Third-Party Recruitment Guidelines

Background

Hiring units may use a third-party recruiter, such as a search firm or external job board, to recruit for select executive level or difficult to fill positions, as long as it is an approved vendor. This process is to be used in limited situations after consultation with Talent Acquisition (TA).

Divisions are encouraged to use the vendors contracted through the Universities of Wisconsin and follow contract terms and conditions. The list of approved vendors is maintained by UW Purchasing. The hiring unit, at its sole discretion, is responsible for the selection and retention of the search firm services, as well as all expenses incurred as a result of the contract. If the hiring unit seeks to use a search firm that is not part of these contracts, they must work with UW Purchasing to ensure the proper processing of the contract. The hiring unit must notify Talent Acquisition in order to ensure the proper collection of application materials and follow recruitment protocol via Workday. 

All recruitments must be posted on the UW-Madison employment website (jobs.wisc.edu) for the required minimum amount of time in accordance with the Minimum Job Posting Periods required under Recruitment, Assessment, and Selection Policy. 

Process

Departments and divisions must follow the outlined process:

• Consult with your Talent Acquisition Specialist to ensure proper process implementation and compliance 
• Create job requisition as usual and follow these specific selections:
  • Use Reason "3rd Party/Search Firm Recruiting" 
    This Reason ensures candidates that apply via the employment website will be automatically dispositioned in Workday and re-directed to the job posting to accurately submit materials through the search firm channels.
    
  • Under the How to Apply header in the Job Qualifications and Additional Details for Job Posting field, direct applicants to the third-party recruiter, search firm or external job board to apply. 
    Example: "Submit a resume and cover letter to ABC@searchfirm.com" or "Visit searchfirm.com to apply." 
• Ensure process compliance
  • Consult with the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Compliance Programs (OEEOCP) to setup an alternate process to collect applicant information as required. Provide the third-party recruiter the Data Questionnaire link to invite all applicants to self-report.  
  • Work with the third-party recruiter to ensure strategies for outreach to candidates
  • Consult with the third-party recruiter on confidentiality requirements, background check process and their method of communication with their applicant pool(s)
  • Consult with the third-party recruiter on the process for collecting HR metrics, such as time to hire, applicant pool size, quality of applicant pool
  • Ensure all applicants are considered. For record-keeping purposes, the third-party recruiter must provide copies of all application materials collected through the process. Refer to Recruitment Records Retention for more information
  • Conduct applicable assessment and selection process to select candidates, ensuring fair processes. Work with the third-party recruiter to create the pre-screening, assessment and selection criteria and obtain all final assessments for each candidate if applicable. Refer to Recruitment Records Retention for more information
• Identify your selected candidate. Contact your Talent Acquisition Specialist for assistance when you are ready to process the hire. 
  • Complete background checks including criminal background check (CBC); misconduct reference check (MRC) on selected candidate (if applicable)
• Notify OEEOCP of the number of applicants once the vacancy closes, regardless of a hire being made
• In collaboration with the third-party recruiter, search firm or external job board, retain the recruitment files as required by UW-Madison records retention schedules. Refer to Recruitment Records Retention for more information.

Questions?

Contact your Talent Acquisition Specialist.