Your browser does not support JavaScript

Recruitment & Hiring

At HLS, we know our school is only as great as its employees. Recruiting and hiring the best fitting person for each position is essential to our school’s success.  Our goal is to help you hire the right employee. Hiring employees who bring the necessary skills for the job, have diverse backgrounds and insights, and accurately understand their expected roles is crucial to workplace productivity and growth.

Below we have provided steps for hiring benefits-eligible employees, as well as resources for hiring temps, student workers, independent contractors, and interns.

Process for Hiring an Benefits-Eligible Staff

The HLS Talent Acquisition Team will work with you to post the job and effectively solicit candidates, identify the best person to fill the role, complete all hiring documentation, and help your new staff member make a smooth transition to HLS. Our team will also consult with hiring managers about how to reach qualified candidates for hard-to-fill positions.

timeline

  • Position request and Job Description Form

    When you realize you need to hire a new employee, the first person to contact is your HR Business Partner. They will support you in finalizing a job description and submitting the Request to Post. Once submitted, the request goes through a review and approval workflow before it is posted in the Harvard Careers portal. 

  • Meeting with the Recruiter

    Once your request is approved, the job will be posted in the Harvard Careers portal and you will be sent a notification email with the requisition number.  Your Talent Acquisition Partner will contact you to schedule a meeting to review the job itself, sourcing strategies, candidate success criteria and establish an effective search process.

  • Candidate Screening

    The Talent Acquisition Partner initially screens all applicant resumes and shares those that meet the basic qualifications and established criteria with you. You will access resumes directly in the Harvard Careers portal. Resume screening will be a continuous process as long as the job is actively posted. The Talent Acquisition Partner can conduct initial phone screen conversations to ensure that you are interviewing only viable candidates. 5-7 phone screens are recommended to narrow to 3-5 candidates to move forward to the interview stage. 

  • Interviews

    Your Talent Acquisition Partner can work with you on strategies to conduct an effective interview and provide resources to help you prepare, including sample interview questions. Keeping the candidate experience in mind and health and safety precautions, please aim to minimize the number of trips candidates need to make to campus during the interview process. Leveraging technology by conducting interviews via the Zoom platform in the first round is an excellent option, particularly for out of town candidates. As a best practice, we recommend interviewing 3-5 candidates during first round interviews, then narrowing to the strongest 1 or 2 finalists for the 2nd/final round interviews.

  • Hiring Decisions

    Once you have chosen a finalist, the Talent Acquisition Partner will collaborate to support your hiring decision. You may choose to request references before extending an offer or to extend an offer contingent on references.

    Reference checks are conducted via SkillSurvey, a digital feedback tool. The SkillSurvey report includes both qualitative and quantitative data to support final decisions on moving forward with a hire. The typical turnaround from the time the candidate submits their references is 48 hours.  

    As part of our inclusive hiring efforts, our best practice recommendation for reference checks is to conduct a SkillSurvey for your finalist. This is a data driven process that gathers both quantitative and qualitative information through a convenient, confidential, and anonymous (promoting more candid feedback) online survey.  The process not only streamlines efforts but also reduces unintended bias by ensuring all references are asked the same questions about skills and behaviors relevant to the job. You will receive an aggregated report of feedback from 4 references and the typical turnaround for results is just 48h from request.

  • Extending the Offer

    Once background checks are complete, a start date is finalized and a formal offer letter drafted. HLS offer letters are sent via e-mail to our incoming new hires.  They will also receive a helpful checklist that contains important information, such as key dates, resources, how to register for benefits orientation, and where and when to get their Harvard ID.  This checklist is also customized for each new hire to include the date and time of their ITS Orientation and any relevant programs they should attend.

    As the hiring manager, you will be copied on this e-mail. Please be sure to take a chance to review the offer letter and familiarize yourself with the dates on the new hire checklist.  To assist with the transition of your new team member, please refer to our Onboarding New Employees Page.

     

Process for Hiring Non-Benefits Eligible Staff

Process for Hiring Non-Benefits Eligible Staff

wysiwyg