Hiring Procedures for Academic Employees

For additional information on types of employees, please see Employee Definitions.

Appointment Process

To officially place a new employee on the payroll, the following information is needed:

• A copy of the resume of the new employee.
  
  
• An AcademicRecruiting Record Form. This form documents everyone who actually submitted an application or applied for the position. One of the Faculty Support Aides assigned to work with you as the Recruiting Chair will complete the bulk of this document for you.
  
  
• An Appointment Confirmation and Search Summary Sheet (ACSS) provides the rationale for the selection of the individual you wish to hire. Again, one of the Faculty Support Aides assigned to work with you as the Recruiting Chair will complete the bulk of this document for you, but may need assistance with 'who was interviewed?', 'who received offers?', and/or nationality or ethnicity.
  
  In Section #1 of the ACSS, type in your rationale. If minority candidates were interviewed and not selected, include detailed interview notes in the section provided explaining why they were not chosen.
  
  All applicants should be compared to job-related criteria that is consistent with the posted requirements.
  
  For additional information, please see the Appointment Confirmation and Search Summary Guidelines.
  
  
• Copies of the applications, resumes, acknowledgment letters, rejection letters, etc. must be sent to the Administrative Service Center where they will be kept.
  
  
• Finally, once all the information requested is received, in addition to processing the paperwork to officially appoint the new hire, an Employee Profile will be circulated which authorizes various departments -- Tech Services, Facilities, etc., to include the individual on listservs, provide building access, keys, etc. Such notification confirms that the individual has accepted a position and can be legitimately contacted for personal information, text books, course packets, computer acquisitions, etc., as well.
  

Before reaching point A - the Appointment Process, much has to occur after establishing the position, posting it, and advertising for candidates, including:

Hiring or Replacing a Regular Part- or Full-Time Permanent Academic Employee

When hiring priorities have been established, or when a vacancy occurs, the Chairperson of the Search Committee, selected by the Dean or Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, should contact the Administrative Service Center, 235 Sage, immediately. A Human Resources Associate will be assigned to work with the Chair or the Faculty Support Aide assigned to the Chair from the posting to the actual Offer Letter.

Cornell is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. In addition, the University and the Johnson School are committed to diversifying their workforce and providing maximum opportunity for internal mobility. Departments are expected to develop and implement a recruitment plan that is designed to attract qualified applicants with diverse backgrounds. Academic Search Plans are filed by the Administrative Service Center for all open, vacant academic positions in consultation with the Chairperson of the Search Committee(s) and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

The Administrative Service Center, in consultation with the Search Committees, will advertise the vacancy and electronically send out job postings. If contacts are established out of the norm, departments are expected to submit a narrative of recruitment and selection activities, which demonstrates a good faith effort to address diversity and affirmative action goals.

If the individual you want to hire is a foreign national, you must ensure that the individual has the proper visa that will allow him/her to accept employment. If there is uncertainty, contact the Administrative Service Center.

The most common visas are: F-1 (student visas); H-1 (temporary workers, available for tenure-track academics only); J-1 (visiting scholars/professors); and/or TN (Canadian or Mexican residents' visas). In addition, B-1 visas are granted to visitors whose stay will not exceed 9 days; F-1OPT for practical training. For additional information on visa types, go to http://www.isso.cornell.edu/immigration/visas/visa.php. The Administrative Service Center will process a Request for Issuance of Form DS-2019 (Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor Status) for Foreign Academic Staff along with the individual invited to visit and send it to the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) on campus. Upon receipt of the executed form, the ISSO sends the visitor a DS-2019 form which allows for him/her to obtain their exchange visa.

Cornell remains unequivocally committed to hiring US workers. Therefore, the University does not support H-1 visa requests for nonacademic positions.

The Interviewing Process

Once all the "house keeping" chores are out of the way and you have a pool of applicants, the Search Committee should identify those individuals to bring in for interviews. The selection of candidates to be invited in for interviews and arrangements to accommodate that process are the responsibility of the Search Committee.

Other responsibilities of the Search Committee(s) include:

• All applicants for the position must be acknowledged. The Faculty Support Aide assigned to work with the Chair will assist the Search Committees with this task. See sample acknowledgment letter.
  
  
• Applicant Flow Cards. All applicants who are external to the University (that is, not employed by Cornell in any capacity) should be asked to complete an Applicant Flow Card via an acknowledgement letter. Again, this too, will be requested in the acknowledgement letter and will be done by the Faculty Support Aide.
  
  Federal Affirmative Action regulations require the University to collect race, gender, veteran and disability status information about each applicant. This information will be maintained confidentially by Cornell's Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality, the University office designated to ensure compliance with Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity regulations. The information will not be available for use by the Johnson School and will not become a part of your application materials. The information is used solely for compliance with Federal Affirmative Action regulations.
  
  The Applicant Flow Cards are on-line at http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/workLifeDiversity/diversity/applicant/index.html. The Administrative Service Center will provide your Faculty Support Aide with the requisition number of the position(s). The applicants will be instructed to include this number in the designated place on-line.
  
  
• Prior to bringing the candidate(s) to the faculty for a vote, you must contact two references and verify the work history of the candidate. References are required in writing prior to offers being extended.
  
  
• The Search Committee or Chair should talk with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and determine when the candidates should go before the faculty for a vote.

Following the vote of the appropriate faculty, an offer will be extended to the candidate by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. All offers of employment are contingent on verification of employment eligibility. See the list of Acceptable Documentation for Employment Eligibility (I-9 Identification). Such documentation must be verified on or before an employee's first day of employment.

If the individual accepts, all those not chosen will be notified on the behalf of the Search Committee by the Faculty Support Aide and the search will officially be closed, unless Human Resources is otherwise instructed to keep it open. See sample rejection letter.

For information on announcing new hires, please see New Faculty and Staff Announcements.

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Last Modified: May 8, 2008