Recruitment

Recruitment at the University of Alberta (UA) is decentralized which means that each individual faculty and department is responsible for their own recruitment process.

The Department of Medicine adheres to the University of Alberta principles and guidelines established in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (FoMD), Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the Division when recruiting physicians.

1. All MD recruitments are concurrent appointments with the UA and AHS and are done collaboratively between the two organizations (PhD recruitments are done through the UA only).
2. Recruitments are for the long-term benefit of the Department, Faculty, UA, AHS and the Individual.
3. The recruitment should be an opportunity for the individual to flourish in ALL aspects of their lives, not just professionally, and this includes the needs and success of the individual's spouse and family.

Search and Selection Committee

Recruitment Search & Selection Committees are advisory to the Chair and the Dean. They do not make the final decision of whether an appointment will be made.

The Division Search & Selection Committee must be formal in its process and include agendas and written interview questions.

The interview panel must meet the criteria for a search for Academic Members as outlined in the UAPPOL Academic Selection Procedure and recommended by the FoMD. The panel should consist of no more than six interviewers and may include:

• Committee Chair (normally the Division Director & Zone Clinical Department Section Chief)
• 1 or more full-time Academic Faculty Members from within the Division (including joint appointments)
• 1 or more full-time Academic Faculty members form outside the Division
• FoMD research representative or Institute Director (for research appointment of 40% or greater) (optional)
• 1 or more Clinical Faculty Members that have a Special Continuing or Clinical Academic Colleague appointment
• AHS Representative for major clinical positions (could be dyad partner, individual responsible for funding flow, Edmonton Clinic Patient Care Manager ) (optional)
• A current resident or fellow (for major PME Education position) (optional)
• Administrative Assistant (ex-officio, non-voting; for committee support) (optional)

The committee is responsible for reviewing applicant materials (Letter of Intent, CV and Reference letters) in order to advise the Division Director who should be considered for the Academic position. Once the final list of candidates has been decided, candidate site visits will be scheduled. The committee will interview each candidate and will subsequently provide a recommendation to the Chair.

Committee members must commit the necessary time and effort, and it is expected that they will attend every candidate interview and the initial instructional meeting.

1. Legal Issues:
   • Candidates are "not appointable" if they do not have the qualifications outlined in the position description. Otherwise all candidates who have the qualifications are considered appointable. The decision whether to keep a candidate on the list cannot be influenced by undocumented hear-say or rumor, nor can there be any discrimination based on ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, age, etc.
   • Committee members cannot gather information about a candidate (e.g., through email or phone calls to friends or others) unless the candidate has indicated that a completely open reference check can go forward. Referees are only to be contacted by one designated individual (same for all candidates) on the committee (usually the Committee Chair) and only after the candidate has given approval. It is illegal to gather hear-say information without the candidate's knowledge or approval.
2. Confidentiality:
   • All documentation must be kept on a secure server, or if in paper form, in locked offices and/or locked file cabinets. Information must be kept confidential.
   • Discussion about or with candidates by the committee must be kept 100% confidential. The information cannot be shared with members of the Division or others. There must be no gossiping around the search or potential candidates. This is a vulnerable time for candidates who may still have their usual place of work.
   • Information about financial compensation or startup packages is not usually shared with the committee.
   • Open talks given by candidates and general information about the stage of the recruitment process may be shared.
   • Once the desired candidate is identified, the work of the committee is done. The committee is not usually involved or privy to negotiations about rank, income, startup funding, etc., nor will there be feedback to the committee on these items.
3. Networking:
   • The committee is charged with finding candidates. All members of the committee are involved, most importantly the Chair. The committee can and should solicit potential names from colleagues.
   • The committee first assembles a long list of potential candidates. At this time, the list should not be restricted by whether an individual might be willing to relocate. A quasi-bibliography is constructed from information available in the public domain for each person on the list.
4. Narrowing the list:
   • Step 1: The committee reviews the long list and decides who on this list should not be contacted.
   • Step 2: The Chair of the committee approaches each individual on the list directly (usually by email). This email alerts individuals that they have been identified as a potential candidate, and they are invited to apply. The advertisement and the position description accompany the email. The Chair also invites the individual to discuss the position if there is any interest, and the Chair requests ideas about other potential candidates in this email.
   • Step 3: All those on the list who are not interested are crossed off (usually ~80% will say no). All applications (from the ad, from email solicitation, internal, etc.) are assembled. Each applicant should have sent their CV and a letter of intent stating why they are applying. References may have already come in, but are not required at this stage.
   • Step 4: A committee meeting is set up to discuss every applicant. This should be done through an in person meeting of the committee, not online. Those who not qualified for the position are removed from the list. The committee then ranks the applicants based on qualifications. From this ranking, a short list is created. The short list should be no longer than 3–4 individuals. Generally, courtesy is given to internal applicants, and they are usually interviewed. The exception would be if they do not have the qualifications for the position.
5. Interview with the Committee:
   • All candidates receive the same set of formal, pre-determined questions.
   • Open questions by the Committee. Do NOT ask about personal/family issues or other questions precluded by law (marital status, children, age, etc.).
   • Allow candidate to clarify and ask questions of the committee.
6. Identification of the top Candidate: This requires a meeting of the committee that is separate from the last interview.
   • All candidates on the short list are discussed.
   • Evaluations done during the visit are gathered and presented to the committee.
   • Concerns raised by those evaluating the candidate are brought to the attention of the committee.
   • All members of the committee are asked for comments.
   • Minutes are kept.
   • The committee then ranks the candidates.
   • Justification for this ranking is prepared.
7. Chair of the Committee communicates the choice to the Department Chair. If they are in agreement (which is the case 99% of the time), the Division Director then informs the top candidate and asks whether they wish to pursue the position.

Last Updated: June 2023

Contact Information

Orlene Brow
13-106A Clinical Sciences Building
780-248-1648
orlene.brow@ualberta.ca