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Chapter 2: Pre-Search

The Decision to Search

In accordance with UIC's equal opportunity and affirmative action obligations, all salaried academic openings which are 50% time or greater must be posted, i.e., a public announcement of a search for qualified applicants must be made. The postings can be as simple as giving notice in the unit and listing in UIC News or as demanding as a nationwide search.

Some form of search is almost always required. Full searches, employing ads in national or regional newspapers and journals, are required for most positions. Limited searches for some administrative and faculty positions may be restricted to the University campus or even to the unit in which the position resides. These exceptional searches might be justified by the qualifications sought, e.g., direct experience with the University of Illinois payroll system or tenured faculty at the UIC campus.

A list of equal opportunity and affirmative action laws, regulations, and orders which are the bases for the UIC hiring process are provided in Appendix A.

The following positions do not require a public search:

1. Temporary appointments which are limited to a specific time or term lasting not longer than one year
2. Appointments for less than half-time, which cannot be increased to 50% or greater time without a full search
3. Visiting and adjunct appointments made for a maximum of one year (up to three years if funded by a grant) for faculty and academic support made with the understanding that positions so filled will be subject to full searches should the terms be extended beyond the mandatory limit
4. Continuing and intermittent appointments for academic employees who were originally hired as the result of a search and whose break or breaks in service have not exceeded the length of the original or previous contract
5. Trainee and student appointments may be made without searches with the understanding that a department wishing to retain a trainee or student employee as an academic staff member must post this opening and conduct an open search in which the trainee or student employee competes with other comparably qualified candidates. Trainee and student appointments include the following categories:
   1. Post-Doctoral Research Associates
   2. Post-Doctoral Fellows
   3. Visiting Scholars
   4. Interns
   5. Residents
   6. Pharmacy Externs
   7. Fellows
   8. Trainees
   9. Teaching Assistants
   10. Graduate Research Assistants
   11. Undergraduate Research Assistants --Predoctoral Fellows
   12. Graduate Trainees

Reminder: Individuals appointed to positions without a search being conducted must be informed that subsequent offers of employment will not be made to them unless they are selected as the result of an approved search.

Each year a few appointments are made and some promotions are granted without going through the standard search procedures. There are a few concretely defined circumstances under which waivers are routinely allowed.

1. an individual named in an externally funded grant award by a member of the UIC faculty or staff,
2. an employee accommodated under "Procedures Concerning Involuntary Termination of Academic Support Employees,"
3. a faculty member changing from a tenurable to a nontenurable or staff position,
4. groups of employees who join the campus work force by institutional decision, e.g., a previous state program becomes a UIC program, and
5. occasional special appointments and changes recommended by the Chancellor.

To obtain a waiver, a Request for Waiver of Search Process must be obtained from the Office for Access and Equity (OAE), completed, and submitted for approval.

Promotion is any advancement in rank and/or salary. Faculty promotions along both tenurable and nontenurable tracks are considered non-competitive, insofar as they are not subject to a competitive external search process but are granted pursuant to the Promotion and Tenure Guidelines. The Office for Access and Equity (OAE) monitors promotion of faculty along both tracks. Faculty members who are not on the tenure track can be promoted into tenurable positions if they have undergone a search.

Promotions of administrative staff are normally competitive, that is, they require a search. An academic support is defined as an administrative staff position which has been exempted from the State Universities Civil Service System. When an academic support or administrative staff position is redefined at a higher level with similar duties and responsibilities, and when the incumbent is well qualified for the higher position, the incumbent (provided he or she was initially hired through an approved search) may be put in the position without conducting a search. Any vacancy created as a result of the promotion will require a full search. It is assumed that there are not other internal candidates qualified for the position. In situations where there may be more than one person whose duties could be expanded and who possesses comparable skill levels, the hiring unit is advised to go through a competitive selection process within the unit. (See Limited Searches, Page 12.) If the promotion results in the creation of any vacancy, the vacancy created requires a full search.

Support Staff (employees holding a position in the State Universities Civil Service System) positions which become academic support positions are considered promotions and require searches.

Other requests to OAE to waive search procedures can be based upon administrative reorganization or reassignment. When a unit undergoes a reorganization, the filling of positions will be as outlined above. If during the reorganization a new position is created which is clearly the outgrowth of an existing position in a similar line of work, a qualified incumbent (provided he or she was initially hired through approved search procedures) may be reclassified to the equivalent or higher level position without fulfilling search requirements. It is assumed that no vacancy will result in movement of the employee to the position and that there are no other incumbents qualified for the reclassified position.

Reassignment of a qualified staff member (provided he or she was initially hired through approved search procedures) to another position at the same level and comparable rate of pay within the University may be done without announcing the position.

A number of requests to waive search procedures have been transformed into requests for searches limited to the Chicago metropolitan area, the University, or in some instances, to the campus. These are cases where essential job duties and responsibilities entail knowledge gained from area, institutional, or UIC employment. Limited searches can be completed in as little as 25 days. A Position Notice should be submitted to OAE for a competitive internal search. (See Chapter 3.)

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