A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of the individual, a record of such impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. The Act requires employers to make reasonable accommodation to facilitate employment of disabled individuals unless the employer can show the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the operations of business.

Uniform Guidelines

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures state that any employee selection device that results in the exclusion of a disproportionate number of women or minority applicants may be unlawful, unless use of the device can be shown to be job-related or, in other words, a valid measure of performance on the job.

Proof of Employment Eligibility & Identity

Under Federal Law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally able to work in the United States as established by providing documents specified in the Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986.

Notice of the UCSF Annual Campus Security & Personal Safety Report

In compliance with the federally mandated Jeanne Clery Act, UCSF provides an annual security report which includes statistics for the previous three years concerning reported crimes that occurred on campus; in certain off-campus buildings owned or controlled by the University; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. This report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security; such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault and other matters. For more information or to download the UCSF Annual Security Report, please go to: http://student.ucsf.edu/clery. A hard copy of the UCSF Annual Security Report can also be obtained by contacting Steve Lubeski, Crime Prevention Community Service Officer at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 415-502-9396.

Medicare "Sanction List" Qualification

The federal government, through the Office of Inspector General and the General Accounting Office, (OIG/GAO) maintains "sanction lists," which identify individuals, vendors and/or suppliers that are to be excluded from participation in Medicare and state health programs for conviction of defined offenses. The University does not employ or conduct business with or affiliate with any person or entity that has been sanctioned. Please see http://www.som.ucsf.edu/som/admin/compliance/cc_manual.asp for additional information in accordance, with applicable State and Federal laws and University policy, the University of California, San Francisco does not discriminate against any person employed, or seeking employment, in any of its policies, procedures, or practices, on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity, pregnancy including pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics), status as a covered veteran including Vietnam-era veteran, special disabled veteran, recently separated veterans, or any other veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized or, within the limits imposed by law or University regulations, because of age or citizenship. In conformance with applicable law and University policy, the University of California, San Francisco, is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. Inquiries regarding UCSF’s equal opportunity policies can be directed to the Director, Affirmative Action. Equal Opportunity at 415/476-4752.

Determining Staffing Needs

 

Staff planning helps you run your department efficiently. Determining and planning your staff needs in advance, rather than waiting until a vacancy occurs, will help you achieve these results.
Campus positions may be limited appointment, career, per diem or contract (see
policy manual and collective bargaining agreements for definitions).

Recruitment

Your management of the recruitment process will directly affect:

Guiding Principles

Your goals in recruitment are to:

Before You Begin

Preparing for the recruitment process is essential. Before you list and advertise your position, take time to analyze the job for which you are recruiting and develop the criteria by which you will select your candidate. These are the steps you’ll need to take:

Job Analysis

Your first step is to conduct a job analysis, which is the process of identifying the duties of a position and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform those duties, including:

If your vacated position has no changes, a job analysis is not necessary; however, you may still want to review the position to confirm that no changes have occurred.

Job Description

You can now develop the Job Description using the information from the job analysis. The Job Description you will forward to Human Resources as part of your recruitment request.

New positions or replacement positions with significant changes in job duties: A completed Job Description and Employee Requisition Form must be submitted to the Client Services Unit. These positions will require a classification review by your Staffing & Compensation Analyst prior to posting. Because our intention is to ensure that positions are classified equitably across the campus, this analysis may include comparisons with other positions, application of the point factoring system, and consultation with the department. The complexity of the job, or the nature of significant changes, will have an effect on the length of this review.

The appropriate job description form will vary depending on the position.

Your CSR can advise you on the appropriate forms. The job description forms can be downloaded from the Human Resources Forms page . Also see Chapter 3, Classification, Completing the Job Description.)

Improving Diversity and Good Faith Efforts

“Diversity” refers to the variety of personal experiences, values and world views that arises from differences in culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and geographic region, among others.

UCSF has made great strides in its efforts to diversify the campus community. It is imperative that UCSF continue to improve diversity of faculty, staff, students and trainees to effectively establish a culture of diversity on the UCSF campus— a defining feature of California’s past, present and future.

