Assignment task:
General Instructions:
As an administrator in Student Affairs, at some point, you will be involved in helping to coordinate the hiring of staff members. Commonly this will involve working as part of a "search committee" and possibly serving as the chair of that committee. This means you will be tasked with developing a job description, convening a search committee, advertising the position, screening applications, narrowing the candidate field, coordinating interviews, checking references, and making hiring decisions.
The goal of this assignment is to provide students with an inside look at the search and selecting process and give students practical experience in preparing to fill a job position.
For this assignment, take on the role of a search committee chair in the assigned Student Affairs concentration area, do some research and locate a job description for a position that you are theoretically seeking to fill, then write a paper outlining the process you would take to fill the position. The paper should include the following components: Job Description, Attracting Applicants/Advertising the Position, Search Committee Structure, Interview Process, Reference Checking, and Hiring Decision.
Job Description:
- Identify a position in Student Affairs that falls within the assigned Concentration Area and locate or develop a job description. The position should be at an Assistant Director level or higher.
- You may locate a job description from a college or university via an online search (The Placement Exchange on the NASPA website or the job board from one of the professional association websites are good places to start, as are HigherEdJobs, StudentAffairs, or InsideHigherEd). Cite which institution the job description came from.
- Job descriptions can be very detailed, sometimes many pages in length. For the purposes of this assignment, keep the job description relatively short (no more than one page), focusing on the educational qualifications, required work experience, primary job duties, etc.
Attracting Applicants/Advertising the Position:
- How would you promote the position? Conduct research to determine what publications and job posting websites would be appropriate for advertising the job and identify these resources. Need Assignment Help?
- Other than posting on job boards, what other strategies might be used to attract candidates? List specific job search sites.
Search Committee
Who would be included on the search committee? Identify relevant positions from across Student Affairs (i.e., student life, residence life, multicultural affairs, etc.) and the institution that would be potential members of the search committee. Include the specific titles of the professionals (i.e., Vice President, Director, Coordinator, etc.) that might be included, and select one student representative from the campus. Include at least 5 to 6 members on the committee, and justify why the individuals would be appropriate committee members.
The Interview:
- What questions would be asked during the interview?
- Tailor the questions to the job description and include a minimum of 8-10 questions.
Reference Checking:
What questions would be asked of the applicants' references? Tailor most questions to the job description and include a minimum of 5 questions.
Hiring Decision:
Which of the following criteria do you think are the most important as you make a decision on which candidate to offer the job? Choose your top three and give a rationale for your choices.
- Candidates' educational background
- Candidates' work/internship experience
- Candidates' effectiveness during the interview
- Comments from references
- Input from search committee members
- Degree of interest expressed by the applicant
- Other factors?
Format:
- You should submit this assignment in a Microsoft Word document, double spaced and free of grammatical and typographical errors. Points will be deducted for each grammatical error.
- Papers should be formatted in APA, 7th ed. Points will be deducted for each APA error.
- Include APA sub-headings for each section.
- Your score will be determined by the degree to which you address each of the components listed above.
While there is no minimum number of pages, your answers should be thorough and leave a clear impression of the choices you would make at each stage of the recruiting and hiring process. Be sure to include in-text citations from the sources that you draw on for this assignment.