Posting and Advertising Staff Positions

General Guidelines

In order to facilitate an efficient, fiscally responsible, equitable and thorough approach to position searches, Human Resources has developed the following advertising guidelines.  These guidelines take several key factors into consideration:

• budgetary limitations
• diversity considerations
• suitable geographic area of search
• specialty qualifications of the position
• urgency to fill
• availability of applicants

Web Posting on www.middlebury.edu

Once the Staff Resources Committee approves a position, Human Resources will post the position on its Employment Opportunities Website.  All posted jobs must remain on the posting for five business days prior to a hiring supervisor offering the position to a candidate. This practice helps to ensure that all internal applicants have sufficient time to express their interest.

Initial Posting Phase

In most instances, Human Resources strongly recommends that a newly approved position be posted on the HR Website for 5-10 days before considering additional advertising venues.  The HR Employment Opportunities page, viewable world wide, has proven to be our most effective recruitment vehicle.  Both internal and external applicants view this job listing on a regular basis.  Among those viewing the site regularly, those with high interest and particularly relevant skills or experience often prove to be among the earliest applicants.

Our office will partner with the hiring supervisor to help make the search process as successful as possible.  As a partner, Human Resources bases its practices and suggestions on past experience and observable trends.

Resumes are now submitted to Human Resources electronically and will be available for review by the hiring supervisor as soon as a position is posted on the HR Website. We recommend that the hiring supervisor review applications as frequently and as thoroughly as possible during the initial posting phase.  It is our experience that a small quantity of applications may still contain very high quality applicants, and likewise, a large quantity of applications could contain many unqualified applicants.  It is important to review the content of the applications and not judge the pool based on its volume.  It is also extremely important to review early (and frequently) during the search.  There are many highly qualified applicants interested in Middlebury College who are awaiting the perfect job to be posted. Early and frequent review will facilitate the recognition of those applicants.

Supplemental Advertising Phase

The hiring supervisor should feel free to contact the HR Employment Manager within 1-2 weeks of the initial posting to discuss additional advertising options if you are not satisfied that the HR site is generating interest from a qualified pool of applicants.  We look at each position individually and try to determine the best approach. The advertising plan may include print ads, electronic ads or a combination of both.

Electronic and print publications do have material submission deadlines that are not flexible.  We do ask hiring supervisors to be understanding of the timing constraints placed upon us by these publications. 

A few general guidelines apply:

• Print Ads
• Whenever possible, it is the practice of Middlebury College to place group ads, i.e. multiple positions will share a single ad space.  This is for both budgetary reasons and to promote awareness among job seekers that Middlebury College is an employer with diverse employment opportunities.  Exceptions to this practice would include ad runs in specialized publications and ad runs in special sections. 
• In general, human resources will run a group ad in the Burlington Free Press one weekend per month at the most.  This will be in a Sunday/Monday section. 
• In general, group ads will be run in other local and weekly publications no more than two times per month per publication. Examples of publications in this category include: The Rutland Herald, Addison Independent, and Seven Days.
• Advertisements in major publications (i.e. New York Times, Boston Globe, The Chronicle for Higher Education print version etc.) will be considered only for national searches.
• Budgetary Responsibility: The HR advertising budget is a portion of Middlebury College's annual operating budget.  As such, the budget allocated is intended to cover all advertising costs for all staff positions that are approved during a given fiscal year.  Human Resources is responsible for comparatively weighing the advertising needs of each search and apportioning the advertising dollars in a fair manner. In order to ensure overall fiscal management, it is not appropriate for departments to augment the advertising provided by human resources with additional "department paid" advertising.
• Print Content Guidelines
• Due to the high cost of print advertising, job announcements must be worded concisely.  Hiring supervisors are asked to electronically forward suggested ad copy to Human Resources.  This will greatly expedite ad placement.  Human Resources will edit the copy for both length and content if necessary.
• All print advertisements will refer applicants to Middlebury College employment opportunities Web site for a more detailed job description. 
• In most instances, salary information will not be published in print publications.
• Electronic Ads
• Electronic advertising options are increasingly available and is usually significantly less expensive than print advertising.  Illustrating this point, a display ad of approximately a one-twelfth page dimension measuring 3.25" x 4.5" in the Chronicle of Higher Education would cost $120 per column inch, totaling approximately $1,080 per issue.  In contrast, we currently pay just $120 for a one-month job posting on the Chronicle's web site.   Electronic advertising also offers a number of other added benefits:  Ads are quicker to place and to be seen, ads are easily changed, offer longer term exposure (usually one month minimum), applicants can respond electronically to ads very quickly, we can easily diversify our ad venues and we can reach specialized groups of applicants.
• Electronic Ad Guidelines
• Departments are encouraged to place their own "free" electronic ads in diverse locations. Please electronically forward to Human Resources a comprehensive list of all sites on which ads/postings have been placed and the copy used.  We are required to keep this information with the search records.
• Electronic ad copy: Many sites allow for a significant number of words to be included with your ad posting.  Use this opportunity. 
• In most instances, Middlebury College does not publish salary information on websites external to www.middlebury.edu.
• Hiring supervisors should submit placement suggestions to our office for any paid electronic ads that they would like us to consider running.  Please forward ad copy electronically.
• There are many helpful resources on the Web. We strongly encourage hiring supervisors to notify Human Resurces of useful Websites.  This will help us maintain a list of specialized and successful Web resources useful for future searches.
• Process Timeline Summary (in business days)
1. Day 1~ APPROVAL: Position is approved by SRC.
2. Day 2 or 3 ~ POSTING: Position is posted on web site (within 2 days of approval).  Position will remain posted on Middlebury's website until filled.
3. Day 2 through Day 10 ~ BEGIN REVIEW PHASE:  Search committee reviews as frequently as possible to determine strength of applicant pool. 
4. Day 11~ SUPPPLEMENTAL ADVERTISING PHASE: 5-10 days after posting, Human Resources will partner with the hiring supervisor to determine whether additional advertising is warranted. 
5. Day 5 ~ OFFER:  As early as five business days after posting, hiring supervisors may identify a candidate to whom they wish to offer a position.  Please contact the HR Employment Manager to initiate a formal job offer.