Human Resource Management

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Human Resources Management

General Instructions

As an administrator in Student Affairs, at some point, you will be involved in helping to
coordinate the hiring of staff members. Commonly this will involve working as part of a “search
committee” and possibly serving as the chair of that committee. This means you will be tasked
with developing a job description, convening a search committee, advertising the position,
screening applications, narrowing the candidate field, coordinating interviews, checking
references, and making hiring decisions.

The goal of this assignment is to provide students with an inside look at the search and
selecting process and give students practical experience in preparing to fill a job position.

For this assignment, take on the role of a search committee chair in the assigned Student
Affairs concentration area, do some research and locate a job description for a position that
you are theoretically seeking to fill, then write a paper outlining the process you would take to fill
the position. The paper should include the following components: Job Description,
Attracting Applicants/Advertising the Position, Search Committee Structure, Interview Process,
Reference Checking, and Hiring Decision.

Job Description

• Identify a position in Student Affairs that falls within the assigned Concentration Area
and locate or develop a job description. The position should be at an Assistant Director
level or higher.

• You may locate a job description from a college or university via an online search (The
Placement Exchange on the NASPA website or the job board from one of the
professional association websites are good places to start, as are HigherEdJobs.com,
StudentAffairs.com, or InsideHigherEd.com). Cite which institution the job description
came from.

• Job descriptions can be very detailed, sometimes many pages in length. For the
purposes of this assignment, keep the job description relatively short (no more than one
page), focusing on the educational qualifications, required work experience, primary job
duties, etc.

Attracting Applicants/Advertising the Position

• How would you promote the position? Conduct research to determine what publications
and job posting websites would be appropriate for advertising the job and identify these
resources.

• Other than posting on job boards, what other strategies might be used to attract
candidates? List specific job search sites.

Search Committee

Who would be included on the search committee? Identify relevant positions from across
Student Affairs (i.e., student life, residence life, multicultural affairs, etc.) and the institution that

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would be potential members of the search committee. Include the specific titles of the
professionals (i.e., Vice President, Director, Coordinator, etc.) that might be included, and select
one student representative from the campus. Include at least 5 to 6 members on the committee,
and justify why the individuals would be appropriate committee members.

The Interview

• What questions would be asked during the interview?
• Tailor the questions to the job description and include a minimum of 8-10 questions.

Reference Checking

What questions would be asked of the applicants’ references? Tailor most questions to the job
description and include a minimum of 5 questions.

Hiring Decision

Which of the following criteria do you think are the most important as you make a decision on
which candidate to offer the job? Choose your top three and give a rationale for your choices.

• Candidates’ educational background
• Candidates’ work/internship experience
• Candidates’ effectiveness during the interview
• Comments from references
• Input from search committee members
• Degree of interest expressed by the applicant
• Other factors?

Format

• You should submit this assignment in a Microsoft Word document, double spaced and
free of grammatical and typographical errors. Points will be deducted for each
grammatical error.

• Papers should be formatted in APA, 7th ed. Points will be deducted for each APA error.
• Include APA sub-headings for each section.
• Your score will be determined by the degree to which you address each of the

components listed above.

While there is no minimum number of pages, your answers should be thorough and leave a
clear impression of the choices you would make at each stage of the recruiting and hiring
process. Be sure to include in-text citations from the sources that you draw on for this
assignment.

Scoring Guidelines

Points available: 100.

Component Excellent Competent Needs Improvement

Student thoroughly
addresses all five

Descriptions of each of
the five components of

Descriptions of each of
the five components

Descriptions of one or
more of the five

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Component Excellent Competent Needs Improvement

components of the
Recruitment

Process.

the project are clearly
and thoroughly

described
demonstrating an in-

depth understanding of
the recruitment

process. The choices
made are appropriate.

(40 points)

are included, but
details are limited; a

surface-level
understanding of the

recruitment process is
demonstrated. Most

choices made are
reasonable.
(20 points)

components are
inadequate; some or all

choices made are flawed
demonstrating a limited

understanding of the
recruitment process.

(0 points)

The student
provides a clear

explanation of the
rationale for each
component of the

assignment.

A thoroughly developed
rationale is provided for
choices made at each
stage of the process
and supported with
credible sources.

(30 points)

A rationale is provided
for choices made at
each stage of the

process; some choices
are not supported with
appropriate, credible

sources.
(20 points)

Rationales may be
missing for some
choices or those

provided are not logical
or aligned with field best
practices; choices are

not supported with
appropriate, credible
sources. (10 points)

Appropriate
scholarly sources
are incorporated

into the content of
the assignment.

Excellent sources that
serve to support

choices. (10 points)

Acceptable sources
that provide some

support for choices.
(5 points)

Sources are not
provided or are not
credible. (0 points)

Spelling and
Grammar

Project has no
misspellings or

grammatical errors.
(10 points)

Project includes no
more than 4

misspellings and/or
grammatical errors.

(5 points)

Project includes more
than 4 misspellings
and/or grammatical

errors. (0 points)

Format

Formatting, reference
listing, and/or in-text

citations include more
than 2 APA errors.

(10 points)

Formatting, reference
list, and in-text

citations follow APA
format, with no more

than 4 errors.
(5 points)

Formatting, reference
list, and in-text citations

include more than 4
errors. (0 points)