Critical Hire Process

January 3, 2020

Georgia Southern Hiring Managers:

As you are aware, last fall, Georgia state agencies were asked to reduce Fiscal Year 2020 budgets by 4% and maintain this reduction plus an additional 2%, for Fiscal Year 2021. While Georgia Southern University and other USG institutions were exempted from these reductions, on December 13^th the USG announced a critical hiring review initiative. A critical hire, as defined by the System Office, is “a position that the institution must fill in order to maintain student success, patient/life safety and to successfully meet required compliance and accreditation standards.” Only those positions that meet the critical hire definition will be approved at this time.  This initiative will position us for any potential budget reductions that may be considered if state revenue collections do not meet budget targets.

This review process, which became effective December 15, will apply to all vacant and new full-time faculty and staff positions with a salary above $40,000, regardless of funding source. There is no end date until we receive notification from the System Office.

Below is an outline of the procedures that all hiring managers will be required to follow as they seek to fill any vacant or new position.

Administrative process steps:

1.      Hiring Managers will provide written justification to fill critical vacancies or add new positions to their Dean/Divisional Head or cabinet member for approval. Each cabinet member will provide Hiring Managers with the divisional process for submission and a copy of the Critical Hiring Request template. A separate form needs to be completed for each opening, even if there are multiple openings of the same classification. 

(Note: New or repurposed staff positions needing compensation review should be submitted using the hrservice@georgiasouthern.edu prior to this request to obtain appropriate salary information).

2.      Once approved by the divisional cabinet member, an electronic form will be completed and forwarded to the President and Vice President for Business & Finance for approval.

3.      Electronic forms submitted by Thursday at 5:00 p.m. will be reviewed and, if approved:

a.       Faculty requests will be sent to the Provost Office by 5:00 p.m the following Monday.

b.      Staff requests will be sent by Human Resources to the USG System Office for review by 5:00 p.m. the following Monday. The System Office has committed to a response time of no later than Friday at 5:00 p.m. the same week. Once Human Resources is informed of the final decision, the electronic form will be updated with status and notification sent to divisional VP.

We appreciate your assistance as we work to follow this USG directive. If you have questions regarding the process, please contact Associate Vice President of Human Resources Rebecca Carroll by logging a ticket through the MyHelp icon on your desktop or through the MyGS portal.