Midyear hiring emergencies happen, well, at any time. An employee may need to leave with little or no time to prepare a replacement. To minimize the amount of downtime your school experiences during one of the busiest times of the year while mitigating potential risk of lawsuits, make sure your search aligns with these best hiring practices.
- If you include an “equal opportunity employer” statement on your job listings, be sure that your school’s mission supports such a statement.
- Avoid exclusionary language that could imply you’ll screen applicants based on federally protected classes.
- E.g., “Looking a recent college graduate” might imply to applicants that you’ll be screening based on age, whereas age is a federally protected class.
- Make sure that your position is correctly classed as either exempt or non-exempt, with salaried or hourly compensation.
- State job duties and responsibilities as objectively as possible, with a job title that aligns with the
- Find the primary responsibilities of the job opening and emphasize those in the listing, while including seconding responsibilities as periphery focuses.
- Align the job’s duties with the proper amount of experience and credentials needed.
- Wait until you have more than two people applying for a position before making a decision. (“Hire slow, fire fast.”)
- If you have employees sign a contract before coming on board, have your legal counsel review the document to guarantee that its clauses and regulations are enforceable.
- Compensate your new hires based on what your school can afford to pay for their expertise, not based on what they used to make at a different organization that had different priorities and budgets.
- Remember that hiring rules and laws vary between regions, so double-check with your legal counsel to ensure that your hiring practices are compliant at both state and federal levels.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Human Resources Vol. 10 No. 10 Avoiding Hiring Mistakes
The Source for School Heads Vol. 10 No. 7 Characteristics of Professional Excellence Aren't Just for Hiring
The Source for Division Heads Vol. 7 No. 5 It's Hiring Season—Know What Not to Ask
The Source for Business Managers Vol. 14 No. 4 The Best of the Worst Job Applications
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 33 No. 10 Characteristics of Professional Excellence: Faculty Interviews
I&P Vol. 40 No. 13 The Business Manager as a Change Agent
