Tompkins County Administrative Policy Manual

RECRUITING EMPLOYEES

Effective: January 12, 1981 02-02

Most Recent Revision: June 25, 1991

Objective: To establish procedures for recruiting employees to fill vacancies.

Reference: Personnel Department and Civil Service Law; Civil Service Rules of Tompkins County.

Policy of the Board of Representatives:

1. All applications and resumes (including those for unclassified and exempt positions) must be completed and forwarded to the Personnel Department for any position in Tompkins County regardless of whether there is a vacancy or an exam scheduled. Candidates will be notified in writing if for some reason their application is not accepted. An applicant must be a resident of Tompkins County or the six (6) contiguous counties for at least thirty (30) days prior to examination or employment, unless such requirement is waived by the Commissioner of Personnel where special circumstances exist.

2. The Commissioner of Personnel shall review the minimum qualifications of applicants to determine if they meet the job qualifications. In the case of certain technical jobs, the Commissioner of Personnel may review applicant qualifications with a department representative to determine suitability.

3. If an eligible list exists for the vacant position, the Personnel Department will forward the top three names to the department head. Appointments to a competitive class position must be made from one of the top three candidates willing to accept appointment either at the time of the initial employment or when an eligible list becomes available.

4. If there is no eligible list which would be appropriate for filing the position, the Personnel Department will forward to the department head from its files the applications of persons approved by the Commissioner of Personnel for the job opening. A department head may interview only applicants who have applications approved by the Commissioner of Personnel. The person nominated must meet the minimum qualifications which have been established for this position and participate in the first examination held for the title. If an examination has been given for the job, but the results have not been received, only applications of persons who have taken the test will be forwarded. The department head may then nominate for provisional appointment one of the candidates who sat for the examination.

5. If no file of qualified applicants exists, the Personnel Department will either post the prospective opening, advertise in the newspapers or institute other appropriate recruiting measures. The Personnel Department shall arrange all interviews and make any necessary arrangements for travel to these interviews if candidates must be recruited from outside the local area. The Commissioner of Personnel shall be chairman of any specially formed search committee and shall coordinate the recruiting process. The County Administrator shall automatically be a member of any such search committee. All applicants for any County job must follow established personnel policy.

Members of the Board of Representatives and of advisory and oversight boards may be appointed to search committees by the appointing officer or the chair of the confirming body(ies). Members of the Board of Representatives may attend the deliberations of search committees for positions requiring Board of Representatives' confirmation.

If the position being filled is that of a department head appointed by the County Administrator and requiring confirmation by the Board of Representatives (and in some instances an oversight board), the Commissioner of Personnel shall arrange for the selected candidate to meet the confirming body(ies) in person prior to the vote on confirmation.

6. If approval of applicant qualifications by any State department is necessary for reimbursement purposes, only the Commissioner of Personnel shall contact the appropriate authorities. This approval should be obtained during the selection process to avoid later delay.

7. Once selection has been made, follow the procedures as outlined in Pre-Employment Physical (Policy 02-03) and Processing New Employees (Policy 02-04).

8. References on applicants will be made available to department heads under the following conditions:

a. The department head must go to the Personnel Office and review the applicants' files. All references, written or verbal, will be obtained by the Personnel Department unless the Personnel Department asks for assistance in getting references. Department heads and other County employees are not authorized to secure references, written or verbal, without first discussing this with the Personnel Office.

b. All information in the file must be kept strictly confidential and is to be used only in making the hiring decision.

c. No photocopies may be made of any material in the file nor may any materials be removed from the Personnel Office.