Human Resources

Recruitment Budget Guidelines

The Office of Human Resources is in charge of managing the recruitment budget for Delta State University. The recruitment budget consists of the following expenses:

  • Advertising expenses for open positions
  • Travel, meals, and lodging for interview candidates for faculty positions
  • Moving expenses for the newly employed
  • Legal fees incurred from assisting staff and faculty with obtaining H1-B and permanent residency
  • Background checks

Interview budgets for faculty positions should be submitted to Human Resources only after the Faculty Certification of Credentials Form has been approved by the Office of Academic Affairs.  No budget will be approved until this step has been completed.

We have a very small budget to cover these items; therefore, it is required that you contact the Office of Human Resources prior to inviting any candidates on campus or committing to any other expenses that would be paid from this fund. Departments may be required to assume a portion of the expenses for the candidate’s visit, depending on availability of funds.  Funds are available for faculty interviews and may be available for select staff positions.  Please contact HR to determine if a staff position qualifies for funding.  Interview budgets will be approved for only one candidate for each position.

Travel expenses will only be approved for candidates from locations in the US to campus.  The Office of Human Resources reserves the right to deny reimbursement for any expense that was not pre-approved.  Please advise your department faculty/staff and your candidates to be economical when making travel arrangements, dinner meetings, lodging reservations, etc. or the department may be asked to share a larger proportion of the costs.

Note: Travel budgets for on-campus interviews for non-tenure track faculty will not be approved except in special circumstances and with additional justification.  Please contact HR for information and required approvals.

Prior to inviting interview candidates to campus, all departments must submit an estimate budget of the expenses for each candidate and obtain approval from the Office of Human Resources. Expenses incurred that were not pre-approved by the Office of Human Resources will be the responsibility of the hiring department.

The Process

The following information provides guidelines, instructions, templates, and forms to be used when beginning the recruitment process. Please review carefully prior to starting your candidate search and contact the Office of Human Resources should there be any items that have not been addressed here. Budgets will only be approved to bring one candidate to campus for each open position.

Prior to the Visit:

  • The interview budget should be submitted to Human Resources as soon as the department has approval from the appropriate Vice President to invite the candidate to campus.  For faculty candidates, budgets cannot be approved until the Faculty Certification of Credentials Form has been completed and approved by the Provost.
  • The candidate, in consultation with the hiring department, is responsible for making travel arrangements, such as airfare or plans to drive.  These expenses will then be reimbursed to the candidate. Airfare cannot be direct billed to DSU.
  • The hiring department is responsible for making lodging and meal arrangements for the candidate.  Expenses for a local hotel can be direct billed to HR with an approved budget.

After the Visit:

  • The hiring department prepares purchase requisitions to reimburse all expenses related to their candidate’s visit. This includes payments to candidates for airfare, to faculty/staff for meals or travel, and any procurement card purchases. A candidate’s expenses cannot be direct billed to DSU or reimbursed by HR until after the candidate’s arrival on campus.
    • Hotel invoices should also be acquired by the hiring department and forwarded to Human Resources for payment.
    • All purchase requisitions or Travel Authorization forms to reimburse interview candidates and/or individual faculty or staff members for approved expenses incurred during the interview must be submitted to Human Resources for signature and approval by the Director of Human Resources within 7 business days following the visit or DSU HR reserves the right to deny payment.
    • All interview candidates will need to submit a W9 form in order to be reimbursed.  The form can be found on the Procurement Vendor information page here: https://www.deltastate.edu/finance-admin/procurement/vendor-information/
  • Purchase Requisitions to pay DSU procurement cards must be submitted to Human Resources within 3 business days after receiving the month’s statement.

NOTE: If hiring an international candidate who will require DSU to sponsor a visa in order to be eligible to work, this process takes three months to complete with regular processing.  If premium processing is required to expedite approval, this costs an additional fee of over $1200, a portion of which the hiring department might be asked to assume, and processing still can take 6 weeks or longer.  Please adjust your hiring timeline accordingly to account for the additional time necessary.

