CEC2HigherEd

The Higher Ed Hiring Process--An Overview

For transitioning active duty officers, the higher education recruitment and hiring process seems a bit mysterious and far different than anything we experienced in the Civil Engineer Corps.  While it may be different, once you have been through the process you will find it to be a fairly straightforward and standard business practice within the higher education world.

A few key observations:

The recruitment and hiring of a senior administrator such as Assistant Vice President for Facilities mirrors the process University's use for hiring key academic positions, such as the Provost or Deans. 

Universities value collaboration and consensus.  The hiring process at most Universities reflect these values.   During the various steps of the hiring process, you will be interviewed and meet many constituent groups at the University.  For an Assistant/Associate Vice President for Facilities, these groups will likely consist of: 

• The Selection Committee.

• The Deans of the University's Colleges/Schools

• Fellow Vice Presidents and Executive Directors

• The senior staff of Facilities Management or the Physical Plant

• All Facilities Management employees

• The Provost

• The President

• Board of Trustees members

The point to having you meet all these people is that the selecting official wants to get a wide range of perspectives and inputs from the many stakeholders who rely upon the University's Facilities Management team.  The goal is to build consensus  and generate buy-in among the University leadership for your hiring.   This consensus from key stakeholders is a valuable thing in that it helps ensure other University leaders will support you once you take the job and arrive on campus. 

Universities are every bit as bureaucratic as the Navy.   The hiring process does not proceed at a fast pace.  This is due to slow human resources processes and the difficulty in scheduling both candidates for visits and the large numbers of University administrators to participate in each successive step in the hiring process.   Completing a recruitment in four months would be fast; six months would be typical.   Universities also have a large number of "failed searches"--a recruitment process in which they did not find any acceptable candidates.  In such cases, the University will generally terminate the current search and commence a new recruitment.