Equitable Hiring Toolkit

EQUITABLE HIRING

In alignment with the college advising directors and in response to recommendations from the Social Justice and Advising Community (known as SJAC), Academic Advising Enrichment is committed to creating and sustaining a campus environment that is diverse, inclusive, and equitable: one that supports the creation and implementation of consistent, equitable hiring practices for academic advisors in all colleges and departments. As one of many mechanisms to support student retention and degree completion, we advocate for hiring a diverse advising staff that well reflects our student community.

We embrace the UC Davis Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Vision, the UC Davis Principles of Community, and NACADA’s Conditions for Excellence in Advising. The processes associated with hiring advising professionals at UC Davis, as a result, should be aligned with the campus vision for diversity and inclusion, as well as the values and competencies of the academic advising profession. The UCOP Statement on Diversity and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's glossary of terms may be helpful resources to become more familiar and fluid with the concepts set forth.

Academic Advising Enrichment provides support and guidance for hiring units to use in practice as they work to meet this shared goal, centered around four delineated guiding principles.

The guiding principles steer your decision-making as an academic advising hiring manager. From position descriptions through to candidate selection, follow the guiding principles as a commitment to strengthening our campus advising community's core values.

To support your hiring efforts, Academic Advising Enrichment developed an Equitable Hiring Toolkit. The toolkit provides information and resources in support of collectively agreed upon equitable hiring guiding principles. Use the tile links to explore best practices and recommendations in relation to the guiding principles.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Develop inclusive position descriptions:

Language for position descriptions should be inclusive and focus on candidate’s experience and skill set. Qualifications should be based on NACADA’s Academic Advising Core Competencies Model instead of language that preferences UC Davis specific knowledge in both the minimum and preferred categories.

Circulate position announcements with intentionality:

Positions should be advertised to diverse groups and professional networks. A three week minimum posting period is recommended to ensure that external hiring sites reach a more diverse candidate pool. HR has a standard two week posting period, thus the open duration should be intentionally addressed and confirmed once listed through HR.

Assemble a diverse Recruitment Advisory Committee (RAC):

All recruitments should utilize a Recruitment Advisory Committee (RAC) for candidate review. RACs need to be diverse in composition to mitigate bias (implicit or explicit) from impacting the candidate review and selection process. The Chair of the RAC should provide RAC members with an overview of the committee’s commitment to equitable hiring practices and tips for preparing and engaging in the process.

Implement an equitable candidate review and selection process:

The committee should review and select interview questions based on core competencies and skills identified as essential to the position. A rubric should be developed for the review process with a focus on each candidate’s advising experience, education, competency, commitment to equity, etc.

Academic Advising Enrichment

Equitable Hiring Toolkit

EQUITABLE HIRING

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