Recruitment and Hiring

Recruitment is the process of identifying, attracting, interviewing, selecting, and hiring new employees. It encompasses everything from recognizing a staffing need to fulfilling that need. This phase of the employee lifecycle at the New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) is critically important, as it shapes the new hire's first impressions of the organization and your team.

Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring at New York City Public Schools (NYCPS)

New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) is passionate about connecting with our students and providing the support and resources they need to excel consistently. While students mostly engage with the NYCPS through their schools, all of us at the NYCPS play a role in their experiences, whether through interactions or decision-making on their behalf. That's why our commitment to cultural responsiveness goes beyond the classroom, it also reaches into our offices and workplaces. This journey begins with closely examining our recruitment and hiring practices.

To strengthen our commitment to fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces, the Division of Human Resources (DHR) and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (OEO) have created the Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring Policy, the Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring Toolkit, and the Structured Interviewing Guide. Together, these resources will help us build a vibrant community where everyone's contributions are valued.

Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring Policy 

At NYCPS, we are excited to nurture a vibrant and inclusive environment that truly values the diverse experiences, perspectives, and contributions of all our employees, applicants, students, and families. Our strong commitment to diversity and equity has inspired the Division of Human Resources (DHR) and the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) to implement an inclusive recruitment and hiring policy. This policy features impactful practices designed to create meaningful changes within our agency.

DHR created Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring training materials which aim to establish workplace equity right from the start of the employee lifecycle. It is essential for all Human Resource Directors (HRDs), HR professionals, and hiring managers to read and utilize this information. Together, this policy and the valuable resources below help us at the NYCPS move closer to achieving a more equitable work environment.

The Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring Policy document is available here.

If you have any questions about inclusive recruitment and hiring, please email DHR@schools.nyc.gov. We’re here to help!

The Inclusive Recruitment and Hiring Toolkit

The Structured Interviewing Guide

Interviewing is an essential element of the recruitment process, offering employers a unique chance to evaluate how closely a candidate’s skills match the needs of our organization. By utilizing structured interviews, hiring managers can maintain their focus on the specific skills and capabilities essential for the role, steering clear of decisions influenced by emotions, personal connections, or unrelated attributes.

The Structured Interviewing Guide is a valuable toolkit packed with recommendations, practical tips, and resources designed to empower hiring managers and HR directors to establish an effective structured interview system. Dive into this guide for a glimpse of insightful advice and tools to elevate your interviewing process!

• Determining the Key/Core Competencies for Job Success: Explore strategies and best practices for reviewing what is stated in the job description.
• Developing a List of Behavioral and Situational Questions: Create questions that are reflective of the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be successful in the job.
• Creating a Rubric/Scorecard: Design standardized, objective evaluation criteria to ensure consistency and document decision-making process for each candidate.
• Reviewing Resumes: Discover how to redact applicant information that may contribute to implicit bias while still containing the candidate’s core competency information.
• Assembling an Interview Panel/Hiring Committee: Gather a group prepared to navigate unconscious/affinity bias that may arise during the interview and hiring process.
• Conducting Interviews: Discover how and when to ask questions and take objective notes while conducting interviews.
• Tools and Resources: Access key concepts, tools, and resources for creating a structured interview system.

Download the Structured Interviewing Guide here.

Additional Resources for Recruiting and Hiring

Your program and/or operations teams may have created additional recruiting and hiring resources, such as a hiring process flow chart, selection process timeline, expectations document, list of pre-vetted candidates, or reference check guide. For more information about these, refer to the “Recruiting and Hiring Resources” section of the Onboarding Toolkit for Hiring Managers, Human Resource Directors, and Onboarding Support Teams. Additionally, you can explore the related sources of information listed below for further insights!

• This document, Entering the Interview Panel Information, provides guidance for how to enter interview panel information in TSN, which legally must be recorded for all interviewed applicants.
• The page for central, district, and borough/citywide office openings provides an overview of administrative roles.
• The NYCPS-Wide Standard Competencies outlines the skills and behaviors that all employees should know and develop to help them succeed at NYCPS.
• The NYCPS Work Rules and Policies page includes a section on the NYCPS’s Anti-Discrimination Policy and how to file complaints of unlawful discrimination, sexual harassment, or retaliation based upon such complaints.
• The Office of General Counsel’s Directory page provides contact information for the NYCPS’s Ethics Officer.
• The Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management page provides information about diversity/sensitivity in the workplace.