The Matanuska-Susitna Borough follows a structured hiring process following the recruitment and selection of the best qualified candidates for positions. Procedural steps are in place to ensure that all job offers are made to candidates who are selected without discrimination or bias in the selection process.

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for the hiring procedure used when an open position is filled within the Borough.

Hiring for any Borough position begins with a Personnel Requisition, filled out by the requesting department, and signed by the Department Director. The requesting department submits the completed requisition to Accounting for funds verification.

Next, the Personnel Requisition is forwarded to Human Resources for review and approving signature.

Position vacancies are posted electronically on the borough web pages, and in hard copy in employee areas of each building. Only in-house applications are accepted for the first five working days of the posting. Qualified, regular, in-house applicants are given first consideration. Thereafter, qualified temporary and on-call employee applicants will be considered for position openings. If less than three qualified, represented, in-house applications are received, the Borough may post the position externally. External postings are placed on the Borough web page, through the Alaska job service, and may also be advertised in newspapers, professional journals, or listed with other employment sources.

If the position is on-call or temporary it will be posted directly out of house. The standard posting period is two weeks. If the position is exempt, it will be posted directly out of house for the standard 30 days. The posting period can be adjusted accordingly by the hiring manager.

All applications must be turned in directly to Human Resources for two reasons:

1) the hiring department may not review the confidential (EEO) portion of the applications, and

2) Human Resources must ensure all the applications submitted are recorded for both federal and Borough record-keeping purposes.

Applicants attempting to submit application directly to the hiring department or to another employee, must be directed to the Human Resources office. Applications that are received after a position posting closes will not be accepted for consideration.

Applications are entered into the Human Resources Information System. Applications are reviewed and qualified applicants for the open positions are forwarded to the hiring department head. The format of the applicant selection for interview process is left primarily to the discretion of the hiring department. However, the hiring manager must select the interview panel or team prior to receiving the applications from Human Resources. Human Resources may offer recommendations, suggestions, or provide input regarding job applications to ensure compliance with Borough, state, and federal requirements, and to ensure consistency in the selection process. (The Hiring Procedures Checklist and the Interview packet which is given to the department with the applications provide a more detailed explanation of the selection process.)

It is very important that those serving on the interview panel avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest. To that end, panel members who have a personal, business, or familial relationship or other knowledge of an applicant that could result in ethical concerns must be excused from serving on the panel. It is up to the panel member to bring all possible conflicts to the attention of the Human Resources Manager prior to participating in the interview process. The panel member will be excused from participation if the knowledge or relationship is found to give the appearance of a conflict of interest.

When the candidates for interviews have been selected, the department head will prepare a memorandum to the Human Resources Manager naming the applicants selected for interviews. The selected applicants' resumes and applications are attached to the memorandum along with a copy of interview questions the interviewing panel intends to ask each candidate.

Structured interviews are conducted under which a standard set of questions are used to allow comparisons among interviewees' answers. If testing is to be conducted, copies of the test and the answer keys are to be given to Human Resources in advance so that a general review of the test can be conducted to ensure fairness, relevance, and nondiscrimination.

An important part of the selection and hiring process is conducting reference checks on the selected candidate. Former work references should be gathered before any other personal references are contacted. The Interview packet contains reference checking forms that should be utilized when contacting references. There should be a minimum of three positive references obtained before proceeding further with the hiring process. The hiring manager is generally responsible for conducting reference checks; however, Human Resources can assist with this process if needed.

After the interviews are completed, references have been checked, and a final candidate has been selected, a recommendation to hire memorandum is written through the Department Director and the Human Resources Manager to the Borough Manager. The memorandum should include names of applicants interviewed and names of those on the interview panel, the name of the person recommended for hire, the reasons justifying this selection, the factors which received the most weight in evaluating applicants, the names and companies of references contacted, the proposed start date and starting salary, and a request for the Manager to approve the recommendation. (The Hiring Procedures Checklist sent to the interviewing department with applications also lists the information needed on the recommendation to hire memorandum.)

Rating sheets, interview notes, completed reference checks, lists of answered questions, or written tests are attached to the recommendation to hire memorandum. The Human Resources Manager reviews the interviewed applicants' information packets for completion, compliance, and appropriateness. If the Human Resources Manager finds any discrepancies during this review, the Department Director will be contacted. The recommendation to hire will not be forwarded to the Manager until all questions or concerns are addressed.

All applicants receive a notification card acknowledging the receipt of their applications and providing information on the selection process. When a selection is made and approved by the Borough Manager, a verbal job offer is made by the hiring department, who then contacts Human Resources with hiring information. However, Human Resources will assist the hiring department in making the verbal job offer, if that service is desired. Human Resources prepares an official employment confirmation letter to the successful applicant. For those employees interviewed but not selected, Human Resources sends a letter of rejection. If the interviewed candidates not selected are internal applicants, the hiring department will notify those candidates as soon as possible either by phone or in person. This step is taken to ensure that internal interviewed applicants receive timely and courteous notice.

Each new hire must report to Human Resources before starting work on their first day of hire. This is necessary to ensure that the new employee completes mandated records and forms, and receives a Borough identification card. It is also necessary to ensure that the new employee has met all initial employment requirements. At this time, the employee will be scheduled to attend the next mandatory new employee orientation session.

Should an emergency situation occur in which temporary employees are needed immediately to deal with the emergency, Human Resources will work with the hiring department to expedite the hiring process in all ways possible as long as a fair and nondiscriminatory process is followed.

In the event that more than one temporary vacancy occurs at or about the same time and for the same or essentially similar temporary position description, Human Resources will recommend using the same applicant pool for consideration in filling the temporary positions without reposting the temporary opening.

The limitations to alternative methods are that the procedure be fair to the public and to potential applicants, and does not violate the MSB Code or the contract with the MSBEA.