Diversity Hiring Toolkit: Planning & Preparation

A partnership between a Human Resources Analyst and a Hiring Manager is essential to a successful recruitment and both play essential roles in a positive candidate experience. The Hiring Manager is viewed as the subject matter expert for the position and the Human Resources Analyst is the main resource in guiding the Hiring Manager through the recruitment process. The specific tasks performed by a Hiring Manager and Human Resources Analyst in the recruitment process may vary based on department, recruitment experience, workload or other factors, however some of the key contributions that the Human Resources Analyst and Hiring Manager provide in the recruitment process are as follows:

Hiring Manager

• Providing essential position and ideal candidate information
• Participating in the creation and implementation of the Outreach Plan with the Human Resources Analyst
• Using professional network to recruit applicants
• Reviewing applications for qualifications and/or other examination steps
• Participating in screening/examination steps of the recruitment
• Managing the selection process ensuring a positive beginning for the selected candidate
• Building healthy internal work environments

Human Resource Analyst

• Providing recruiting expertise to the Hiring Manager
• Participating in the creation and implementation of the Outreach Plan with the Hiring Manager
• Facilitating the recruitment process
• Ensuring the recruitment complies with all applicable regulations, policies and procedures
• Processing results from recruitment evaluation steps

Before you request a recruitment to fill a new or upcoming vacancy, it is highly recommended that you consider the following first:

• Should the vacancy be filled at the same level or with the same position as before, if even at all?
• Do you need to have the outgoing incumbent train the new hire (known as double fill in the Recruitment Enhancements)
• Have the duties changed since you last recruited for this position? Have they changed enough that the class specification needs to be reviewed or updated before we recruit?
• Are the minimum qualifications for the job still relevant? If not, what changes would you recommend?
• Is there any EEO underutilization for this position that we need to incorporate into our recruitment strategies?

If you have any questions when reviewing your vacancy and determining how you would like to proceed, you can contact your HR Analyst for guidance. Once you have determined which position you would like to fill and completed any necessary classification/compensation work, you can submit your request to recruit.

Understanding EEO Underutilization

You should always consider the available Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) data for your position prior to starting your recruitment. This data is provided by the County’s EEO Division in Human Resources and it identifies specific areas of diversity that are currently not being met in our organization, in each department, and in each classification (known as underutilization).

This data should be used as a starting point when creating recruitment strategies to attract a diverse candidate pool. With the numerous benefits of having an inclusive, diverse workforce, it’s the County’s goal to go beyond simply meeting the labor market availability of gender and minority candidates. It is important to incorporate this EEO data alongside the vital organizational necessity for greater diversity and inclusion in order to develop a robust and effective recruitment and outreach plan. For guidance on how to read the available reports, please contact Roger Crawford, Equal Employment Director, at RCrawford@marincounty.org or 473-2095.

Resources:

• Recruitment Checklist
• Definitions
• Staffing Team Contact List 
• Classification Listing
• Equal Employment
• Recruitment Enhancements Procedures (County sign-in required)
• Recruitment Enhancements Request Form (County sign-in required)

The exact process for requesting a recruitment will vary by department, however typical steps include the following:

• Completing the Hiring Review Process with your department, the County Administrator's Office and Human Resources. Information on the Hiring Review Process can be found on the County Administrator's Budget Information page.
• Requisition created and submitted by Human Resources (or your department's embedded HR Analyst).
• Connecting with your department’s assigned HR Analyst to discuss your recruiting options and timeline for recruitment preparation.

To become aware of the exact process in your department, it is recommended that you contact your HR Analyst as well as your department's central point of contact for personnel matters. For a listing of HR Analysts by department, please see the HR Contact List.

Describe the Position

Describing the position and the characteristics of an ideal candidate are essential to recruitment planning and outreach. Some key purposes of describing your position include:

• Provides important characteristics and needs of the position to develop an outreach plan, evaluation plan, and identify what a high-quality candidate looks like for the role.
• Helps potential candidates understand the role.
• Allows candidates to determine if they are a good fit for the role and the organization

There are several pieces to describing the position that are used through this process, some are required forms and others are recommended but not required:

• Job Analysis – Core document describing the major duties and required knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies for the position.
• Position Statement – Description of the position used on the flyer and advertising
• Ideal Candidate Statement – Description of ideal qualities of a successful candidate beyond the stated minimum qualifications. These qualities can include technical skills as well as competencies.
• Department/Division Profile – Optional description that can be used in the flyer to provide candidates with more knowledge of the working environment, mission of the department/division, and culture of the organization.

When developing your position statement and ideal candidate statement, it is important to consider the impact that certain words or phrases may have on the potential candidate pool. Language used should be appropriate for the level of the position and not present any artificial barriers to employment (i.e. stating ideal qualities based on a single person rather than the true needs to be successful in the role). In addition, some studies have shown that the adjectives used in a recruitment announcement can impact the gender diversity in a candidate pool. Below in the resources section is a website to help determine if the proposed position and ideal candidate language is gender neutral, thereby not negatively impacting the potential gender diversity of the applicant pool.

