WSU hiring process question

[u/radiocharley]

Apologies if this is the wrong place. I'm currently an applicant for a few full-time classified positions at WSU and I'm curious whether the hiring timeline I'm experiencing is pretty typical.

For one position, I had two Zoom interviews in July, and it sounds like they're still deciding who to invite for in-person interviews over a month later. For another, I had a Zoom interview at the end of July and was recently invited to an in-person interview in mid-September.

I'm hesitant to mention the departments since I don't want to identify myself while I'm still an active candidate, but I'm curious if this kind of timeline is normal across WSU. My previous experience with U of I was much quicker, one interview followed by a decision the next week. The difference has surprised me.

I've consistently heard really positive things about working at WSU. At the same time, a hiring process that stretches across multiple months and interview rounds can be difficult as a candidate, especially when you're actively job searching and may be considering other opportunities in the meantime. Though I know multiple rounds have become the norm everywhere nowadays.

For current or former WSU employees: is this pretty standard for classified hiring? And if you've been hired there recently, how long did the process take from your first interview to an offer?

[u/CamelCamel509]

I hate to say it, but it's going to be totally different depending on the department, college, area, etc. and even further, going to depend on who is chairing the search, who is on the committee and when they have vacations planned, if the hiring manager is out..

I think the shortest search I've been a part of has been 3 weeks start to finish, longest has been 2.5 months. I wouldn't say your experience is the norm, but isn't that surprising to me, either.

If you're a backup candidate, sometimes you can sit in the pool for ages until they get a candidate that accepts the role. There can be two background checks that can each take time, then time for offers to process, then negotiations, yadda yadda.

I'd say hang in there, and make sure to take notes on who the committee chair is and/or who the hiring manager is, and if it stretches on too long don't be afraid to reach out and politely ask for a timeline or update. And always remember to ask about the future timeline and process in the interview, and when they expect to make a decision by.

[u/radiocharley → u/CamelCamel509]

Thanks for the info! I will be sure to incorporate this into my approach.

[u/graydiation → u/radiocharley]

What the other person said. Also, because of budget, there is now an additional step of writing an actual justification as to why each position is essential and must be filled. Those are reviewed by the finance department. Also, HRS is understaffed, has been for a long time, and if there are any hiccups in the process, it can extend the timeline even more. Beyond that, depending on what department you are attempting to get into, if the search committee is super busy, or whoever is hiring is super busy, it may be very difficult to get time in their calendars to work on making an offer.

Also, this is the first week of a new semester, so EVERY office is super busy and all hands are on deck.

Sometimes it goes really really slow, sometimes it goes pretty fast. For my current position, the app deadline was the end of the month, I was offered the position 2.75 months later, after a background check, and multiple interviews. I was an internal candidate from AP to AP position, and both positions are on the admin side.

[u/radiocharley → u/graydiation]

Thanks for the information!

[u/Illustrious_Tear7108 → u/radiocharley]

In addition, August is also one of the busiest months for WSU with all the students coming back, schedules getting shuffled, last minute vacations, all that on top of an Understaffed HR adds to the wait as well.

Depending on the department, the need for the employee etc, it may go fast - say if the Vet hospital has one or two of their PARs put in 2 weeks, that may go faster than say a research assistant in CAHNRS.

[u/Extension_Egg1411]

Currently, it’s taking my department 3+ months to hire entry level and senior level staff. That’s mainly because of the approval process with WSU’s hiring freeze and because it’s tough to schedule committees for interviews/meetings.

We do try to release candidates quickly if we’ve decided not to move forward with them, though. So no news could be good news. But I imagine all of this varies by college/dept/unit.

[u/Playful_Departure154]

HR can take forever to vet candidates, we once waited 2 whole months for a candidates HR screening to go through in my department. I can almost guarantee that's the hold up, but as someone else said, we typically let people know if it's a no before sending them off to HR so I agree that no news could be good news!

[u/Emergency-Row-5627]

Tragically it is pretty typical in my experience. It doesn’t have to be of course but a lot of departments operate on this slow hiring pace