New University of Iowa led job tool aims at better work-life balance

IOWA CITY - In the two months since launching a regional job consortium aimed at helping employers build a diverse workforce and making it easier for dual-career couples to find jobs near each other, the University of Iowa has posted 720 positions that have been viewed approximately 190,000 times.

An alert function on the new Central Midwest Higher Education Recruitment Consortium's website has sent out 56,000 UI job notifications, and nearly 100 people have signaled interest in applying for those UI posts from the site.

And Iowa's other public universities also are involved in the job-recruitment collaboration, as are 15 more institutions - including Coe College, Mount Mercy University and Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

The Iowa-based consortium is the local arm of a national Higher Education Recruitment Consortium - or HERC - that has 17 other regional affiliates with more than 700 member organizations, including entities not directly related to higher education.

For example, the UI-led consortium has members such as the Iowa City Community School District, the city of Iowa City and the Iowa City Area Development Group.

'For member institutions, we get a lot of exposure on a national level for our positions,” said Diane Finnerty, assistant provost for faculty and interim director of the regional consortium.

The members can be selective about the positions they post on the regional job boards, which are designed to attract 'highly trained and diverse applicants.” On a national scale, members gain access to more than 88,000 job seekers, 65 percent of whom have a graduate degree and about one-third of whom identify as a minority.

'The national HERC has created partnerships with multiple organizations around issues of race and ethnicity, veterans, disability,” Finnerty said. 'And so the demographics of job seekers in this HERC database exceed diversity demographics of many other job boards. It is a job board, but with its focus on diversity.”

Georgina Dodge, chief diversity officer and associate vice president, said that's a big deal.

'As a hallmark of excellence, diversity is essential to the educational experience and to the UI's mission as an employer,” she said. 'A diverse workforce ensures we meet the future needs of the institution and the state.”

From the job-seeker perspective, the new consortium enables quick and updated searches for regional jobs, and it helps couples find work together. The dual-career search tool functions by taking information about each partner's career interests and the distance from each other they're willing to work.

'Then this national database brings back to both of you areas of the country where you both can be employed,” Finnerty said. 'So our Jobs get greater exposure and then also it's searchable by dual career.”

The American Psychology Association estimates 80 percent of faculty members are part of a dual-career couple. And UI officials have cited the need to accommodate faculty prospects who have families, spouses and partners.

UI President Bruce Harreld in his first year on campus launched a faculty-vitality initiative aimed at increasing faculty pay and doing more to recruit and retain top researchers and educators. Finnerty said although this consortium was conceived before Harreld's initiative,

'It certainly aligns with it,” Finnerty said. 'This is definitely part of our commitment to faculty recruitment and retention - absolutely. It assists, for example, with exposure to jobs and exposure into diverse networks.

'But it also assists us if we are recruiting an individual and there is a dual-career need.”

University deans who currently want to bring a person on staff call around to other campuses and employers in the area to pitch a spouse's resume and skills.

'This online tool is going to make that networking much more efficient,” Finnerty said.

The consortium also supports the UI's Build a Career, Build a Life initiative aimed at improving work-life balance for employees. About 85 percent of faculty recently employed at UI said those considerations influenced their decision to take a job here.

'Partnering with regional colleges and other community employers to pool job openings within a commutable distance will greatly enhance our recruitment efforts,” said Kevin Kregel, UI associate provost for faculty.

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