Duquesne University believes
that hiring qualified individuals to fill position
contributes to the overall strategic success
of the University. The Office of Human Resource
Management provides assistance to hiring departments
for the recruitment and employment of employees
for all positions in the University. This includes
office and support staff, administrative and
professional staff, and faculty searches, excluding
adjunct faculty positions. This office also
assists search committees in the recruitment
for executive level positions.
The recruitment and employment procedure is
as follows:
1. A standard Personnel
Requisition (PR) and the Search
and Selection Plan may be requested from
the Office of Human Resource Management. Both
forms are available via the forms section of
the HR Website.
The Personnel Requisition is the document that
authorizes and initiates an employment search.
The Search and Selection Plan describes the
ways in which candidates will be recruited for
the position, as well as special efforts to
attract candidates that reflect inclusiveness
and cultural diversity.
The Personnel Requisition and the Search and
Selection Plan are to be completed by the head
of the employing department, approved by the
Dean or Director, and forwarded to the appropriate
Vice President or President for approval. For
Faculty and Administrative/Professional positions,
the Search and Selection Plan must be attached
to the Personnel Requisition prior to receiving
authorized signatures. Upon authorization from
the appropriate Vice President or President,
the requisition and the Search Plan are then
forwarded to the Office of Planning and Budget
for verification of funding. The requisition
and Search Plan is then forwarded to the Office
of Human Resource Management for final approval
and review.
New full-time, non-faculty positions must be
evaluated. This process assures that the position
is classified and assigned to an appropriate
salary range prior to the completion of the
personnel requisition. The hiring department
should contact the Office of Human Resource
Management for assistance with this process.
The form used in the process is the Position
Description Questionnaire (PDQ). Lead time is
required.
No hiring supervisor shall create a position
and make an offer of employment without prior
Vice Presidential approval. This applies to
full-time and part-time employment.
2. The Office of Human Resource Management
notifies the hiring department upon receipt
of the approved Personnel Requisition and the
Search and Selection Plan. At that time, the
job description should be reviewed and updated
as necessary for administrative and support
staff positions. Once department hiring needs
are clarified, recruitment may begin.
3. If the hiring department has not determined
that the position is to be filled by an internal
department promotion/transfer, the opening will
be posted or advertised accordingly. Please
refer to TAP
#6, Selection, Assignment, Transfer, and Promotion,
Non-Faculty Employees. Only under limited
circumstances will a position not be posted.
4. Recruitment for open positions shall consist
of the following: posting to the job board in
the Office of Human Resource Management; posting
to the University’s employment web site;
and posting to the University’s employment
job hotlines. In addition, all employment postings
are forwarded to various applicant referral
and minority recruiting sources, as appropriate,
to ensure compliance with the University’s
commitment to equal employment opportunity for
all qualified persons. When hiring for Administrative/Professional
and Faculty positions, the hiring department
must follow their outlined Search and Selection
Plan.
5. If, in the opinion of the Office of Human
Resource Management and the hiring department,
the open position should be further advertised
for a wider selection of applicants, the hiring
department shall work with the Office of Human
Resource Management to place the appropriate
advertisement.
6. Any eligible employee of the University,
undergraduate student, or graduate of Duquesne
may make application for open positions through
the Office of Human Resource Management. In
order to avoid the stigma of favoritism or the
appearance of impropriety in employment decision
making, relatives of employees, by blood or
marriage, will be considered for University
employment on the same basis as other non-related
applicants, except that they will not be employed
in a department where the applicant’s
relative exercises supervisory, managerial or
administrative responsibility.
This will apply to full-time, part-time, temporary,
or summer positions throughout the University.
For summer or part-time positions only, relatives
may be employed when a position has been posted
and has not been filled by a qualified student
or a person with superior credentials and this
fact has been confirmed by the Student Employment
Manager as to students or the appropriate Dean
or Department Head as to others. See TAP
#21, Employment of Relatives of University Employees.
7. The Applicant Process: a separate letter
of interest and resume are required for each
position. Only one employment applicant needs
to be on file. Applicants are asked to reference
the appropriate job number and job title in
their cover letter. Job candidates must also
provide to the Office of Human Resource Management
any additional credentials/materials that they
want forwarded to the hiring department. All
application materials should be forwarded to
the Office of Human Resource Management, not
the hiring department.
