Hiring Staff

Positions are posted to fill new business needs or vacancies where the previous incumbent has given notice or is no longer in the position, i.e., Hire Type is either New or Replacement. Determine the type of appointment you need—Full-time, Part-time, Grant-funded, Limited Term, etc.

Define the position duties and the required qualifications needed to perform them. These requirements serve as the basis for the creation of interview questions, the selection of the candidate of choice, and the documentation to support the hiring decision. All interviewees are required to meet all the basic requirements listed, so the requirements must be realistic, specific, and measurable.

To get started, contact your HRBP to discuss the role and determine if a job description exists for your vacancy. If it does, they will share it with you. The HRBP will determine if a new job description should be written. In this case, you will collaborate with the HRBP and describe the specifics of the job. Doing this will help you:

• Summarize the general responsibilities and competencies of a position.
• Use compensation analysis to ensure internal equity is maintained.
• Use as a framework for reviewing performance.

Once the appropriate job description has been identified, edit the template to meet the current needs of your open position. Next, submit the revised job description to your HR Business Partner to review and route it through Compensation to be classified. Once you have the finalized job description, you will notify your department contact to create a requisition in the iCIMS applicant tracking system and submit it for review and approval (department contact and the TAS), before it goes live on the web.

Job Description vs. Job Posting

Job postings are used to inform applicants about an open position and attract them to apply for the job. While a job description is an internal document that provides detailed information about the job function, duties assigned, responsibilities, and minimum requirements, the job posting is much briefer and provides an opportunity to market the position and educate applicants about the opening. Think of a job posting as a more succinct, positive, and engaging version of the job description. Your TAS is expertly trained to think like a job seeker and will ensure your job postings:

• Are inclusive and appeal to a broad audience, to attract and build a more diverse pool of talent.
• Use conversational, less technical, and gender-neutral language that is appealing to a broad audience.
• Avoid Tufts jargon that may be inclusive only to internal applicants.
• Are optimized for keyword searches, as applicants typically search by keyword to find jobs of interest.

Components of a Typical Job Ad Posting at Tufts

At Tufts, job postings follow a typical structure that supports applicants’ user experience when reviewing multiple openings across Tufts departments. The sections of Tufts postings include:

• Overview = The Department Summary
• What You'll Do = Job Summary
  • Typically, a small paragraph that includes the job responsibilities in bullet form
• What We’re Looking For = Basic Requirements and Preferred Qualifications
  • Basic Requirements are the minimum qualifications an applicant must possess to be considered as a candidate for the position.
    • TIP: Give thought to what qualifications are absolutely required and what can be listed under “Preferred.” If the candidates do not meet the Basic Requirements listed, they cannot be advanced.
  • Preferred Qualifications are not required for an applicant to be considered as a candidate for the position. They are desired qualifications above and beyond the minimums that demonstrate additional experience, education, or credentials.
  • Make sure to specify any required or preferred certifications or degrees the role requires.

Your TAS will create the job ad posting from the job description that was uploaded upon requisition creation, to ensure posting consistency, optimization, and that it meets legal and compliance requirements, such as pay transparency, etc. 

Job Posting Guidelines

Internal Posting Expectations:

• All open and approved vacancies must be posted internally to the Tufts Careers site for a minimum of 5 business days
• Our commitment to internal mobility provides:
  • Transparency into openings across the university
  • Career growth opportunities
  • Retaining top talent
  • Development discussions and mentoring opportunities

Unless directed otherwise by the hiring manager, once the requisition is approved, the posting will be published/posted and visible on Tufts Careers. Read below to learn about where else the positions are posted and additional advertising options.

Once the requisition has been approved, your TAS will:

• Post the requisition to the Tufts Careers site.
• Schedule a Recruitment Strategy Intake Call to discuss your recruitment strategy and gain insight into facilitating a successful search.

Advertising Your Position

Familiarize yourself with how Tufts advertises open roles:

1. Automated Advertising: All jobs posted on the Tufts Careers site are automatically advertised on certain websites/job boards at no cost to schools or departments.
2. Additional Advertising Channels (Free or Paid): Requisitions can be advertised on websites/job boards not included in automated advertising. (Note: Paid advertising is set up by Talent Acquisition and charged back to the department.)
3. ListServs: Departments are encouraged to share jobs within their networks if they are members of a ListServ that allows job postings.

