Streamlining the recruitment process in a state university

The standard state-legislated hiring process used at many universities has meant multiple points of delay and frustration as units searched for key information technology professionals and lost many well-qualified candidates due to the length of the process. At the University of Maryland, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) began a dialogue with key administrators and, together, a new streamlined recruitment process was designed and piloted in FY2001. Major points of change include the ability to do general recruitment advertising as well as advertising for specific positions; to accept applicants on an ongoing basis regardless of matching position availability; to have standing recruitment teams to process applications weekly; to allow managers to move quickly and directly to hire qualified candidates. The pilot process facilitates active and timely communication with applicants as to their status in our application pool. The pilot also permits the referral of applicants to other units within OIT and within the university. Paperwork jams external to the process still exist for completing hires and the staff time committed to the program is substantial. Experimental use of WebCT for online application review is being tried by one of the four standing recruitment teams. Some elements of the original negotiation of the pilot program have not been implemented, including a special career track for outstanding students.