The university will convene a working group to develop strategies for effectively promoting the use of best practices in employee recruitment across campus. As part of this effort, the working group will focus on best practices regarding the inclusion of DEI language in job postings and recruitment marketing materials. The initiative will begin with an audit of current practice in schools, colleges and units to identify gaps, training needs and local models of excellence.
Year Four Progress:
During Year Four, University Human Resources (UHR) focused its efforts on strengthening current initiatives, adding strategic tools and resources, advancing best practices, and reinforcing vital infrastructure. Despite interruptions and programmatic pauses resulting from COVID-19, progress was made in building diverse, qualified candidate pools, increasing U-M’s visibility in key job markets, and supporting equitable experiences for candidates.
To maintain momentum during Year Four, the Chief Financial Officer provided funds to advance five strategic objectives: 1) training and development for individuals involved in the recruiting process to build diverse candidate pools and support equitable experiences; 2) contemporary job descriptions; 3) broader sourcing strategies and increased pipeline development; 4) an enhanced candidate experience; and 5) improved metrics.
New initiatives in Year Four included the launch of a completely revamped Resources for Hiring Units webpage featuring protocols for mitigating bias and the roll-out of a new job posting platform for all AA campus units to ensure inclusive, candidate-friendly postings. Initial outcomes show a significant increase in diversity of applicant pools. In consultation with I/O psychologists, we also developed behavior-based interview questions that map to the Michigan Expectations Model.
In addition to continuing the use of HigherEdJobs and other job boards for automated posting of all positions, we forged partnerships with Professional Diversity Network and LinkedIn to generate new venues and opportunities for job postings and recruitment of diverse, qualified candidates. We activated a partnership with Glassdoor for employer branding, job posting, and sponsoring of jobs to increase visibility among broadly diverse candidates. To help units provide an equitable experience for candidates and ensure quality of hire, we also continued use of an automated reference checking platform. Our efforts were helped by the fact that, in year four, unit recruiting Tableau dashboards and other workforce metrics became available.
Several new initiatives were interrupted by the pandemic. Among them was development of a university-wide employer brand to ensure inclusive recruiting messages and the hiring of a management training vendor for topics such as unconscious bias, best practices in interviewing, creating positive candidate experiences, and effective onboarding.
Building on the strategic plan for talent acquisition developed in Year Three, in which DEI was woven into all aspects of the work, pilot units chose to partner with UHR to implement portions of the plan. This work was also paused due to budget concerns resulting from COVID-19 but will be resumed as soon as possible.
Responsibility: University Human Resources