Faculty recruitment guide to provide tools and resources for College of Medicine departments
The toolkit will include best practices, strategies and templated language to help facilitate faculty hires
Sept. 14, 2022 — As part of an ongoing effort at the University of Florida to provide extensive resources to departments hiring employees, a group of experienced administrative partners are working together to develop a College of Medicine faculty recruitment guide.
Led by Jenna Glendinning, the assistant director of health care administration in the department of emergency medicine, the project is part of the people pillar of the college’s strategic plan, first introduced in December by Dean Colleen Koch, M.D., M.S., M.B.A. With the help of Adrienne Smith, an administrative specialist in the department of neurology, and Jennifer Barghout, an administrative specialist in the department of anesthesiology, Glendinning said she is working to compile the recruitment guide to share with the college in early 2023.
Adrienne Smith, left, Jenna Glendinning, center, and Jennifer Barghout, right
“We are learning from each other, and we’re hoping this guide can provide departments with new opportunities to learn about proactive recruitment ideas they maybe haven’t thought about before. The goal is to then give departments a chance to build out their own strategy specific to their recruitment goals,” she said.
The recruitment guide will include best practices, strategies, templated language and feedback departments have learned through previous recruitment experiences. It is meant to facilitate a fair, equitable and ultimately successful experience with all faculty hires, not just clinicians. In addition, Smith said, it will be transferrable to other employee types, like staff, and it will work in tandem with the inclusive recruitment and hiring guide being developed by human resources collaborators Amelia Baiden, M.B.A., and Will Stephens on best hiring practices for diversity and inclusion.
By creating and sharing the guide, Glendinning and her team hope to reduce the length of time it takes to fill open positions and, in turn, better support the college’s current workforce.
“Our goal is to give our recruiters more than just a starting point — we’re giving them the building blocks that will walk them through the recruitment process to include targeted advertising, proactive outreach strategies and gathering nominations,” Smith said.
Barghout agreed, adding, “From the department perspective, it’s really helpful not to have to start from scratch but to instead have tangible resources we can use to hit the ground running.”
Once the guide is completed and has been beta tested to gain additional department feedback, Glendinning, Smith and Barghout will also partner with new College of Medicine communications director, Cody Hawley, to build out the UF College of Medicine’s branding as an employer, looking at ways to show potential recruits across the U.S. and the world what it means to be a Gator in the College of Medicine and why they should consider working in Gainesville. In the spring, they plan to create workshops to share information and resources with the College of Medicine community and explain how to implement and use the guide.
“The whole point is for this to be dynamic and ongoing and for us to always improve our practices so that we’re finding ways for our colleagues to lead the way,” Smith said. “I’m very excited.”
The three women are asking for submissions from the college community on hiring and recruitment tips and suggestions for the upcoming guide. Ideas can be shared with senior project manager Richanne Lamb via email at richanne@ufl.edu.
