Recruiting, Hiring, Onboarding Employees

Initiate Requisition Request

When you know you are going to need to recruit for an open position start by emailing the Talent Acquisition Manager.  Jaclyn Howard is the Talent Acquisition Manager and she will work through the recruiting process with you. If your vacancy is due to a departure or a promotion, submit a status form to Human Resources for the departure or promotion.

Talent Acquisition Process Meeting

Once Jaclyn has received your email, she will schedule a process meeting.  In this meeting, she will go over the Manager Talent Acquisition Toolkit and will provide a template for you to begin drafting your job posting.  She will also provide a link to the Requisition Intake Worksheet that you will need to complete before the intake meeting can be scheduled.

Requisition Intake Worksheet

This worksheet will ask you to provide information on your salary budget, funding sources, as well as position details. It will require you to update and upload the most current version of the job description.  The Talent Acquisition Manager will provide you with the job description we have on file.

Hiring Manager Action Items

• Reach out to the Talent Acquisition Manager.
• Attend the scheduled Process Meeting.
• Complete any necessary Employment Status Form(s), if applicable.
• Review and revise the job description.
• Complete the Requisition Intake Worksheet.

Information Collection & Market Evaluation

Once Employment Services receives your Requisition Intake Worksheet, we’ll analyze the information you provided to complete a Market Evaluation.  This can take 2 – 4 business days for us to complete, and we’ll send you the market evaluation data when we’ve finalized our analysis. Once the market evaluation is completed, the Talent Acquisition Manager will schedule an intake meeting.  If your position is part of Academic Affairs, we’ll also use this time to get the required additional approvals for budgets and FTEs. Please take this into account when planning your recruiting timeline.

Intake Meeting

During the Intake Meeting, you and the Talent Acquisition Manager will go over the details of the position and the job posting.  You’ll need to know what, if any, pay range you’ll want to disclose, how long you want the job posted, and what networks you can tap to source good candidates.  The Talent Acquisition Manager will also go over our recruiting platform and tool with you (iCIMS), as well as any other relevant information that may apply.

Posting Position

After the intake meeting, email the finalized job posting to the Talent Acquisition Manager so that she can create the position and draft the posting in iCIMS. The posting will then get routed to you and your direct supervisor for approval.  When everyone has signed off, she will post to the agreed upon boards and set the posting to go live.

Hiring Manager Action Items

• Draft a job posting.
• Attend the Intake Meeting.
• Finalize posting details.
• Approve finalized job posting for go-live.

Candidates Apply

Once the posting has gone up, candidates will start to apply.  You can expect to start seeing applications coming your way for your review though the iCIMS platform.  You and your hiring committee should regularly review applications to stay on top of the volume.  Use this time to determine which candidates you are interested in pursuing and be ready to share those names. When the posting period has ended, you’ll meet with the Talent Acquisition Manager to get her candidate recommendations, to go over the Candidate Pool’s Self-Identification Report, and to determine who should move forward and who should be dispositioned out of the pool.

First Round Interview Process

Now you have worked with your Hiring Committee and the Talent Acquisition Manager to select which candidates you’d like to move forward into first-round interview.  You should send out interview invitations to those individuals. Some options for first-round interviews are phone screens conducted by the Talent Acquisition Manager, phone screens conducted by the hiring manager, or an alternative course of action that has been previously discussed. The Talent Acquisition Manager will disposition any candidates not advancing to second-round interviews.

Second Round Interview Process

After the first-round interviews, you will work with your hiring committee and the Talent Acquisition Manager to determine which candidates you will advance to second-round interviews. You will also want to finalize what questions you want to ask and who you want involved in those interviews.  The Talent Acquisition Manager will produce a new Candidate Pool’s Self-Identification Report based on your narrowed pool for you to review with your hiring committee. If you are having additional rounds of interviews, you’ll follow this same structure until you have selected your final candidate.

Candidate Reimbursement

Employment Services will cover the following approved expenses when a candidate traveling 100 miles or more is brought to campus for a final round interview. Eligible expenses include: 

• Domestic air travel (economy only)
• Meals (excluding alcohol)
• Transportation, Parking, and Fuel
• Lodging –  we recommend they stay at The Briggs House. Hiring Managers should first check with Catherine Westby to see if there is availability before booking other accommodations. Employment Services will cover up to 2 nights of lodging expenses for a candidate.

Costs associated with department lunches during the interview process will be the responsibility of the department and not Human Resources. 

Submitting Receipts 

Hiring Managers should collect all eligible receipts at the end of the candidate’s trip and submit as one request to Randi Hartman for processing. You will need to include the position title, candidates full name, and home address in the email. Reimbursements will be issued via check and mailed to the address provided.

Offer Process

When you and your hiring committee have selected your final candidate, you will want to reach out to the Talent Acquisition Manager.  You’ll provide the rate of pay – and confirm that it’s within budget – and land on a proposed start date.  Once these details are worked out, the Talent Acquisition Manager will extend the verbal offer to the final candidate.  During that conversation, she’ll lay out the rate of pay, the start date, the background check policy, and the COVID vaccination policy.  If the candidate needs time to consider the offer, she will also confirm a date by which they will give us their decision.  Once the verbal offer is accepted, the Talent Acquisition Manager will provide next steps to both the candidate and to you, the hiring manager.

