Human
Resources
Department responds to degree requirement concerns
By Susan
A. Carkeek, Associate Vice President and Director, Human Resources
A resounding
call from constituencies across the University to remove what
many feel are artificial degree requirements for certain UNM
positions has been heard.
For the
past two years, the Department of Human Resources reviewed the
issue and solicited feedback from different campus constituency
groups, including the HR Network, HR Advisory Committee and
Staff Council.
A survey
of the HR Network pointed to administrative/management jobs
as those of most concern. I am pleased to announce that HR has
initiated a pilot project that we hope responds to these concerns.
The pilot
project will begin with the job titles most frequently identified
in our conversations with the campus community. Those are: Administrator
(Group), Assistant to the President, Assistant to the Provost,
Asst. to the Vice President, Clinical Dept. Admin. I, Clinical
Dept. Admin. II, Clinical Dept. Admin. III, Dept Admin. I, Dept
Admin. II, Dept. Admin. III, Executive Assistant/Branch, Office
Admin., Office Manager, Operations Manager, Program Coordinator,
Program Manager and Unit Administrator.
There are
two parts to the pilot project. Part one has been to reevaluate
the minimum qualifications for these positions. The second component
of the pilot project was to develop a Management Academy to
assist staff in attaining qualifications necessary to be competitive
for these positions.
Human Resources
completed an in-depth review of duties and responsibilities
for these jobs titles and determined that instead of requiring
a generic (i.e., not discipline specific) degree,
a more appropriate minimum qualification would be specific management
skills. These skills can be acquired through previous experience
or completion of an in-house management training program (see
article on the Management Academy).
Effective
January 2003, the new minimum qualification for the positions
in the pilot project will be two years of directly-related management
experience or successful completion of UNMs Management
Academy.
For jobs
where an educational credential is considered beneficial, but
not required, then a degree can be listed as a preferred
or desirable qualification.
Staff who
have been grandparented into these pilot positions
since UNMpact should meet the experience criteria of the new
minimum qualifications. However, they are still welcome to participate
in the Management Academy.
In addition,
Human Resources has reevaluated and eliminated the degree requirement
for many other staff jobs in fields such as information technology,
research support, facilities management, to name a few. Job
descriptions can be reviewed on the web at http://jobdescriptions.unm.edu/jdeweb.cfm
Because
this is a pilot project, after a full year of implementation,
HR will evaluate effectiveness. An opportunity to provide feedback
will be provided.