Step 1: Preparing and Obtaining Authorization to Post Position

1. Faculty Position Authorization

All faculty searches must be approved by the Provost.  The Provost’s approval is recorded on the Provost Approval to Initiate Faculty Search (PAIFS) form.  The Dean prepares a PAIFS form for each faculty position to be requested.  After receiving the Provost’s signature, copies of the signed form must be routed to the Provost’s Office Representative, Directors of Budgets, the Office of the Vice President for Research & Economic Engagement (VPREE), and the appropriate staff in the college office who oversee faculty hiring within the college.

Upon receiving official authorization from the Provost, the The Dean, after consultation with the Provost, initiates a faculty search by notifying the Chair/Director of an Academic Unit that a position has been approved.  The notification should include the essential position parameters from the PAIFS such as tenure-track or nontenure-track, rank, renewable or term contract, area of specialization, maximum salary, etc.

The Chair/Director and the unit faculty shall collaborate to collect the information necessary for the Faculty HireTouch Position Authorization Process. This information includes:

• Search committee membership (names, gender, ethnicity)
• Faculty Position Vacancy Announcement (FPVA) (long and short)
• Recruitment plan and venues

2. Formation of Search Committee

In accordance with the unit’s governance document, the Chair/Director constitutes the Search Committee. The Search Committee should be composed of at least three faculty members from the school, department or program. Every effort should be made to include women and minorities to ensure diversity in perspective and representation. When diversity is not possible, given the demographics of the department or the frequency of searches, underrepresented students and staff from within the department or faculty from closely related departments may (a) serve on the committee, (b) be included in the interviewing process, and (c) be given the opportunity to comment on the candidates Applicants. In order to maintain the integrity of the search, no one who has a conflict of interest—or even the appearance of a conflict—is eligible for committee membership. (See CBA, Article 14, Section 4 for guidelines on the role and participation of unit faculty and Search Committee members.)

Search Committee Members must be willing to assume an active and productive role throughout the search process. Search Committee Members must complete Search Committee Orientation. Regular attendance at committee meetings, reference and candidate conference calls, and events scheduled for campus interviews is expected. Confidentiality throughout the search and respect for fellow committee members are essential for consistent and equitable assessment across the applicant pool.

3. Faculty Position Vacancy Announcement
The Faculty Position Vacancy Announcement (FPVA) is the primary document for supporting the recruitment process and contains the position description as well as the application process.  The long version of the FPVA may be shared with colleagues at other institutions, distributed at conferences and recruiting venues, or be posted as ad copy when cost is not a factor.  The short version of the FPVA may be used in the same manner as the long version, but usually is posted as ad copy in publication venues where cost is a factor.  Once the language of the FPVA is approved, it cannot be changed without approval of the College and the HR Equity & Diversity Officer.

The Chair/Director, in consultation with the Search Committee, develops the FPVA. The FPVA will form the foundation of the HireTouch Job Template for the position. While developing the FPVA, consideration should be given to how the text of the FPVA will be used in HireTouch.  The sample FPVAs have been written to facilitate the flow of the text through the system and still retain the original approved language.  The text in the FPVA will be copied to other formats as listed below.

1. FPVA (FPVA TT example, FPVA NTT example)
2. Faculty Position Request (FPR) application (FPR TT example, FPR NTT example)
3. HireTouch Job Template (Job Template TT example, Job Template NTT example)
4. HireTouch Position Authorization Form (PAF TT example, PAF NTT example)
5. Position Description as viewed by Applicants at bgsu.hiretouch.com (Job Details TT example, Job Details NTT example)

The FPVA must contain:

• Position Summary (This will be input to the FPR.)
• Primary Responsibilities (This will be input to the FPR.)
• Minimum Qualifications (This will be input to the FPR.)
• Expected start date (month year)
• Application credentials (This will be input to the FPR.)
• Application process with deadline (This will be input to the FPR.)
• Other descriptive information related to the position
• Affirmative Action statement
• Required BGSU branding elements for the FPVA

Position Summary shall include academic unit, rank, and probationary/tenured for tenure-track positions or renewable/nonrenewable for nontenure-track positions.  An area of specialization may also be specified if appropriate.

Primary Responsibilities may include teaching expectations, scholarship/professional expectations, and service expectations as appropriate.

Minimum Qualifications must be met by all Finalists Candidates invited for interviews.  These qualifications may include degree (required), area of expertise, previous teaching experience, and professional experience among others.  Careful consideration should be given as to whether ABDs will be considered for interviews and at what point the terminal degree must be obtained.  If ABDs will be considered for the position, the FPVA must state so.  Remember, all Finalists Candidates to be interviewed must have meet the minimum qualifications.

Application credentials shall minimally require a letter of application and full CV.  Additional materials may include contact information for three (3) references, transcripts, portfolio, etc.  Please note that HireTouch will prompt each applicant Applicant for the e-mail addresses of three references during the application process. With respect to transcripts, give consideration as to what information is needed to screen the applicants Applicants.  Does the transcript need to be official?  Does the committee want a list of graduate courses that have been completed?  An official transcript must be received before an offer can be extended, but usually the official transcript does not pass through the hands of the applicant Applicant, i.e., the degree-granting institution sends the official transcript to the college office.

The Application Process should include the application deadline, HireTouch submission instructions, and contact information for the Search Committee Chair or other contact person in the Academic Unit.  Please note that the HireTouch submission instructions are “For a complete job description & instructions on how to apply for this position visit https://bgsu.hiretouch.com/.”  All applications must be submitted through HireTouch.