Work with your TAS to identify the agreed-upon sourcing channels for posting the job. Keep in mind, since each hiring need is unique, the channels used to post a job will vary based on the talent you want to reach. Your TAS can create and provide specific apply links for job postings for a specific source to track ROI (return on investment) and/or applicant volume.

Exploring Opportunities To Promote Your Open Position

LinkedIn Promoted and/or Sponsored Ads on Indeed

In addition to Tufts Careers and the automated sites your job is posted to, Tufts has also purchased job posting slots on LinkedIn and Indeed to highlight hard-to-fill positions. If you are a hiring manager and would like to see your current job opportunity featured on LinkedIn or Indeed, please contact your TAS to explore these options. Both options increase visibility of your job and offer different benefits, summarized below:

• Indeed Sponsored Jobs: Provide prominent placement of your job in search results, reaching a broad audience.
• LinkedIn Promoted Jobs: Connect with a more targeted audience of professionals.

Posting and Sharing Positions on LinkedIn

We encourage hiring managers and their team members to share current job opportunities within their LinkedIn networks and other social media. To do this, go to the Tufts Careers site and click on the job posting you want to share and then click the share button. This will display a drop-down menu with share options such as X, Meta, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can also type a brief message about the post.

Sourcing

Based on your Recruiting Strategy Intake Call and continuous monitoring of applicant quality and volume, your TAS will determine the need to provide additional strategic sourcing efforts to identify both active and passive talent (i.e., people who are gainfully employed and not necessarily looking for new opportunities until contacted). “Post and wait” is not our preferred method, as we want to find great talent for you! Beyond advertising, we develop and leverage various sourcing strategies and tools to identify talent and promote open positions using insights, tactics, community hiring initiatives, social media sites, employee referrals, outreach campaigns, and complex web-based sourcing. Not only are we recruiting for your immediate need, but outreach efforts today also contribute to building a talent pipeline for future roles.

Your TAS will:

• Review applicants to determine if they meet the basic requirements.
• Conduct phone screens to introduce candidates to the job specifics, confirm applicant salary requirements, and compare against competencies.
• Present pre-screened candidates to be considered for an interview.
• Hiring managers will schedule and conduct candidate interviews, taking detailed notes while maintaining consistency throughout the process.

Feedback

Throughout the recruitment process, it is important that the hiring manager provide feedback to the TAS on their candidate pool. This feedback helps the TAS to improve the quality of candidates. Providing feedback also allows for ongoing dialogue with the TAS, who can provide helpful information regarding the employment market as it relates to the role for which the hiring manager is recruiting.

Once you have selected your candidate of choice, you should reach out to the TAS to inform them who you’d like to advance.

The TAS works to:

• Collaborate with the hiring manager to determine the offer.
• Conduct an internal equity review.
• Gain written offer approval from the department contact (if applicable).
• Conduct a benefits review call with the candidate to:
  • Reverify desired salary
  • Discuss potential start date
  • Extend the contingent verbal offer
  • Initiate the pre-employment checks:
    • Reference check
    • Background check*
    • Occupational Health check (if applicable and once background check is complete)
• TAS sends the (contingent) written offer to the candidate via the Tufts Careers system.
• Once the offer is signed, the TAS will close out requisition (i.e., send rejections to any candidates who have not yet received them).

* Click to view the Tufts University Background Check Policy

TAS submits the candidate details and hires from the Tufts Careers system to Peoplesoft. The new hire will receive an email from TSS@tufts.edu prompting them to create their Tufts online identity and start the pre-provisioning process, including completing an I-9 and new employee forms. TAS will inform the new hire that the New Hire Orientation (NHO) email with session login details will be sent to them on the Thursday before their NHO.

At this point, please reach out to welcome your new hire! To prepare for your new hire, refer to the Onboarding Checklist for New Employees and their Supervisors, which outlines onboarding tasks you and your new hire will need to complete to ensure a smooth start. You may also use the Onboarding Template to create your onboarding plan. Congratulations on your new hire!