Nurturing Diversity (Educating, training and employing a diverse faculty, staff and student body) is one of the seven strategies in the UCSF Strategic Plan*. The UCSF Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) provides support for the Strategic Plan and meets reporting requirements as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). It is the responsibility of hiring managers to report all “good faith efforts”** conducted for recruitments when an AAP goal exists.

As a federal contractor we have an obligation to conduct good faith efforts when there is an Affirmative Action goal. As a hiring manager you are responsible for conducting good faith efforts and for reporting all actions taken.  In order to provide improved support for this requirement the Office of Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity and the Campus Human Resources Office have developed a reporting tool that provides current affirmative action goals for departments by reviewing their current workforce demographics and assessing AAP derived availability data to determine if there are any current department goals. In order to assist departments in meeting their affirmative action obligations when filling new positions Campus Human Resources will be using this new tool to determine if a goal exists and to provide this information to the hiring manager. In addition HR will also provide the hiring manager with resources to assist in conducting “good faith efforts” to comply with AAP obligations.

The Affirmative Action Tool is now available. When AA goals exist for a newly opened position Campus Human Resources will send a report to the contact person listed on the Kenexa/BrassRing requisition. The report will also provide good faith resources to conduct, document, and compile your information. Resources include a list of community based and professional organizations that work with minority populations, the Diversity Toolkit, Manager’s Toolkit for Recruiting, and information on Managing a Diverse Staff.

Once a recruitment closes, return the completed “Good Faith Efforts” questionnaire to your Recruitment Consultant. This data will be collected by HR, compiled at the end of the year, and sent back to you to assist with completing your AA/D Progress Report. You may also choose to retain copies of your questionnaires for ready access and compilation. In either case, your specialized cumulative report of Good Faith Efforts can then be used to complete your AA/D Progress Report. For more information or to inquire about your current AA goals please contact your Recruitment Consultant or Larry Hickey, Manager, Recruitment and Workforce Planning at 476-8057 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

*The UCSF Strategic Plan can be found at: http://strategy.ucsf.edu
** Good faith Efforts include:

Job Description and Employee Requisition Form

A completed Job Description and Employee Requisition Form submitted to the Client Services Unit for straight replacement positions will normally result in a web posting within 48 hours. This form requires departmental signatures, responses to all applicable fields on the form to ensure accurate posting information, and a short summary of the job description. The short summary is used to advertise your position on the website.

Developing a clear, recruitment-oriented job posting, which summarizes the major duties and qualifications, is essential to an effective recruitment process. Some important items include:

How to Post Job Vacancies

The Human Resources UCSF Careers website at /careers includes postings of all Campus & Medical Center job openings. The website allows for job searches by key words, job titles, requisition number, job category, posting date and organization.

What to send:

If the position is new or has significant duty changes for which you are recruiting, forward by email, on-line or by mail the following documents to Human Resources for classification before posting:

Forms:

Posting:

Targeted Recruitment

Targeted recruitment shows good faith efforts to help the campus achieve its affirmative action objectives through outreach to underutilized groups (women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities), to ensure their representation in the applicant pool. Targeted recruitment includes advertising in publications that serve minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities, as well as announcements to community-based organizations and campus staff organizations. Please consult with your Staffing & Compensation Analyst.

Advertising Methods

To fill your position quickly and attract a well-qualified, diverse applicant pool, Human Resources provides and facilitates a variety of outreach efforts:

In addition to the above outreach efforts, hiring departments are welcome to contact HR for further advertising options.

Print, Professional Journal and Internet ad deadlines

Please advise your Client Services Representative (CSR) if you are interested in placing an ad. It is advised that hiring departments check with their Staffing & Compensation Analyst to determine if there are any Preferential Rehire and/or Priority Reassignment candidates that need to be considered prior to placing an ad. Your CSR needs to know the names of the newspapers in which you wish to advertise by Thursday noon in order to meet most local deadlines for the following Sunday publications. Journal deadlines depend on the journal’s publication date. Internet ads are not deadline-specific and are usually posted on the Internet Service Provider’s website within 1 to 2 days after the ad is approved. HR has negotiated free and discounted rates with various websites. Your Staffing & Compensation Analyst can assist you in determining where, how, and when an ad can be placed to optimally reach your target audience within your budget parameters.

Your CSR will need the content, the name of your department’s designated contact, and the hiring department name, mailing address, and Fund/DPA number for recharge purposes. An estimate of the amount you intend to spend is also helpful. Your CSR will provide you with a draft ad copy and cost estimate for your final approval and subsequent ad placement.

Selection Criteria

The next step in the recruitment process is to develop selection criteria. These are the standards you will measure all candidates against to determine whether they have the qualifications to perform the job.

Selection criteria are developed from the skills, knowledge, and abilities identified in the job analysis and stated on the Job Description and Employee Requisition Form.

To develop selection criteria, look at the skills, knowledge, and abilities on the job description and define the standard for successful performance of the related functions.

Departments must first consider their employees who have recall rights. Recall candidates are regular status employees who have been separated or whose time has been reduced because of indefinite layoff. A recall candidate shall be recalled in order of seniority into any active and vacant career position for which he or she is qualified when the position is in the same title and department at the same or lesser percentage of time as the position held by the employee at the time of layoff. It is the department’s responsibility to identify recall candidates and to contact them regarding their interest in identified positions. This should be done prior to the posting of the position.

Preferential Rehire

Second consideration is given to employees who have preferential rehire rights. Preferential rehire candidates are regular status employees who have been separated or whose time has been reduced because of indefinite layoff. Your Staffing & Compensation Analyst will refer any Preferential Layoff Candidates to you after your position has been posted.

Employees who were in a title covered by collective bargaining at the time of their reduction in time or layoff have preferential rehire rights for positions at the same or lower salary level (as determined by the salary range maximum) and in the same bargaining unit in any UCSF department.

Employees who were in a non-represented title at the time of their reduction in time or layoff have preferential rehire rights for any positions at the same or lower salary level (as determined by the salary range maximum) and in any UCSF department. Your Staffing & Compensation Analyst will review resumes and refer these candidates to your department if they meet the minimum qualifications of the position.

An employee who has been re-employed through the recall or preferential rehire process may serve a period of trial employment. Please check with your Staffing & Compensation Analyst if you have any questions concerning trial employment policies and procedures.

Priority Reassignment

Priority Reassignment candidates are current or former regular status employees who are precluded from returning to work in his/her regular occupation. These candidates are second in consideration for positions after Recall candidates.  However, Priority Reassignment candidate resumes must be considered before Preferential Rehire candidates. Disability Management Services works with your Staffing & Compensation Analyst to refer these candidates if they meet the minimum qualifications of the position and are capable of performing the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Timely consideration of Priority Reassignment referrals will greatly expedite your recruitment process. If a candidate is referred to your position and is selected for the job, you would make an offer.  If the candidate accepts the position, the recruitment would be finalized by requesting and completing a post offer form.  After receiving the post offer form, Staffing & Compensation closes out the requisition. 

If a candidate is referred by your Staffing & Compensation Analyst and is not selected, reasons for non-selection must be based on the fact that the candidate does not possess the skills, knowledge and abilities to perform the essential job functions (i.e., posted requirements of the position) or is not interested in the position. Prior to making this decision, you may engage in a noncompetitive interview and/or meet with the employee and Disability Management Services to engage in the interactive process.  If the candidate is not selected, the reasons for disqualification must be documented on the Priority Reassignment Candidate Disposition Form, and the Reasonable accommodation Form, as appropriate.  This form will then be submitted to your Staffing & Compensation Analyst. The Analyst reviews these reasons before other resumes are referred.  If the reasons for disqualification are not deemed adequate, there will be further discussion with the Staffing & Compensation, Disability Management, Labor and Employee Relations and/or Legal Affairs.

Resume Screening

Your Staffing & Compensation Analyst will review resumes of applicants who have specifically applied for the position and provide screening of resumes for your position based on the minimum requirements of the position. If you are interested in more or less screening, please contact your Staffing & Compensation Analyst. When requested, your S&C Analyst may also conduct database searches to expand your applicant pool. Your S&C Analyst refers resumes via an e-link. An e-link is a link embedded in an email message. Clicking on one of these links will launch your Internet browser to a web page that will include a candidate’s resume, a drop down menu listing the next steps that you wish to take with the candidate, and also a Candidate Disposition form, where you will indicate a reason if you choose to disqualify a candidate. Your response to the e-link will be instantly uploaded into the main database. The position will remain open and posted on the website until the Staffing & Compensation Analyst is notified that the supervisor is no longer interested in receiving resumes.

It is the hiring department’s responsibility to keep abreast of current affirmative action goals. According to University policy, if two or more applicants are equally qualified, the department shall give primary consideration to meeting its affirmative action objectives when making a hiring decision. Information regarding affirmative action goals may be obtained from the campus Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Diversity Office http://www.aaeo.ucsf.edu at http://www.aaeo.ucsf.edu , or by phone at (415) 476-4752.

Waivers of Recruitment

In exceptional circumstances, where staffing diversity, operational continuity, and programmatic needs may not be met unless an exception to standard recruitment practice is considered, requests for waiver of recruitment will be given consideration. In addition, recruitment may be waived for non-probationary career employees who have become disabled and have received vocational rehabilitation services.

Requests for waiver of recruitment pertain only to career positions. Waiver of recruitment is not required if the position to be filled is a limited appointment (i.e., established at any percentage of time, fixed or variable, during which the appointee is expected to be on pay status for less than 1,000 hours in a 12 month period) or the position, which is a limited appointment, has subsequently become career and is filled by an incumbent who was initially hired through the normal recruitment process.

Before requesting a waiver of recruitment, you should check your department’s affirmative action goals for under-utilization and weigh the need to fill the position immediately against the department’s progress toward those unmet goals. Information regarding affirmative action goals may be obtained from the campus Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Diversity Office at http://www.aaeo.ucsf.edu , or by phone at (415) 476-4752.

Steps in the Waiver Request Review Process

Before investing time in preparing a waiver request, consider alternative courses of action that might provide a solution to your department’s needs:

  1. Is it possible to temporarily assign someone within your department to perform the duties while recruitment takes place? 
  2. Can the vacancy be temporarily filled by an employee from the Temporary Employment Program while recruitment takes place? 
  3. Is there someone who can be hired through a limited appointment (i.e., Quick Hire) to perform the duties while recruitment takes place?

It is advisable to contact your Staffing & Compensation Analyst as soon as you are aware of a need to request waiver of recruitment. Your Staffing & Compensation Analyst will, prior to consideration of any waiver request, forward applications of any candidates with preferential rehire or priority reassignment rights whose skills and background match the criteria for your position. These candidates must be evaluated prior to consideration of your waiver request.

If you and your Staffing & Compensation Analyst are unable to identify any viable alternatives to a waiver of recruitment, you should then prepare an ERF, job description, and a letter requesting the waiver of recruitment. Include an updated resume for the candidate. These three documents should be forwarded to your Client Services Analyst. The written request should address the following issues:

The request will be reviewed by your Staffing & Compensation Analyst, who will approve or deny the request after evaluating its appropriateness.

QUICK HIRE

LIMITED APPOINTMENT RECRUITMENT POLICY

The Quick Hire process to hire limited appointments without recruitment has been revised to reflect the following changes:

These changes are being made to ensure that the hiring of new limited employees will not lead to defaulting to career status.

WHAT IS A LIMITED APPOINTMENT

A limited appointment is an appointment established at any percentage of time, fixed or variable, during which the appointee is expected to be on pay status for less than 1000 hours in a 12-month rolling period. The 1000 hours includes limited service in one or more limited appointments during a 12 month period of continuous service. It is important to be aware of any other past and current limited appointment(s) that the individual may hold.

The Quick Hire process may be used:

MSP Positions

The Quick Hire process does not apply to MSP level positions, which needs to be submitted to Human Resources for classification review. If a department needs to recruit through Campus Human Resources for a limited appointment or per diem position, the procedures are the same as if recruiting for a career position.

WEBLINKS REPORT

The WebLinks Employees With/Approaching 1000 Hours report can be used to check whether an employee in a limited appointment or being considered for a limited appointment is approaching the 1000 hours threshold. The report has two lists, sorted by home department:

  1. employees who have reached or exceeded the 1000 hours threshold and
  2. employees who have worked 700 hours or more as of the month prior to the report. Please note that the hours shown on the report are as of the month prior to the run date shown on the report. In other words, it is a static report and is not ‘up to date’on the day you view it.

Unlike other WebLinks reports, information for all departments is available in the same report, since it is in Adobe Acrobat Reader format. Adobe provides a search feature that makes it possible to search the report for a specific name or department number. You may add the employee’s current hours worked month-to-date to the report figure to have a more accurate read to ensure that you avoid a default to career status.

We are recommending that, once you use the Quick Hire process, any decision to change the position to career should be made by the 2nd or 3rd month at the latest. Any time beyond that and you risk running out of time to begin and complete an effective recruitment process.

For any Limited Hire, it is prudent to create a proactive ‘time line’ reflecting benchmark dates such as

Although employees in limited appointments are at will, the University will not terminate limited appointment employee for the sole purpose of denying them career status.

Once a person defaults to career, the department must change the employees OLPPS record to reflect their new status. Please be aware that the default to career status shows on the Web links report which is viewable in whole. Because of the policy violation and possible liabilities, there is increasingly greater scrutiny of the defaults.

Please contact your Staffing & Compensation Analyst if you have questions concerning the Quick Hire Process.

Referral ProcessOnce your Staffing & Compensation Analyst has posted the position on the web, you will be notified of the web-posting deadline (standard two weeks) and the assigned job number by your Client Service Representative via an email. The Job Description and Employee Requisition Form can be found on our website at http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/pubs/forms/. If there are no significant changes in the position for which you are recruiting, forward the following documents to Human Resources for posting:

Recall

 

(CBO) - HR works closely with Community & Governmental Relations to facilitate relationships with CBO’s to increase the opportunities for their clients to find employment at UCSF. This includes but not limited to quarterly presentations on using UCSF’s web based applicant tracking system, resume writing and interviewing tips and how to manage a career at UCSF.

Training Resources

 

Training resources are available to help you make the
right decisions.  “Recruiting and Hiring” is one course available for
supervisors, and can be found at:  href="http://training.ucsf.edu/">http://training.ucsf.edu/.

Interviewing

Remember that when you interview candidates, you represent the campus and university. A good interview can leave a candidate with positive feelings about the campus even if no job offer results, while a poor interview may result in a negative reputation for the campus.

The purpose of an interview is to gather information about the applicants’ competencies and work experience so that you can select the best qualified candidate. The key to an effective interview is having clearly defined selection criteria with related interview questions, developed before the interview.

Guiding Principles

Your goal is to have a fair and effective process for conducting interviews. Statutes governing fair employment cover the interview process as well as the selection of the candidate. To ensure fairness, you should:

Types of Interviews

Competency-Based Interviewing. Competency-Based Interviewing is the most effective method and can be used in all types of interviews. Competency-Based Interviewing identifies the skills, abilities, and talents that account for on-the-job performance. Integrating a behavioral competency model of interviewing, supervisors and managers move beyond exploring the what and when a candidate did something, to how and why they did it. The competencies that the candidate used to perform a function are more important than what duties he was assigned in a previous job and for how long. Confirming transferable skill sets, defining behavioral indicators, and asking self-appraisal or third-party appraisal questions are some competency-based interviewing techniques.

Panel Interviews. These are conducted by a small group of managers and/or campus representatives (faculty, staff, students) and are the type most frequently used on the campus. Panel interviews allow for various perspectives on the competencies required for the position and each candidate’s qualifications, providing a more objective measurement of the candidate’s ability to do the job. If the position requires technical expertise that the hiring authority doesn’t have, it is best to include someone who has such expertise.

