Dear Huskies,
We are pleased to announce that Northern Illinois University is now a member of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) which advances equity and inclusion in higher education recruitment and retention. HERC has a membership of over 700 colleges, universities, hospitals, research labs, government agencies and related organizations committed to diversifying the pipeline of faculty, staff and executives in academia.
Our Division of Human Resource Services is in the process of partnering with our applicant tracking system provider, PeopleAdmin, to implement an automatic feed from the university’s job board to HERC’s job board. This will allow all NIU faculty and staff job opportunities to seamlessly post on HERC in a similar fashion as our other advertisement job pack sites, which should further aid efforts in casting wide nets in diversity recruitment. Furthermore, HERC also enhances our outreach efforts by representing our jobs at diversity conferences and job fairs, through advertising campaigns and by providing targeted career resources. Learn more about the HERC job-seeker demographics.
Probably one of the most significant features HERC offers is its HERConnect, an online community with other HERC members from other universities where collaboration and information sharing are made possible. Any NIU employee can join HERConnect since it is included in our membership. This online community of higher education professionals provides webinars addressing recruitment and retention topics with a focus on diversity, professional development opportunities, annual conferences and job fairs, and the opportunity to make connections and engage with other members. Additionally, HERConnect offers access to a plethora of tool kits that help with search committee training, virtual and diversity recruitment, and best practices and guides on recruitment and hiring. We encourage all NIU employees who are involved in the recruitment and hiring process within their respective departments to register with HERConnect to gain access to these various resources that help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruitment and retention within the higher education industry.
Please share this communication as relevant with division heads and vice presidents, deans, department heads, directors, search committee members, hiring managers and any employees who are involved with recruitment and hiring efforts. For questions about the HERC job board and HERConnect, please contact AffirmativeAction@niu.edu.
Thank you for your partnership and your continued commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Sincerely,
Alan Clay
Associate Director and Acting Affirmative Action Officer
Bill Hodson
Senior Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer
