It is of utmost importance to the College of the Environment that our searches and interviews are conducted in ways that always keeps in mind capturing a diverse candidate pool, resulting in the hiring of the strongest candidates from diverse and broad backgrounds.

Developing the job description

Position descriptions provide an opportunity to inform and make your position, team, and department of interest to potential candidates.  It is imperative to ensure that job descriptions are inclusive and will appeal to a broad audience which in turn will allow your department to attract and continually build a strong and diverse workforce. See UWHR website for tips and guidance.

For examples of positions descriptions: Sample positions descriptions and tips

DEI statement for your department

The University of Washington has in put in place the institutional diversity commitment statement. It is good practice for hiring managers to work with their recruiter or HR representative to write a diversity statement that is specific to their department. Example: Each member of “department name” is committed to working to build and sustain an equitable and inclusive work environment where cultural diversity is celebrated and valued. We believe diversity benefits and enriches the development of all our students, staff and faculty in our department.

For additional examples and guidance for your departments diversity statement see UWHR’s DEI Commitment Statement.

Job posting

Position descriptions and job postings together provide an opportunity for informing and marketing your position to a broad and diverse audience. Having position descriptions and job postings that are inclusive can ensure that you are appealing to a broad reach of individuals and therefore resulting in building a diverse team or department.

The job posting will provide a brief overview of the requirements, job duties and overview, and information regarding the employer and department that the position will be part of.

For examples of job positing tips see job posting do’s and dont’s.

Selection Committee

As part of the screening and selection process, departments will want to put together a selection committee comprised of different members from the hiring unit/department to participate. It is recommended that each member has previously completed the UWHR implicit bias training. The selection committee will want to identify which aspects of the hiring process will be crucial to ensuring that the best tools are utilized when trying to create the least biased and most inclusive criteria for assessing candidates.

Utilizing a “candidate evaluation matrix” may ensure that all committee members agree on criteria by confirming expectations and definitions.

Additional resources available for selection committees and interviewing preparation: Checklist for interviewing/hiring committees.

Interview Resources

UWHR has developed tools available for evaluating applicants based on various principles and guidelines which foster a sense of creating an environment of inclusion, and hiring people aligned with the values of the University. Tools for Evaluating Applicants-UWHR

The College of the Environment Dean’s Office has developed a list of possible interview and reference check questions that will support the college’s efforts to hire staff that are committed to DEI practices. This may be especially useful when hiring for supervisor and manager roles in your departments/units. DEI Interview-Reference Questions

UWHR has very useful resources to support your department/unit during the entire recruitment and hiring process in all of the areas discussed above. Please visit the Staff Diversity Hiring Toolkit.

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