Individual interviews. These are one-on-one interviews. In some instances, the supervisor may conduct the first round of interviews and select one to three finalists for the manager to conduct final interviews.

Sequential interviews. Sequential interviews consist of a series of panel or individual interviews; the purpose is to give various individuals or groups a chance to interview and assess a candidate.

 

Preparing for the Interview

Careful preparation is the key to a successful interview process:

Developing Interview Questions

Ask questions that elicit the applicant’s competencies, related to the competencies necessary to effectively perform the job. If you maintain a correlation between questions and requirements, you’ll get pertinent information about the candidate’s suitability.

Types of Questions

The hiring department should contact selected candidates by telephone or by email to arrange for interviews, giving them reasonable time to respond. The hiring supervisor should have all finalists complete a resume supplement prior to the interview in order to get important information that is not usually provided on resumes, i.e., whether the applicant has relatives working for UCSF and their relationship, whether the applicant was convicted of a criminal offense, and the applicant’s social security number, salary history information, etc.

Resume supplement forms are available at http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/pubs/forms/.

What You Can and Can’t Ask

Ask only questions that specifically pertain to the candidate’s skills, knowledge, abilities, and interests related to the position, delineated on the Job Description and Employee Requisition Form, based on the predetermined selection criteria. Questions related to gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, color, race, religion, national origin, medical condition, pregnancy, or disabilities are inappropriate and against the law.

Whenever possible, let each candidate see the actual work location. Provide each candidate with a copy of the Job Description, with the essential functions denoted by asterisk. Explain the documents and ask each candidate, "Can you perform the essential functions (denoted by asterisk) of the position?" Please note that questions about a candidate’s disability or potential need for reasonable accommodation are prohibited before a job offer has been made.Conducting the Interview

Closing the Interview

  If you have questions pertaining to the legality of interview questions or wish to discuss the interview process, call your Staffing & Compensation Analyst.

Reference Checks

After interviewing always check at least two references of your top candidates regardless of your impressions of the person’s qualifications. The working relationship of the reference to the finalist should be verified, and questions asked of the reference should be job-related and asked consistently. A hiring mistake is costly in time, energy, and money; take the time to check references before making a job offer.

Check references after you have interviewed the candidate. Checking references before the interview can create false expectations and affect your ability to evaluate the applicant’s qualifications objectively. This includes University references.

Advise the candidate that you will be checking references and ask the candidate if it is okay to talk with their current supervisor. Ask the candidate for other references (other supervisors, customers, etc.)

Develop a set of job-related questions to be used on all reference checks. Like interview questions, target your questions to the competencies needed in the job.

Example: This job involves writing and editing job listings and promotional material for the unit with minimal supervision. Did the candidate perform similar duties? If so, what is your assessment of the candidate’s writing and editing skills?"

A telephone reference check list can be found on our website.

Use the following guidelines when you are conducting all telephone reference checks, whether the candidate is a campus employee or an outside applicant:

Reference checks can reveal information about an applicant’s behavior with prior employers, which could be critical to your decision, regardless of the applicant’s skills, knowledge, and abilities. Failure to check references can have serious legal consequences for the University. It is therefore very important that reference checks by conducted for all hiring at UCSF.

Selection

Now that you have interviewed and conducted reference checks on your top candidates, it is time to select the candidate who best meets the requirements of your position.

Guiding Principles

Your goals are to:

Before you make the selection and notify applicants, review the recruitment and interview process to be sure you followed these guidelines:

Salary Setting

These guidelines provide information and clarification on procedures and practices related to the staffing and compensation functions for positions in the Professional and Support Staff (PSS) and Managers and Senior Professional (MSP) personnel programs. Questions and/or requests for additional information should be directed to your Human Resources Staffing & Compensation Analyst or Client Services Representative (CSR).

UC Employees

The guidelines provided in this section are framed by Personnel Policies for Staff Members and represent prevailing campus practice. Where salary setting is specifically addressed in collective bargaining agreements, the stipulations of those bargaining agreements should guide salary-setting decisions.