Please Note

• Resources for developing inclusive behavior-based questions are available through the Manager’s Toolkit on the Human Resources website.
• We ask that you allow at least 10 business days between the initial offer and the proposed start date to allow processing time for the background check and other requirements. Rushing this process may lead to poor onboarding and first day experiences.
• Each search is unique. The Talent Acquisition Manager may reach out mid search if the candidate pool is not as robust as needed.

Hiring Manager Action Items

• Review applications and select candidates for interviews.
• Coordinate with the Talent Acquisition Manager and your hiring committee regarding interview plans and questions.
• Tell the Talent Acquisition Manager who your final candidate is and confirm rate of pay and proposed start date.

Hiring Process

The next step in the process is the Wage Notification Statement.  The Talent Acquisition Manager will initiate this form in iCIMS, and it will be routed to you and then to the candidate.  You’ll both have to sign off on it before we can move on to the next step, which is the Offer Confirmation Letter.  The Talent Acquisition Manager will initiate the Offer Confirmation Letter as well, and will copy you on it.  This letter contains the relevant information for the position as well as Macalester’s COVID-19 policies. Concurrently, the Talent Acquisition Manager will send the candidate a notice regarding the background check process.  The candidate will receive a notification from Orange Tree, our vendor, to complete their background check profile.  These usually take 2 – 4 business days to come back once the candidate has completed their portion.

Onboarding Process

The candidate is considered officially hired after completing a successful background check, and this is when you can start sharing the news with your department and with the campus.  This is also when we will transition the individual from a Candidate to an Employee in iCIMS.  We will send the new employee information on what onboarding tasks they need to complete, which relate to the onboarding profile, COVID compliance, and the Form I-9.  At this point, we will also send you the Supervisor’s New Employee Worksheet as an iCIMS task. This will help you create a positive first-day experience for your new employee.

Once the new employee has completed their onboarding tasks, we will move them into our primary HRIS system.  This step will allow the new employee to get a Mac ID number, and depending on timing, they may receive their username/email.  During this time, it will be important for you to review the Hiring Managers Onboarding Checklist (see next menu option below). Many of these tasks require you to have the Mac ID and/or email address, but it will help you plan accordingly.

Closing a Requisition

Once the candidate is officially hired, the Talent Acquisition Manager will close the requisition.  This includes making sure the posting is moved into a Closed – filled status in our system and dispositioning the remaining candidates via automated message, email, or phone call as is appropriate.

Please Note

• New employee Macalester accounts are created through an automated process which is dependent on the new employee completing their required onboarding tasks. Once the new employee takes those necessary steps for us to move them into our HRIS system, the account can be generated. The new employee will receive an automated message to their personal email account about setting up their Macalester account no more than 10 days before their start date.
• You the hiring manager will also receive a New Hire Notification around the same time which will provide you pertinent information such as their Mac ID and Email.

Hiring Manager Action Items

• Sign the electronic Wage Notification Statement.
• Review the Hiring Manager’s Onboarding Checklist (see next menu option below).
• Review the Supervisor’s New Employee Worksheet.
• Warmly welcome your new employee on their first day!

Congratulations on your recent new hire! Below are a few resources to assist you in onboarding your new employee. Please note for Faculty members, Department Chairs and Department Coordinators are expected to fulfill these tasks.

In order to provide the best employee experience, please work through the below list of tasks after you have received your new employee’s Mac ID and email account information.

• • Order Office Keys by accessing the Public Safety web page.

• • Order Name Tag and Business Cards from Communications.

• • Order Signage such as Desk Name Plate and Door Sign (if needed) by opening a work order through the Facilities ticketing system.

• • Review the supervisor section of the Staff Technology Checklist or Faculty Technology Checklist and share the employee section with your new hire.

• • Request Budget and Finance Access and Approval (if needed) by completing the  Finance Access & Approval form.

• • Order a Purchase Card (Pcard) by filling out the Pcard Application (secure eForm) from Pcard Services.

• • Ensure work area is ready for your new employee.

• • Plan your new hire’s first day and/or week, utilizing the Supervisor’s New Employee Worksheet and being mindful to schedule around the benefits meeting (if applicable).

Employee Responsibilities

On an employee’s first day, they should arrive at Human Resources at about 9:00 a.m. (unless other arrangements have been made) to complete section 2 of the Form I-9. This document is a required federal form that must be completed within 3 business days of their start date. It requires the new employee to bring specific forms of identification with them on their first day. If an employee does not complete it within this timeframe, we will be required to shut down their job until it has been completed.

Hiring Manager Responsibilities

Unless otherwise agreed upon, you or another colleague from your department should meet your new employee in Human Resources at 9:00 a.m. This is to create a great first day experience as the new employee isn’t very familiar with campus. It is important to be timely so you can give your new employee a good impression. We also encourage all hiring managers to utilize the Supervisor’s New Employee Worksheet which you have received on the Preliminary New Hire Notification email, as an iCIMS onboarding task, and in the New Hire Notification email. This worksheet lays out the first day, first week, and the first 30 days tasks and responsibilities you hold as a supervisor.

Find this information in a PDF. You can click on the area of the table of contents and it will bring you to the section you want.

Recruiting, Hiring, & Onboarding Process (PDF)