One of the most mysterious aspects of job searching is the sheer number of people involved in the interview process. Over a series of interviews with a single employer, you may speak with a mix of human resources staff, hiring managers, hiring committees, or just about any combination of these individuals and groups.
Hiring Managers vs. Hiring Committees
The hiring manager is typically the person who will ultimately oversee the candidates if they are hired for a particular role. Therefore, they have the most detailed knowledge of the position the employer is hiring for. Hiring managers will play the most influential role in the screening and selection process.
Hiring committees, which consist of a group of individuals involved in the hiring process, are used to attract, screen, and interview candidates. This hiring model is used in higher education and for executive hiring.
Responsibilities of the Hiring Manager
The hiring manager creates or modifies the job description and conveys the job requirements to the human resources office. They review the job advertisements after they are prepared by human resources.
How to Screen Applicants
In some organizations, all resumes and application materials will be forwarded to the hiring manager for initial screening. In other cases, a representative from human resources will review the resumes to ensure that candidates meet the basic requirements for the position and then send a batch of resumes to the hiring manager.
The hiring manager often identifies and assembles the search committee, a group of individuals who have an interest and insight regarding the position to help screen and interview candidates.
The Interview Process
In some cases, initial interviews will be conducted by recruiters from the human resources department or contracting recruitment agencies.
In other cases, the hiring manager or a designee may conduct telephone or in-person screening interviews to narrow down a few finalists for interviewing with the hiring committee.
The hiring manager will gather and consider the evaluations completed by the individuals who met with the finalists during the interview day at the organization’s facility. They often lead the discussion in a committee members’ meeting to make a recommendation regarding the candidate to be hired.
In other cases, the hiring manager may ask committee members to share their individual assessments of the candidates in writing, making a decision without reaching a consensus.
How Hiring Decisions Are Made
The hiring manager’s decision is often subject to review and final approval by their supervisor.
Human resources typically also reviews hiring decisions to ensure that the hiring manager has complied with all workplace policies.
As a job candidate, you should pay close attention to the hiring manager’s needs and preferences while crafting your application materials.
If possible, conduct interviews with professional contacts or alumni in similar positions to improve your insights into the expectations of hiring managers in your field.
What Are Hiring Committees?
Employers use hiring committees to attract, screen, and interview candidates for administrative and academic positions in higher education. Some companies or nonprofit organizations use a similar model to hire executive positions.
The Hiring Committee Process
Deans, department heads, and university presidents typically charge hiring committees with their mission and select a chair to organize the committee’s activities. The responsible official may identify the other committee members or delegate this responsibility to the chair.
Members are typically selected to represent the groups and departments that overlap with the position being sought.
Many colleges make an effort to include individuals from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented.
Responsibilities of the Hiring Committee
A job description is typically developed by human resources departments in collaboration with the responsible official and shared with the committee to guide the screening process.
Human resources departments typically post job announcements and may perform some initial screening to determine whether candidates meet the basic requirements. In other cases, the hiring committee may handle all applications themselves. Sometimes, external search firms are contracted to attract candidates and conduct initial screening of applications and candidates.
Often
The hiring committees conduct screening interviews with selected candidates from the pool to identify individuals for interview days on campus. These screening interviews can be conducted via phone, Skype, or in person.
Campus Interviews
The responsible administrator will assign a number of candidates to the committee to select individuals for campus interviews. The hiring committee will work with human resources to arrange these visits and will seek feedback from individuals who interviewed the candidates.
Members of the hiring committee will also interview candidates on the day of their visit. Often, a committee member will greet the candidates upon arrival and may take them out for dinner before the day of the interview.
Candidate Selection
After the campus interview days, the hiring committee will meet to discuss the feedback from the individuals on campus and share their opinions about the candidates. An agreement will be reached on a list of one or more candidates they believe are suitable for the position.
The responsible administrator will inform the hiring committee how many candidates they should recommend and whether the list should be ranked. In some cases, the hiring committee may decide that none of the individuals sufficiently met the job requirements, and the search will be reopened.
Was this page helpful?
Thank you for your feedback!
Other
Submit
Sources
The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts in our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we verify facts and maintain the accuracy, reliability, and quality of our content.
SHRM. “Recruiting Policy and Procedures.” Accessed February 25, 2020.
Tyler & Company. “I’m Hiring: Do I Need a Search Committee or Advisory Committee?” Accessed February 25, 2020.
Glassdoor. “Who Needs to Be Involved in Your Hiring Process?” Accessed February 25, 2020.
Inside Higher Ed. “Attracting Diverse and Excellent New Faculty.” Accessed February 25, 2020.
Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-a-hiring-manager-2062878
Leave a Reply