An employee’s salary must be set within the defined salary range for their defined title. Any exception must be approved by Human Resources.

The following are general guidelines for salary setting:

A UC employee who is promoted to a step-based position with a higher salary range maximum may receive a salary increase to the minimum of the new salary range or the equivalent of a one-step increase, whichever is greater, provided that the resultant salary does not exceed the maximum of the new salary range.

A UC employee who is promoted to a position with a merit-based salary range may receive a salary increase of up to 15%, provided that the resultant salary does not exceed the maximum of the new salary range.

A UC employee who transfers laterally into a position with an equivalent salary range typically does not receive a change in salary. Exceptions are to be approved on an individual basis with your Staffing & Compensation Analyst.

A UC employee who demotes into a position with a lower salary range maximum may or may not receive a decrease in pay to result in a salary that must fall within the new salary range. Any increase in an employee’s salary upon demotion requires approval from your Staffing & Compensation Analyst.

Exceptions falling outside of the above salary setting parameters will require approval from your Staffing & Compensation Analyst. If you have any salary setting questions please contact your Staffing & Compensation Analyst.

New Employees

Salary setting for new employees is framed by more general guidelines. You may consult with your Staffing & Compensation Analyst on available information regarding internal and external compensation trends for the classification. Along with this data, the following issues should be considered:

Market factors, recruitment difficulty and salary history

Utilize whatever appropriate market data is available to assess what you can reasonably expect to pay in order to remain competitive with the existing labor market. Market data such as salary surveys and current pay practices of local universities, hospitals or other similar organizations should be taken into consideration.

Consideration should be given to recruitment difficulties with relationship to the available trained labor force for the position. Individuals who possess skills that are scarce in the labor force may be in higher demand and require additional salary consideration. Evaluation of factors such as the scarcity of qualified applicants, the number of rejected job offers, and the turnover rate for a position may give insight into existing recruitment difficulties.

An applicant’s salary history in positions related to your opening should be taken into consideration. Attention should be given to the relationship of your position to the candidate’s previous positions in terms of responsibilities and required skills.

Consideration should be given to the number of years that a candidate has performed similar work and where an individual with that experience might reasonably expect to fall within the salary range for the classification.

Similar consideration should be given to a candidate’s educational background as it relates to an open position. Related education, beyond what is required for a position, may be used as you would use additional years of experience in evaluating where to set a candidate’s salary within a range.

Relationship to Internal Peers

Salary equity among internal employees is an important consideration when setting starting salaries. Perceived inequity not only impacts employee morale and motivation but also may trigger contentions of discrimination or grievances. When setting starting salaries, the skills and background of external candidates should be compared to those of internal employees performing similar work, and this comparison should factor into the salary decision.

Salary equity does not imply that all employees within a classification who have similar years of experience and education should be paid the same salary. It is assumed that recognition of varying levels of skills and performance, for example, will result in differences in salary among employees.

Other Factors

Your Staffing & Compensation Analyst is available to assist you in evaluating individual salary decisions

Relocation and Moving Expense Policy

The University provides for reimbursement for moving expenses and relocation allowances to recognize the higher cost of living in California. Eligibility and the amount of reimbursement for moving and relocation allowances depend on the personnel program that the vacant position is in, related recruitment difficulties for the vacancy, and the particular circumstances of the chosen candidate. Contact your Staffing & Compensation Analyst prior to making a hiring commitment.

Search Firm Guidelines

The purpose of these guidelines is to establish effective guidance to manage the recruitment, selection and work product of search firms when circumstances dictate their use. UCSF is committed to outreach in its methods of recruitment to reach its goal of attaining diversity at all levels of staff employment and business contracting, including the selection of retained firms to conduct searches.

Search firms are sometimes introduced in order to broaden the scope of the search and better meet our goal of attaining diversity. UCSF must respond proactively and strategically to the emerging challenges in a diverse and competitive employment market.

The following are guidelines for departments to follow when utilizing a search firm: