Human Resources Reports ‘Summer of Hiring’ Adds Nearly 600 Staff for Fall Semester

As UMass Amherst welcomes students for the fall semester, the Office of Human Resources reports preparations for the new academic year included an extraordinary number of new hires to address staffing needs.

Since May 1, 2022, Human Resources has posted almost 1,100 staff openings and processed 585 new staff hires. Much of the hiring has been focused in areas of student support services, medical and mental health providers, dining and positions supporting grant-funded research. The summer’s volume is particularly high and comes in the wake of the significant employment disruption caused by the pandemic, which included the campus’s Voluntary Separation Incentive Program in 2020.

“We have managed more vacancies and hiring this summer than we normally handle in an entire year,” says Vice Chancellor and Chief Human Resources officer Bill Brady. “Though our own team was short-staffed, they put in a monumental effort to best position the campus to attract a talented and diverse cohort of new staff.”

Brady noted that the HR team has significantly increased UMass’s visibility throughout the region in an effort to reach job seekers. Over the past several months, one-stop hiring events and participation in regional hiring fairs helped showcase UMass Amherst as a top employer in the region. Throughout this academic year, the HR team will be launching multiple efforts aimed at attracting potential employees, including a refined marketing campaign and a new website focused on job applicants.