SFU Records Retention Schedule and Disposal Authority (RRSDA)
Competition Files: Senior Administrative Appointments

Description | PIB | Authorities | Retentional rational | Rentention and filing guidelines | Status

RRSDA number

1999-012

Record series

Competition Files: Senior Administrative Appointments

Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR)

All University Departments (General Records Series)

Retention periods

Records Active retention (in office) Semi-active (records centre) Total retention Final disposition
All departments holding these records: CY competition completed + 1 year 5 years CY competition completed + 6 years Selective Retention by Archives

CY = Current calendar year; CFY = Current fiscal year; CS = Current semester; S/O = Superseded or obsolete; OPR = Office of Primary Responsibility; Non-OPR = All other departments.

Description, purpose and use of records

Records relating to competitions for senior administrative (including academic administrative) positions (i.e. department Chairs, Directors, Deans, Vice-Presidents, and President).

Records may include job postings, job descriptions, lists of candidates, letters of application, resumes and CVs, statements of teaching and research history and interests, reference letters, teaching evaluations and material, correspondence, evaluative memoranda, interview questions and answers, reference checks, eligibility criteria, scoring and ranking sheets.

Appointment procedures vary for different positions. Some records relating to the successful candidate may be incorporated into the employee’s Personnel File.

For competition files relating to academic teaching appointments, use RRSDA 1999-024; for competition files relating to non-academic staff positions, use RRSDA 1997-013.

Personal Information Bank (PIB)

This series is a Personal Information Bank; click here for PIB description.

Authorities

These records are created, used, retained and managed in accordance with the following authorities:

Retention rationale

The FOI/POP Act (RSBC 1996, c. 165, s. 31) requires that personal information used to make a decision that directly affects an individual must be kept for at least one year. Since senior administrative positions are filled relatively infrequently (typically every 5 years), the total retention period ensures that records of the previous competition (job descriptions, advertisements, short-lists) are available under departmental control for reference in preparing the new competition. Beyond the total retention period, the records have long-term value for documenting university history.

Retention and filing guidelines

The file is considered closed when the appointment has been concluded and requests for review or appeal by unsuccessful candidates are exhausted. Retain for one additional year, then transfer to the University Records Centre (URC).

The following classification scheme is recommended for these records (use file folder dividers or create separate files where necessary).

A = transfer to Archives, D = destroy at end of active retention period, i.e. remainder of current year file closed plus one additional year.

1. Job Description and Advertisement [A] Text of job description, published advertisement, a record of where the job was advertised and the short-list of candidates.

2. Search Committee Records [A] Use for records documenting the internal deliberations of the Search Committee, e.g. minutes, correspondence and memoranda. Records relating to individual candidates (e.g. decision letters) should be filed under #3 or 4 below.

3. Candidates: Not Short-listed [D] Records relating to the applications of candidates who were not short-listed. These records may be destroyed following the active retention period (i.e. remainder of current year competition completed plus one additional year). Do not send these records to the University Records Centre. Files contain sensitive personal information and must be destroyed by confidential shredding; contact Facilities management to make arrangements.

4. Candidates: Short-listed [A] Application packages and related records of each short-listed candidate; if necessary, open a file for each individual.

Status

RRSDA is in force.

Approved by the University Archivist: 9 Nov 2000

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