Resources:

• Job Analysis Template
• Class Specifications
• Position Ideal Candidate Statement Template
• Gender Neutral Job Announcements

There are many methods that the County uses to evaluate and screen candidates before they are eligible to be considered for selection. Which ones you select for your recruitment will depend on the type of position, expected number or candidates, and which knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies you would like to evaluate before candidates can be eligible for a selection interview. Below are some types of screening and evaluation steps that may be used in a recruitment, you will work closely with your HR Analyst to determine which steps can or should be used for your position:

• Minimum Qualification Review: Required for all recruitments, a review of applications to determine if candidates meet the minimum qualifications stated in the class specification.
• Highly Qualified Review: A review of information provided by candidates to determine if they exhibit qualities presented in the position’s ideal candidate profile.
• Oral Board: Structured panel interview that takes place before candidates are placed on an eligible list.
• Practical/Performance Examination: Assessment of physical ability or on the job skills in an environment simulating work conditions.
• Written Examination: Proctored, position related multiple choice or multiple answer assessments.
• Skills testing: Assessment of skills and competencies related to successful performance in the role (examples can include computer skills, software competency, writing samples, etc.)

In order to attract highly qualified candidates and improve and maintain diversity in our workforce, all recruitments should include outreach to industry and job related sources that focus on reaching a diverse applicant pool. An effective outreach plan will include multiple approaches to attract a qualified, diverse applicant pool such as:

• Traditional online job boards, professional organizations and community based organizations
• County and personal social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
• Professional networking opportunities

You will partner with your Recruitment Analyst in the development of the outreach plan. A robust outreach plan will include activities from all three of these approaches to attract both active candidates (people actively seeking employment) and passive candidates (people not actively seeking employment, but willing to change jobs). When developing your outreach plan, it is important to consider the following elements:

• Identified EEO underutilization and additional diversity outreach
• Recruitment timeline
• Upcoming conferences, job fairs or other similar events
• Ability to reach out to professional networks within and outside of the County.
• Access to social media (County accounts and personal accounts)
• Budget for recruitment advertising

Review the Job Advertising Resources and work with your HR Analyst to develop an outreach plan for your recruitment.

How EEO Underutilization Affects Your Outreach Plan

EEO underutilization provides you with a starting point in your diversity outreach for your recruitment. When there is underutilization identified, it is required that your recruitment and outreach plan include strategies to address the underutilization. It is important to note however, that the EEO underutilization data should only be used as a starting point in developing your outreach plan to attract a diverse applicant pool. A more robust diversity outreach plan will serve both the needs of your position as well as the entire County in achieving a more inclusive, diverse organization at all levels.

Resources:

• Job Advertising Resources
• County of Marin Affinity Groups
• Job Fair Postcard

In addition to the time needed to adequately prepare to recruit, an average recruitment will take about 12 weeks from recruitment opening to making an offer of employment. However, each recruitment will vary from this depending on the decisions made with regards to the amount of time a recruitment will be open accepting applications, the planned steps to evaluate candidates, and the selection process.

Timeline for Recruitment / Accepting Applications:

County policies determine the minimum amount of time that a particular recruitment must be open (14 calendar days for an open recruitment, 7 calendar days for a promotional recruitment), but there are other factors that should be considered when establishing your recruitment application timeline:

• Estimated availability of qualified candidates or enough candidates to fill all vacancies
• Scheduling constraints for those involved in the recruitment (workload, planned time off, etc.)
• Complexity of the application process and supplemental questionnaire
• Upcoming religious or government holidays
• Time needed for planned outreach and professional networking to take full effect

Timeline for Evaluating Candidates:

After the recruitment has closed, the time needed from recruitment closing to making a hiring decision will depend greatly on the evaluation methods used in the recruitment and the structure of the selection process. Generally speaking, it is recommended that you plan for the following amount of time for each step (actual time may vary depending on size of candidate pool, workload of those involved in administering each step, and work schedules):

• Minimum Qualification Review: One week to perform review and process results
• Highly Qualified Review: One week (may run concurrently with Minimum Qualification Review) to perform review and process results
• Oral Board: 2.5 weeks for invitation, scheduling and conducting interviews, and reviewing and processing results
• Practical/Performance Examination: 2.5 weeks for invitation, scheduling and conducting interviews, and reviewing and processing results
• Written Examination: 3-5 weeks depending on the examination for ordering examination, inviting candidates, conducting written examination, and having results scored, reviewed and processed
• Skills testing: 3 weeks for invitation, conducting examination, and having results scored, reviewed and processed

1. What is a job analysis and why do I need it for my recruitment?

   A job analysis is a document used to collect the core duties and required knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies for a position as well as proposed evaluation steps for each of the KSA's. A majority of your recruitment planning is based off of the information contained in this document.

2. Is there any way to reduce the amount of time needed to recruit?

   The length of a recruitment will depend greatly on the application timeline, evaluation steps used, and selection process, with some recruitments being relatively short while others can take several months. In the planning process, you will be able to work with your Recruitment Analyst in balancing your department's time constraints with the various recruitment requirements and needs with the focus on getting the best candidates for your position.