Open, transparent and merit-based recruitment at the University of Oulu

Recruitment guidelines, together with Rector’s delegating decision, also define roles and responsibilities for recruitment throughout the process, including the initial resourcing decision, planning, application and selection phase. These responsibilities also include communication with the applicants on the progress of the recruitment at different stages. In addition, each faculty and unit has a dedicated HR Manager and a recruitment expert to consult recruiting managers on good recruiting practices and questions related to existing guidelines.

In senior-level positions, the selections are prepared by a recruitment committee. The Dean appoints the recruitment committee and their deputies to each faculty. In Professor and tenure track recruitments, the recruitment committee also has a member from HR Services, primarily the HR Manager of the faculty. In addition, a chairman and a secretary are appointed to the committee. Together, the committee is expected to have the expertise to execute the selection process according to the guidelines and identify the most suitable candidate for the position in question.

It is important that there are no disqualified members in the committee, which is why the composition of the committee can also be changed during the recruitment process. The composition of the committee must also consider the equality perspective according to the open and transparent recruitment (OTM-R) in which case a single legal gender representation must not be less than 30% of the committee members.

Careful personnel planning aligned with strategy allows understanding of upcoming resource needs and supports systematic recruitment activity. Each unit creates an annual personnel plan determining the optimal personnel structure in relation to their goals and profile. The plan balances the different researcher career levels and takes into account the competence and aspirations of existing personnel. The plan lays the basis for recruitments by identifying expected resource needs.

Based on the approved personnel plan, positions are opened for applications. Additional recruitment needs may occur as new projects emerge throughout the year. They are approved according to the delegation decision and opened thereafter.

In principle, researcher recruitments are international and advertisements are in English. In addition to advertising positions on the university’s website and social media channels, the advertisements are distributed through the Euraxess portal and other international online recruitment channels. The positions are also advertised in professional publications and digital newspapers suitable for the profile of the position.

Position-specific advertisements always contain at least the following information: name of the position, description of duties, selection criteria, instructions for applying and details of a contact person. The advertisement also mentions the start date and salary level and whether the position is permanent or fixed-term, full-time or part-time. As the positions are advertised internationally, further information on Oulu as a city and the University of Oulu as an employer is included.

Applications are submitted using an online recruitment system (Varbi), using a similar application form for all candidates within each recruitment process. After submitting the application, applicants receive a confirmation message and access details to their own application and have an opportunity to make modifications until the end of the application period. In case the application period is extended, all applicants are informed about the extension.

Selections are made based on the criteria stated in the advertisement and the general qualifications for career levels on four-stage researcher career and tenure track positions. Generally, application documents, bibliography and interview data are used in the decision-making. In addition, external academic experts are invited to evaluate candidates in tenure track, professor and (permanent) senior research fellow recruitments. The expert evaluation is the primary tool for judging merit in these positions. The evaluators are primarily professor-level, researchers with international experience. The selection of evaluators follows the job description and selection criteria set out in the call for proposals, and the information provided by the applicants will be reviewed to exclude any disqualifications. The minimum number of evaluators is three. There must be no less than 30% representation of each legal gender and together, men and women in the group, and together, the evaluators must have all the necessary competence and experience to evaluate the candidates

Teaching demonstrations are used to evaluate candidates in teaching-oriented positions. Information on the evaluation process is included in the job advertisement text.

Under section 17 of the Universities Act, the Rector makes decisions about hiring personnel. The Rector can delegate this duty to another body or person at the university. Based on a delegating decision by the Rector, the recruitment authority is delegated as follows:

• By the responsible vice rectors in professor appointments
• By the Dean in fixed-term (usually under 2 years) professor appointments
• By the Dean in faculty personnel appointments
• By the HR Director in other appointments

The decisions are made based on proposals. The presenters preparing the proposals have been determined in the delegating decision. The recruitment documents, including the recruitment memorandum, call text and the complete application documents of the recruited applicants, are stored permanently as paper printouts at the University’s Registry Office and in electronic systems. In professor recruitments, application documents of all applicants that have undergone the external expert evaluations, are stored permanently.

The applicants that were not selected for the position are informed about their status during the process and the latest when the recruitment process ends. All applicants are also kept regularly up to date about the progress throughout the recruitment process.