8. The Office of Human Resource Management
will receive all resumes/applications to ensure
that all applicants are processed through the
HR database prior to forwarding to the hiring
manager. The Office of Human Resource Management
may assist the hiring departments by: receiving
all resumes/applications; administering computerized
tests for clerical and secretarial positions;
screening materials; interviewing applicants;
and reviewing salary and benefit related information
with job applicants. Department hiring needs
should be discussed with a Human Resource representative.
All candidates invited on campus for a face-to-face
interview must complete the employment application.
In addition, hiring managers are required to
complete the Candidate Interview Log for Administrative/Support
staff.
The Candidate
Interview Log will show the number of final
candidates interviewed for the open position
based on gender and ethnicity. In addition,
the hiring manager will indicate specific reasons
for the selection of each candidate. These reasons
must relate specifically to the vacancy announcement
and selection criteria. This form will also
measure Duquesne University’s efforts
to increase the number of underrepresented groups
in the final pool of candidacy. The Human Resource
Representative will forward the log to the hiring
manager upon receipt of the approved Personnel
Requisition and Search and Selection Plan.
Effective June 1, 2007, all full-time administrative
and support employees, non-faculty new hires
must undergo a pre-employment screening process.
This procedure was implemented to verify the
background and qualifications of a candidate
for employment. Please refer to Pre-employment
Screening Procedure located on the HR Website
under Employment Policy and Guidelines.
9. Final employment decisions and job offers
are made by the hiring department. As appropriate
for Full-time Administrative/Professional and
support employees, non-faculty offers of employment
shall be contingent upon a satisfactory background
check with actual job offers processed in accordance
with the conditions for the position being filled.
a. For Administrative/Professional positions,
the hiring department shall prepare a Contingent
Letter of Appointment (pending background investigation),
followed by the appropriate appointment letter.
See TAP
#34, Appointment of Exempt Administrative and
Professional Employees.
Administrative/Professional positions with 9
month appointments are paid over 12 months in
26 equal biweekly installments unless a written
election is submitted requesting payment over
9 months. The written election must be received
by the Office of Human Resource Management before
employment commences. Once an election is made,
it is irrevocable until the next fiscal year.
Further, the pay election is automatically carried
forward into each subsequent fiscal year unless
a timely new election is received prior to June
1 and effective for the new year.
b. For hourly, non-union appointments, the
hiring department shall make a contingent offer
verbally and/or in writing using a standard
appointment letter. See TAP
#34, Appointment of Exempt Administrative and
Professional Employees.
c. For Faculty appointments, the appropriate
Dean’s office shall generate a faculty
contract to be reviewed by the Provost and approved
by the President.
Faculty members with 9 month appointments are
paid over 12 months in 26 equal biweekly installments
unless a written election is submitted requesting
payment over 9 months. The written election
must be received by the Office of Human Resource
Management by the contract due date. Once an
election is made, it is irrevocable until the
next academic year. Further, the pay election
is automatically carried forward into each subsequent
academic year unless a timely new election is
received prior to the new contract due date.
To mitigate tax penalties under IRS tax regulation
457(f), which addresses deferred compensation,
highly compensated ($134,000.00+) 9 month faculty
members are required to receive their pay over
12 months. Please contact the Office of Human
Resource Management with questions.
Effective July 1, 2009:
Nine-month and 10-month exempt employees will
be paid over the 12-month academic year. The
only exception to this rule will be those 9-month
and 10-month employees who previously elected
to be paid over the 9-month and 10-month period
for the 2008-09 Academic Year. If any employee
grand fathered under this clause would have
a future base salary that rises to the level
considered to be "highly compensated"
for the purposes of the policy, the employee
must then convert to being paid over the 12-month
academic year in order to mitigate tax penalties
for deferred compensation under the IRS Code
457(f).
d. The faculty contract will serve as notification
document to the Office of Human Resource Management
for payroll processing. All other notifications
shall be made using the Scheduled
Payroll Authorization form. Lead time is
required for pay processing.
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