Administrative Professional Search Resources
Hiring exceptional colleagues is a critical responsibility at CSU. Active participation in ongoing recruitment efforts is vital for attracting top talent, enriching our university environment, and ensuring the well-being of our institution. Strong recruitment bolsters our institutional reputation, leaving positive impressions even on those not offered a position. For successful candidates, it marks the beginning of a robust and welcoming integration into our university community.
Getting Started
Starting a search to fill an open position but not sure where to begin? No worries! Let’s walk through these steps to kick off your hiring process the right way.
Steps in setting up your search for success:
Create or modify a position in Workday
If you are creating a new position within your department/college/division, the position will need to be created prior to initiating the job requisition.
If backfilling a previously encumbered position, you may need to edit the position to align with the duties and responsibilities your recruitment is looking to fill.
For questions regarding positions in Workday, please submit a ticket in Workday to the HR Classification & Compensation team via the Workday Help Ticketing function.
Identify which search process type the recruitment will utilize
The best type of search process will depend on the position you are seeking to fill.
For information regarding the various search process types available and when to use them, please visit the Types of Search Processes link available under the General Resources section of our Search & Hiring Page.
Identify the participants involved in your search process.
Roles in the search process describe responsibilities within the search and do not automatically align with Workday security roles. It is important to set expectations on the role within a search process will complete, as well as their responsibility in the Workday system.
Hold a Charge Meeting to kick off the search
All partners in the search process should participate in the Charge Meeting as it and provides a great opportunity to set expectations and align objectives and goals. During this meeting various items should be discussed, screening forms can be created, search committee member pledges should be reviewed and signed, and search timelines should be established. Please refer to the Charge Meeting checklist for additional details.
Create the Job Requisition in Workday and submit for review and approval
The job requisition will be reviewed by the Talent Acquisition team, the department/college/unit business officer, the position justification review committee and once approved, posted to the CSU Careers Webpage.
For additional information regarding the job requisition and approval process in Workday, please refer to the Workday training information and quick guides.
During the Search
Steps to take during your search:
Advertise and recruit for the position
While all CSU jobs are automatically posted to the CSUS Internal job board, the CSU Fort Collins Career website, Indeed, HigherEdJobs, and Connecting Colorado, search committees are responsible for broadly advertising the position either in additional recruitment venues or via their own professional networks. Additionally, departments may proactively invite candidates from the internal Workday pipeline to apply for the position. Inviting candidates to apply does not mean they may be considered until they submit application materials to the specific requisition.
Applicant/Candidate Communication
Applicants should receive communication throughout the search process, notifying them when they are moving forward in the process and when they are no longer in consideration. Templates will be available in Workday to communicate with candidates, and should be customized, when appropriate.
Candidate Communication Best Practices – coming soon
Assess, review, and select candidates moving forward
After the full consideration date has passed or the posting has closed, the search committee will begin to review all on-time applications. If utilizing the Search Committee or Accelerated search processes, the chair and one other committee member will use the minimum qualification (Yes/No) screening form to ensure applicants meet the required job qualifications of the position. If utilizing the HR Professional model, the HR Professional should utilize the screening form to review minimum qualifications. HR Professional searches may begin screening application as soon as they come in.
Applicants that meet the minimum qualifications will then be assessed by the entire search committee using the pre-approved applicant rating sheet. Applicants that scored highly on the rating sheet will then be discussed and considered by the entire committee where they will eventually determine who moves forward to the first round of interviews. While some committee members may be familiar with applicants who have applied, please refrain from sharing personal information related to an applicant until after the semifinalist interviews take place. During this committee meeting, the Search Support Staff member should take detailed notes of the decisions being made which will assist in correctly dispositioning each candidate in Workday. Please remember to include your EO Coordinator in the committee’s deliberation meeting. Rationale must be collected and documented prior to moving forward in the Workday system.
Conduct Interviews and assess candidates through the interview process.
Complete at least one round of interviews with all candidates determined to be qualified to move forward. An additional round may be necessary depending on the level of the position, number of available positions, and the type of search process. Committees must debrief between interview stages and clearly document the rationale for advancing or declining candidates. This information is submitted by the Interviewer in Workday and serves as the official search rationale subject to review.
Please see our Interview Guidance for current guidance to adhere to while interviewing.
Check References
Although the committee can decide to conduct reference checks at any point in the search process, it is best practice to occur after the interview stage and should only be kicked off on the top candidate(s). While a committee can decide to go ‘off-list’ with their reference checks, they will need to first inform the candidates before doing so.
Please see the Reference Checks in Workday page regarding conducting reference checks in Workday and the functionality within the system.
Assess, review, and determine final hire recommendation
After the final round of interviews takes place, the committee will gather once more to discuss and determine their final hire recommendation. If the search is a Search Committee model, the committee will craft their final recommendation and present it to the Hiring Authority. If the search is Accelerated or HR Professional, the committee select a candidate for hire. During this committee meeting, the Search Support Staff member should take detailed notes of the decisions being made which will serve as the rationale for candidate movements in Workday. Please ensure your EO Coordinator is present at this meeting. The Offer request must be submitted in Workday before a verbal offer may be made to a candidate. If salary negotiations occur, the department must re-submit the offer in Workday, to move forward. If a salary requested is $5,000 above the approved posting salary range, departments should submit rationale for the requested amount.
After the Search
Steps to take after your search:
Finalize the Hire in Workday
As soon as the Offer is approved in Workday by Talent Acquisition, the department may generate and extend the offer letter. The offer letter will route from the Primary Recruiter to the Position’s Hiring Manager, who will review and approve the offer letter moving forward to the candidate. Once the candidate accepts the offer letter in their Workday account, the Primary Recruiter will be able to progress the candidate forward.
Background Check
In Workday, the background check will be submitted to the background check team for initiation/determination after the offer letter has been completed. Once the background check team has approved moving the candidate forward, the department will be able to finalize the hiring process and submit the appropriate onboarding information/steps.