The Application Deadline must be specific.  Only in exceptional circumstances, with the preapproval of the Provost and OHR, may language similar to the following be used: “Review of applications will begin on month day, year.  The position will remain open until an offer has been accepted.”

Refer to Faculty PVA and Ad Guidelines for complete details regarding the content of a FPVA.

4. Recruitment Plan

The Recruitment Plan shall reflect the Academic Unit’s effort to recruit a diverse and qualified pool of applicants.  As part of the Position Authorization process in HireTouch, you will be asked to specify the venues to which you will post the position. A variety of conditions, ranging from position requirements to market conditions, influence the selection of recruitment venues for positions.

BGSU provides access to several on-line venues at no cost to the Academic Unit. All faculty positions should be posted at the following sites:

• HigherEdJobs.com - Contact college office for access.
• Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) - Contact college office for access.
• Higher Education Research Consortium (HERC) - Email FPVA (long and short ads) to Lori Smith in OHR.

As a member of the Ohio/Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia HERC, BGSU departments may also receive discounts at other advertising venues.  Contact OHR for a copy of the Higher Education Recruitment Buyer’s Guide or consult the HERC website.

The Recruitment Plan must include venues or activities to recruit women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities. An effective method of recruiting a diverse applicant pool is to include in the Recruitment Plan an outreach activity in which you contact colleagues or contacts at other programs and institutions and request identification/nomination of applicants from diverse backgrounds. Please consult OHR’s BGSU Hiring Practices web page for additional information regarding advertising venues.

Minimum time requirements for public posting of the PVA FPVA (long or short ad) is as follows:

• Internal: Two-week posting for BGSU community only.
• Local: Two-week posting advertised in the Zoom News and local newspapers.
• Regional: Three-week posting, advertised in regional newspapers.
• National: Four-week (30-day) posting, advertised nationally.

Searches for tenure-track (probationary and tenured) faculty positions shall be conducted nationally. Searches for non-tenure track positions require a minimum three-week posting. Exception to the minimum time requirements for public posting of the position must be requested of and approved by OHR and the Provost.

If there is a possibility that a foreign national may be hired for a faculty position, the Recruitment Plan must conform to Department of Labor (DOL) requirements for Special Handling PERM procedures (20 CFR § 656.18).  These requirements include advertising the faculty position in a national professional journal for at least 30 calendar days.  This requirement may be met by posting the position on the journal’s web site.  Please see these web resources for more information:

• NAFSA Association of International Educators
• United States Department of Labor FAQ: PERM Program: College and University Teachers – Recruitment

The Academic Unit is responsible for documenting conformance to these requirements, including evidence of the start and end dates of the posting and the text of the advertisement.

5. Faculty Position Request (FPR)

The Academic Unit will input key information from the FPVA into the Faculty Position Request (FPR) application.   The following information will be entered into the FPR:

• Parameters of the Position (College, Academic Unit, Rank, etc.)
• Salary Range (as approved by College and Provost)
• Position Description (Position Summary from PVAFPVA)
• Primary Responsibilities from FPVA
• Minimum Qualifications from FPVA
• Application Process / Additional Information from FPVA
• Application Deadline

Once the FPR is submitted, the information is reviewed by the College and then transmitted to the Provost’s Office Representative for upload to HireTouch.  If any issues are discovered during the College’s review, the Academic Unit will be notified.

The Provost’s Office Representative will create a Job Template in HireTouch using the information submitted.  When the Job Template is complete, the Provost’s Office Representative will notify the College and Academic Unit.

6. Position Authorization in HireTouch

Upon receiving notification that the Job Template for the position is available in HireTouch, the Academic Unit will create a Position Authorization in HireTouch.  Additional information to be input during this process includes:

• Work Location
• Hiring Manager – Chair/Director
• Search Committee Chair
• Department Support – Please check with your college office to verify if someone in the college office should be included.
• Search Committee Members – You will need names, gender and ethnicity.
• Supervisor – Chair/Director
• Contact Person and Phone Number – Individual in the Academic Unit that the Provost’s Office may contact regarding the search.
• FMS Requester, Department #, Fund #, SpeedType #
• Recruitment Plan – Length and resources
• Approvals – List of individuals to approve the position.  Please check with your college to verify if someone in the college office should be in the list of approvers before the Dean.

See Create a Position Authorization for HireTouch details.

7. Approval Set-Up in HireTouch

After submitting the Position Authorization in HireTouch, the next step is Approval Set-Up (Create a Position Authorization, page 14).  The Academic Unit will assign the appropriate individual to each of these Approver roles:

• Hiring Manager, Chair or Director: Chair or Director
• Assistant/Associate VP/Dean or Director: Dean (Please check with your college to verify whether an additional approver in the college office (e.g., an associate dean) should be added to the list of approvers before the Dean.)
• University Director of Budgets: prepopulated
• HR Equity & Diversity: prepopulated
• Provost’s Office: prepopulated

HireTouch will notify the first individual specified in the Approval list.  The Provost’s Office Representative will notify the College and the Academic Unit when all approvals are completed.

Minor corrections, clarifications, or additions may be noted during the Position Authorization approval process. Authorization to initiate the search at the Academic Unit level is conditional on making these revisions before proceeding with Step 2: Recruiting and Preparing for Campus Interviews.  Any changes to the FPVA after approval of the Position Authorization must be approved by the College, the Provost’s Office, and OHR.

8. Approving the Position Authorization

The e-mail notification to the Approvers contains detailed instructions on how to approve a position in HireTouch.  See Approving Position Authorization for details.

last updated: July 2017