The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- August 2, 1999

Changing cast begins new tenure in Indianapolis

The NCAA's cast of hundreds is working from a different stage.

After a long run in Kansas City, the national office staff of more than 285 employees comes to Indianapolis sporting quite a different roster than it did just two years ago. But though the names might have changed, the commitment to quality performance has not.

Finding staff with that commitment has largely been the task of the NCAA's human resources staff, which itself has undergone several personnel changes.

NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey estimates that more than two-thirds of the current staff have fewer than two years' experience with the Association. Of the staff members making the move, only 95 were hired before the announcement to move was made in May 1997.

Suzanne Kerley, former NCAA director of human resources who currently serves on the NCAA 2000 transition team and who served as a member of the staff working group assisting the NCAA Executive Committee, was warned that the role of the human resources group would expand as a result of an office move, especially if the move was to another city.

"Things happened literally overnight," she said. "We returned from Chicago after the announcement was made and started drafting two sets of policies -- one for staff members who intended to relocate and one for staff members who would not be relocating -- and presented them at an all-staff meeting less than 48 hours later.

"Since then, not only have the policies for relocating and nonrelocating staff been through several revisions and are now printed booklets, but we have been involved in so many facets of this transition that it's difficult to mention them all."

Building a new staff

In general, the human resources staff has focused primarily on two areas. One was ensuring that relocating staff had what it needed to successfully make the move to Indianapolis. All staff members were invited and encouraged to continue employment with the Association. The benefits offered to relocating staff were assistance in the areas of home-selling, lease cancellation, home- and apartment-finding, household-goods moves and employment of accompanying individuals.

The other primary focus was the hiring and training of replacement staff. Between June 1, 1997, and December 31, 1998, the Association hired 66 staff members, many from Indianapolis. Since the beginning of January, another 127 staff members have been hired, putting the total number of staff members going into the new facility at approximately 289. Of those, 118 were hired from Indianapolis and surrounding communities.

While the numbers of new staff are high, Kerley said the human resources staff was committed from the outset to maintaining its high standards for selection and placement of individuals. In January 1998, Robert Fiala began as human resources coordinator with the intent of eventually assuming Kerley's role, which occurred in September 1998.

Fiala and Kerley worked to develop a plan that would ensure finding the highest caliber person for each vacant position and then training that person more effectively and efficiently. The "Transition Staffing Plan," implemented January 1, 1998, called for the systematic hiring of staff starting with the higher levels (such as vice-president and director) and moving downward, level by level. Several higher-level jobs were filled internally through staff promotions.

Fiala said that recruitment of candidates for so many different types of jobs spanned a variety of methods and avenues. Recruiting sources included The Market section of The NCAA News, classified sections of various Indianapolis newspapers and specialty or trade association publications.

He also said that recruiting for clerical and support-staff positions took on a new dimension due to the sheer volume of positions that needed to be filled.

"We had to fill more than 100 support-staff positions," Fiala said. "These typically are filled by candidates from the local community, so starting in January, a member of the human resources staff was in Indianapolis almost daily to facilitate the process of conducting clerical tests, screening interviews, checking references and arranging for qualified candidates to meet with the supervisors who had the job opening."

While interest in the NCAA as an employer was high, the volume of responses from ads placed in local publications started to decline in late February 1998. Having heard a radio advertisement placed by Eli Lilly and Co. seeking administrative assistants, Fiala and Kerley quickly researched the effectiveness of radio advertisement in recruiting and with the help of an ad agency, developed radio spots on five major Indianapolis stations with the target audience that was appropriate for the open positions.

The radio spots ran for little more than two weeks, from the end of March to mid-April, leading up to a major job fair in Indianapolis on April 14.

"The radio ads were great," Kerley said. "We were mobbed at the job fair with excellent candidates. These people had checked out the NCAA Web site, knew what jobs we had available, what the qualifications were and prepared their application materials accordingly."

Seamless transition

After the hires were made, it became critical to ensure as seamless a transition as possible between the incumbents and replacements. New hires in most cases were temporarily relocated to Overland Park to train. Because the nonrelocating staff member often was still on board during training, job shadowing became a beneficial part of the process.

Will Rudd, former director of special events, said that in the case of his replacement, John Johnson, that kind of on-the-job training could not have been accomplished during other, typical employee transitions.

"We've had lots of good dialogue and situational conversations as challenges came up, and John was able to experience first-hand what goes on at an NCAA championship," Rudd said. "He joined us in March, observed the production of NCAA Hoop City, salute activities and other marketing, licensing and promotions initiatives that take place over the important weekend of the Final Fours. He took over May 15 and has been in charge since then. I've remained on in case he has needed me for advice or counsel and that has been beneficial for both of us."

Johnson agreed that he has benefited from the approach.

"Having someone to help point you in the right direction and to guide you through what may sometimes seem like a maze of how to get to your objectives has been very helpful because it takes away some of the trial and error," Johnson said.

Kerley said other knowledge-transfer initiatives have included nonrelocating staff members maintaining journals that describe job functions, timelines and filing systems, particularly in support positions where the work may be more cyclical.

She said that in exit interviews with nonrelocating staff members, most are complimentary of both the training process that was provided and with the person who is replacing them.

"I know it is a tough situation, to try to transfer everything you know about your job and the NCAA and your committees to another person," Kerley said. "The amazing thing is the strong sense of loyalty that nonrelocating staff members have to the NCAA. They want so much for the person who is replacing them to succeed and to take the job to new levels.

"Time will tell, of course, but I am confident that the hiring choices made were all good ones and that this group, even though it lacks tenure, will continue the mission of service to the membership."

NCAA Staff since May 1997