Why is it so important to advertise vacancies?
If you are recruiting at the University—be it for a doctoral research position, a research position in an externally funded project, or a permanent position—the aim is always to find the person best suited to the post. Publicly advertising the vacancy or new position is the best way to recruit.
The advertisement defines the duties and responsibilities of the post in question and the general conditions for hiring. For this purpose, the HR department provides advertisement templates for various types of position. These should be adapted to the vacancy in question and have already been vetted by both the Legal Unit and the Academic Staff Council. Any calls for applications that deviate from the template must first be submitted to the Academic Staff Council.
By law, all positions in the public sector must be filled by selecting the best candidates, as stipulated in the German Constitution (article 33 paragraph 2). What should be done if the person advertising the position already knows someone who would appear to be the perfect fit for the job?
If certain conditions are met, it is possible to submit an application for a job advertisement waiver (Ausschreibungsverzicht) to the Staff Council. The application may be approved, for example, in the case of doctoral research positions if the person to be hired has already completed their master’s thesis in the field. Another valid reason for the approval of such an application may be that the potential new recruit has actively participated in the proposal that has led to the approval of a research project and thus to the new position in question being created.
Advertising vacancies is particularly relevant for permanent positions, as these are few and far between; for many academics, the prospect of permanent employment outside a professorship is very attractive. Transparency is particularly important here, which is why these positions must be advertised. The Academic Staff Council is present during the entire selection and hiring process through a representative who attends the preliminary meetings of the selection committee and the interviews.
https://www.kus.uni-hamburg.de/themen/personalservice/personaleinstellung-weiterbeschaeftigung/wip/personalauswahl.html
The Academic Staff Council also monitors the cases where a fixed-term contract is to be made permanent. This happens frequently as a result of the funding structures in higher education, specifically the large number of contracts limited by external, project-based funding.
Applications to change the status of a contract to permanent are usually made by an acting head of department and must then be approved by the president and head of administration after approval by the office of the dean. The Academic Staff Council will agree to waive advertising the post only if the employee in question has held the position for a period of at least 6 years under the same job description. (Therefore, a previous doctoral position that falls within this time frame does not fulfill this requirement.)
In some cases, a call for applications may initially seem unnecessary if there is already a potentially very suitable and experienced person for the position. In our experience, however, such decision-making does not necessarily ensure that the entire department is involved in the selection process or that all those interested in the position are given a chance to apply for it. Transparency and fairness are therefore essential for protecting workplace peace in the long term. If the aim is to recruit from within the University, there is the option to advertise the position in-house. This allows all University employees to learn about the position and to apply. The same rules apply when wording the advertisement and forming a selection committee with the participation of the Academic Staff Council. More often than not, the preferred candidate who has been employed in the field for many years will prevail in the process; this is a good thing as, in all probability, they will have the necessary experience and will have shown great commitment to the department and the University as a whole. It is worth bearing in mind that conducting the process with transparency has proven to have significant long-term benefits for the reputation of the chosen candidate vis-à-vis colleagues and superiors.