University of Waterloo Library
Recruitment and Selection of Professional Staff
The following guidelines are intended to supplement the Library's "Interviewing Procedures" and to provide general direction for recruiting professional staff (at and above USG 8 level). Both documents have been developed to help ensure fair and equitable treatment of all applicants for library positions.
INTERVIEW TEAM
The interview team is an advisory group selected by the recruiting manager in consultation with her/his immediate superior. The team can include both professional and support staff selected to represent qualified opinions in the various areas in which a new recruit will be working.
The responsibilities of each member of the interview team are:
- to participate in interviewing all applicants according to guidelines specified in the pre-interview meeting (see below).
- to evaluate applicants' qualifications for an advertised position with reference to stated requirements.
- to report to the recruiting manager at the post-interview meeting (see below) on his/her evaluation of each candidate's suitability to fill the vacant position.
*NOTE:
As a general rule, no one will be selected to serve on an interview team unless she/he can participate in every scheduled interview. The interview schedule will be restructured to accommodate unforseen scheduling difficulties.
It is the responsibility of the recruiting manager, in consultation with her/his immediate superior, to make the final selection decision, after considering the advice of members of the interview team.
PRE-INTERVIEW MEETING
The pre-interview meeting is held within the week prior to the first scheduled interview. The meeting is chaired by the Director, Library Resources Management. All members of the interview team are expected to attend. No minutes are recorded and the proceedings are completely confidential.
The purposes of the pre-interview meeting are:
- to review and elaborate on the stated requirements for an advertised position. The recruiting manager will stress those characteristics which she/he regards as of primary importance. He/she will also set priorities among the stated requirements so that interviewers will have a common set of ranked criteria against which all candidates can be evaluated.
- to underscore the importance of confidentiality. The Director, Library Resources Management will indicate that interviewers are to treat both the content of their interviews and the proceedings of pre- and post-interview meetings as completely confidential. It will be explained that the interviewer's responsibility is to the recruiting manager and that she/he should direct to the recruiting manager any post-interview questions from an applicant about either the interview itself or the interviewer's evaluation of the applicant's ability to do the job.
- to specify guidelines for conducting selection interviews. The Director, Library Resources Management, will review some of the principles of effective interviewing and discuss types of questions to ask and to avoid. All interviews for recruitment, promotion or transfer are conducted by two people. They may be any two members of the interview team (see below).
- to allow interviewers to ask questions about the requirements for the vacant position and the interview process.
POST-INTERVIEW MEETING
The post-interview meeting is held within the week immediately following the last scheduled interview.
The meeting is chaired by the recruiting manager.
All members of the interview team are expected to attend.
No minutes are recorded and the proceedings are completely confidential.
The purposes of the post-interview meeting are:
- to allow each member of the interview team to present to the recruiting manager, her/his recorded impressions of each candidate with specific reference to the stated requirements of the position as reviewed and explained in the pre-interview meeting.
- to allow the recruiting manager to ask questions of the interviewers that will assist him/her with carrying out the responsibility of making a selection decision.
INTERVIEW TEAM COMPOSITION
- Librarian
Recruiting Manager
Recruiting Manager's Department Head and Division Head (or Coordinator)
1 librarian from the recruiting department
2nd Division Head and/or delegate, as appropriate
Director, Library Resources Management
Personnel Department representative (for external candidates)
- Department Head
LEC members
1 Department Head from each division
2 staff members from the recruiting department
Personnel Department representative (for external candidates)
- Associate Librarian
Associate Provost, Academic Affairs
LEC members
Department Heads from the recruiting Division
Personnel Department representative (for external candidates)
December 1987;
revised February 1989;
revised July 1992
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Staff Manual 4th revision: July 2004
