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Open a Position

Before contacting Human Resources to begin recruiting for your position, you should understand your school or unit's internal recruitment process. Your department/business administrator is a valuable resource to ensure you are completing the necessary steps.

Once you have completed the initial steps within your school or unit, you are ready to work with Human Resources to finalize the job description, determine the position term, and create a job opening in myHR.

Finalize a job description

Backfill positions

  1. If you are backfilling an existing position, and have made significant updates to the job description or have changed the minimum qualifications for the job,  submit it to the HR Compensation team (HR.Compensation@northwestern.edu) for review. They will verify the title and grade are still appropriate.
    1. Job descriptions with no (or minor) changes to duties and responsibilities do not require Compensation review. Recruitment for positions not requiring Compensation review can begin right away.
  2. Contact Talent Acquisition to discuss planned position for posting
  3. Log in to PeopleSoft eRecruit to initiate job posting

New positions

  1. If you are creating a new position (one that has not previously existed in your school/unit), the first step is to develop a job description. You can either select the Job Family Role (strongly recommended) or draft a new job description. Please contact your school or unit HR Rep for further assistance.
  2. Send to Compensation (HR.Compensation@northwestern.edu) for assessment
    1. Market data determines salary grade assignment
  3. If new position number is required for new or revised role, send request to HR.Compensation@northwestern.edu
  4. Contact Talent Acquisition to discuss planned position for posting
  5. Log in to PeopleSoft eRecruit to initiate job posting

Determine the position term 

In most cases, regular staff positions do not have a set end date; they are indefinite. However, in some circumstances, regular staff positions are set up as Term Positions with a predetermined end date. Term positions are generally used when there is limited grant funding for the position, or the department is in transition and unable to commit to an indefinite position. When hiring for a Term Position, the term length must be included in the job posting. 

Create a Job Opening in myHR

Once your position is created, and it has been approved through the Position Management Process, you can initiate the job opening in myHR. Learn more about the steps needed to post your job.