Guidelines for Lodging, Meals, and Travel

Please review the guidelines below prior to creating your Interview Budget Estimate.

Lodging

Lodging is limited to two (2) nights.

  • If available, Cassity Hall should be reserved for the candidate.  Please contact the office of the Vice President of Finance at 4004 first to check availability and, if available, reserve a room using the Cassity Hall Reservation Form.  Information about Cassity Hall can be found here.
  • If Cassity Hall is not available, the individual department is responsible for reserving a local hotel room and having it directly billed to the Human Resources Department in order to receive the DSU rate and waive tax.
  • HR will reimburse up to the maximum negotiated rate at local hotels for any hotel stay outside of Cleveland.  The department will be responsible for any additional charges.

Please contact the Office of Human Resource at x4035 for local hotel information.  Once the visit is over please fill out a paper requisition form, attach the original hotel invoice, and send to Human Resources for signatures and coding.

Meals

The request for reimbursement for group meals follows DSU policies:

  • There will be a dollar limit placed on the total allowance for meals during a candidate’s visit to campus based on the duration of the visit.
    • Please see the guidelines below for the maximum amounts to use for each meal.
    • A standard interview duration for a faculty position is 1 full day and 2 partial days when the candidate arrives and departs.  Expenses for interviews extending beyond this duration require additional justification to be reimbursable.
  • For candidates who are currently employed with Delta State University, HR will only reimburse the cost of one (1) meal on the day of the scheduled interviews.
  • HR will only reimburse the cost food for the candidate and two (2) committee/faculty/staff members for each meal.
  • Submit all reimbursement requests on a paper requisition form. An original, itemized receipt must be submitted for the cost of each meal.
    • If the meal was paid for using a DSU procurement card, please submit a copy of the month’s statement on which the charges appear with the paper purchase requisition.
  • Complete a Food Purchase Form for each meal. Please see an example completed purchase requisition and food purchase form here.

Items that are not reimbursable:

  • Meals for spouses & children of staff/faculty
  • Meals for any attendees beyond the candidate and two faculty or staff members
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Services charges for using a DSU Procurement Card
  • Refreshments for open meetings, receptions, or meals bought onto campus with the candidate and division faculty, staff, or students
  • Tips above 20% of the total bill, per state law

Guidelines for creating the estimated meal budget:

  • For each dinner the candidate will be on campus, estimate $60.
  • For each lunch the candidate will be on campus, estimate $50.
  • For each breakfast the candidate will be on campus, estimate $15.

This means in a standard interview where candidate arrives one afternoon, stays the entire next day, and leaves on the morning of the third day, the maximum total reimbursement will be $200.  The department will be responsible for not exceeding the total amount approved for meals using the above amounts, but will not be held to a per meal limit.  This means that if the cost of one meal does not exceed the per meal estimate, then that amount can be used to cover expenses for another meal, such as dinner.  NOTE: This does not mean that the savings can be used to pay for the meals of additional faculty/staff members.  HR will not reimburse for additional faculty/staff for each meal beyond the approved two.

Travel

Please note that travel expenses (i.e. plane tickets) are less expensive when booked in advance. When possible the Office of Human Resources asks that interviews be scheduled at least two weeks in advance to cut down on travel expenses. Departments should also avoid scheduling interviews on or around holidays when travel costs are higher.  If there is an immediate need to bring the candidate to campus and the travel expense is high, the hiring department may be asked to assume a portion of the expenses.  Human Resources will not pay for travel expenses for candidates from destinations outside the US.

All candidates should book their own travel arrangements.  Travel expenses are not to be direct billed to DSU and cannot be reimbursed prior to the candidate’s arrival on campus, to avoid any issues related to cancelled visits.  Candidates may be reimbursed for the following costs with original, itemized receipts:

  • Airline tickets, train, or bus fare
  • Miles traveled at the rate of 65.5 cents per mile when driving to campus.  This should be documented on the purchase requisition form.
  • Baggage Fees
  • Airport parking

Please itemize expenses beyond airfare and mileage under the Miscellaneous column on the Interview Budget Estimate form and provide an explanation in the comments section.

Travel Expenses Reimbursable to the Division or DSU Faculty:

  • Travel to and from the airport to pick up the candidate. Please follow the university policies for travel authorizations and submit all appropriate travel forms to procurement.  All forms and policies are found on the Travel Authorization webpage.  If a rental car is not available, the employee will be reimbursed for gas used for the trip with itemized receipts.
    • When making reservations with Enterprise, employees must request and intermediate/mid-sized car and should decline all optional insurances that are offered.
    • For all cars, any gas receipts submitted for reimbursement must show the number of gallons purchased and the price per gallon, per state policy.

Items that are not reimbursable:

  • Cost of a rental car for the candidate, unless less expensive than the total amount for faculty/staff to travel to the airport to pick up the candidate under the current travel guidelines and Enterprise rental agreement.
  • Any item for which an original itemized receipt is not provided

Please note faxed or emailed copies of invoices or receipts are not acceptable for payment by the Procurement office. Invoices with “estimated expenses” are not considered a final invoice and will not be acceptable for reimbursement. You must submit the original, final invoices.  All reimbursements paid to the candidate must include the candidate’s social security number on the purchase requisition and the candidate must complete a W9 form.

Preparing your Interview Budget Estimate

After reviewing the guidelines for lodging, meals, and travel, please create an estimated interview budget for each candidate. The Office of Human Resources will only approve budgets to bring one candidate to campus for an interview for each open position. Candidates should be ranked and the top candidate for the position invited to campus for an interview.   On-campus interviews for additional candidates will be approved only in cases where the job offer is declined or in extraordinary circumstances.  For a budget template for interview expenses please click here or go to the DSU website under Human Resources Forms and click on Interview Budget Estimate Template. The steps for submitting the budget for review are as follows:

  1. Complete the Interview Budget Estimate Template. We prefer that you type the form in the Excel Spreadsheet and submit as an attachment to an email so revisions can be made if necessary.
  2. Email the completed Budget Estimate to Rachel Becker to start the review process.
  3. The Office of Human Resources will review the Budget Estimate and contact you with a decision or any revisions.

Note: Interview budgets for all faculty positions cannot be approved until the Faculty Certification of Credentials Form has been submitted and approved by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Moving Expense

Moving expenses may be supported in limited cases. Please check the Moving Expense Reimbursement policy for details.

Advertising

Delta State University has a very limited amount of funding for advertising. It is our goal to reduce the advertising expenses as much as possible while also bringing in promising, educated candidates. We ask for your assistance with this goal. You can help by thinking about the position you have open and matching it with the best publication, website, or organization that you feel will have readers/subscribers who would make possible candidates. Please submit job advertisements to other universities and organizations that you feel would generate promising applicants.

If you feel there are potential candidates on campus or in the area that would be a good match for your position, please do not request to advertise outside of the university website. We will advertise on the DSU website and you should encourage the potential candidates to submit an application through PeopleAdmin. If the position is only advertised on the DSU website and we have not received sufficient applications, we can then look to reopening the position and advertising publicly.

In order to eliminate expenses, the Human Resource office will advertise with the most cost efficient method. For example, the average expense to advertise in print in The Chronicle is $450, the online fee is $295 with no word limit, therefore, we would only advertise online.

The Office of Human Resources makes the final decision as to whether a position will be advertised. Examples of positions that will not be advertised outside of the DSU website are:

  • administrative or secretarial
  • custodial
  • janitorial
  • resident hall assistants

Grant funded positions:

If your position is Grant Funded, the Office of Human Resources will consult with the department/division to determine if there is money in the grant to assist in paying for the advertising.

What if we do not receive enough applicants?

If your position has been advertised publicly and has expired with an insufficient number of applications received, you may request additional advertising by sending an email with a detailed explanation of your request to Rebecca Bouse.

The Office of Human Resources reserves the right to amend any and all of the Recruitment Budget Guidelines as deemed necessary.