College Search Process Basics | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

The following table summarizes some of the responsibilities associated with the recruiting processes, and who supports each action. The college's HR and Recruiting team provides support throughout the process and is always available to answer questions about University policies and college processes.

College Search Process Basics


Hiring Process	Responsible Party
Writing the job description	Hiring manager or search committee
Posting the position	Hiring manager, search committee chair, or administrative support
Determining where to advertise the position	Hiring manager or search committee with recruiter support
Contacting potential candidates to encourage application	Hiring manager, search committee members, recruiter, others interested in promoting the role
Scheduling interviews	Hiring manager, search committee chair, or administrative support
Gathering feedback	Hiring manager, search committee chair, or administrative support
Making final hiring decision	Hiring manager

Search Committee Responsibilities

All search chairs and committees are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the Affirmative Action Office Search Committee Briefing appropriate to their search. The staff and faculty briefings are similar, and available in a recorded format, as well as a pdf. The briefings cover University requirements, as well as best practices. The 2020 briefings are the most up to date.

Faculty Search Committee Briefing PDF

Faculty Search Committee Briefing Recording

Ensuring Equitable Searches for Staff Positions PDF

Ensuring Equitable Searches for Staff Positions Recording

Inclusive Search Practice Resources

In addition to the search committee briefings, search committees are encouraged to use the Resources for Inclusive Hiring provided by the Office of Educational Equity. All search committee and hiring managers should be talking about active recruiting and implicit bias.

Search Tips

Talk with your committee about implicit bias and how bias can impact the recruiting and hiring process.
Take advantage of the resources available on the Diversity and Inclusion SharePoint site.
Build an Active Recruiting Plan:
- Research potential candidate sources and discuss a plan to solicit applications from those sources.
- Plan active outreach to candidates by the committee.
- Discuss and plan an advertising approach.
- Leverage professionals within your unit to do outreach to potential candidates.

Diversity Data on Candidate Pools

Search committee chairs are strongly encouraged to request a review of candidate pools to determine whether pools are considered diverse (based on ethnicity, gender, veteran status, and disability status disclosed) before candidates are reviewed and again after a short-list is developed. This review process is completed by the college’s full-time recruiter and while only aggregate data will be shared, the evaluation of pool diversity will be used to determine the need for additional advertising and networking.