Onboarding and Project Staffing

Each principal investigator (PI) assumes the role of project director for their project and is responsible for managing project staff, including compliance with laws, regulations, as well as guidelines regarding employee hiring, appropriate compensation, and timely submission of pay data.

Research Foundation Human Resources partners with project directors and administrators to ensure that good business practices, hiring regulations are met and maintained, and projects are compliant with Research Foundation, sponsoring agency, federal, and state guidelines. 

The Recruitment Process

Please note that employees are not authorized to begin work until all required steps have been approved and completed.

Recruiting Employees

Benefited Positions: To begin the recruitment process for benefited positions, complete and submit a Request to Recruit Form to HR, along with a job description.

Non-Benefited Positions: To recruit for a non-benefited position, you only need to submit a job description to HR. The Request to Recruit form is not required.

Recruiting Student Assistants

Students who are attending classes at SJSU or another institution of higher education may be hired as student assistants. As stipulated in both the CSU policy and the Research Foundation policy, student assistants may work no more than:

• 20 hours per week while school is in session
• 40 hours during winter and summer intersessions

Hiring and Making Appointments

When an employment offer is accepted, the hiring manager must complete the appropriate appointment form for the new employee:

Academic Appointments

Use the Academic Appointment Form if the employee is a San José State University faculty member and is working overload (up to 25% during academic year and/or 125% during summer/intersession on a non-federal award; 100% on a federal award) on the sponsored programs project.

Non-Academic Appointments

Use this Non-Academic Appointment Form for all non-academic, non-faculty appointments, such as project staff and student assistants, working on a sponsored programs project.

Employment Changes During Appointment

If there is a change in rate, duration of appointment period or percentage of work, a new Request to Recruit Form is required.

New Employee Onboarding

Prior to beginning work all newly hired project employees must complete the required new hire documentation and related processes.

New Hire Documentation

Hiring managers are responsible for ensuring that the required documentation for all new or rehired employees is completed before the employee begins working:

• E-Verify
• Glacier (non-residents)
• Background Checks (for all new or re-hired benefited and employees hired for sensitive category positions)
• Live Scan (all employees hired for sensitive category positions)
• Executive Order 1083 Acknowledgement

For additional details on hiring and staffing support as well as the full range of HR services, contact Research Foundation Human Resources.