HR Benefits, Analytics & Information Systems

Workday Recruiting project

Last updated: October 31, 2025

Enhancing staff recruitment

We are excited to share that the University of Washington has officially begun the implementation of the Workday Recruiting module, a modern, fully integrated recruitment platform that will replace UWHIRES in August of 2025. This significant shift is driven by the desire for an improved user experience, better security and enhanced data analytics capabilities, all of which will streamline and elevate the way we recruit and hire staff at the UW.

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Why Workday Recruiting?

  • Improved Experience: A more modern and user-friendly interface.
  • Data-Driven Insights: Advanced analytics allow for smarter, more informed recruitment decisions.
  • Integration Efficiencies: Seamlessly connected to other Workday modules, improving the onboarding process for new hires, streamlining workflows, and enhancing data consistency and security.

This is a huge step forward in modernizing our recruitment practices, and we couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead!

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Introducing the Implement, Adapt, and Evolve strategy

To optimize the implementation timeline, we will be utilizing a phased implementation strategy called Implement, Adapt, and Evolve. This more iterative approach allows us to launch the Workday module quickly with core functionality and provides the opportunity to continuously refine the system based on feedback and data to meet UW’s evolving needs. The strategy provides for a gentler transition to the new platform while working to minimize disruption to current recruiting and Workday workflows and resources.

Here’s how the process will unfold:

1. Implement (September 2024 – August 2025)

The first phase will focus on launching the essential features of Workday Recruiting by August 18, 2025. During this time, our team will design, configure, and test the system to ensure it meets UW’s recruitment needs.

  • What to expect:
    • A new application experience for job candidates.
    • Launch of the core Workday Recruiting functionalities to replace UWHIRES.
    • Minimal changes to existing workflows already performed in Workday.
2. Adapt (August 2025 – May 2026)

Once Workday Recruiting is live, we’ll enter a 9-month Adapt phase, focusing on refining and enhancing the system. During this time, we will gather feedback from users and utilize data insights to introduce more sophisticated features and adjustments.

  • What to expect:
    • On-going platform and process improvements based on user feedback.
    • New and enhanced platform features and capabilities.
    • Support for evolving recruitment needs.
    • Development of the long-term module support strategy.
3. Evolve (May 2026 and beyond)

Following the Adapt phase, we will continue to monitor and adjust the system based on ongoing needs and workforce data. This long-term commitment to continuous improvement ensures Workday Recruiting will evolve alongside our community’s requirements and industry best practices, enabling a flexible and efficient recruitment process well into the future.

  • What to expect:
    • Continuous monitoring and refinement of the system.
    • Adapting to changes in workforce data and organizational needs.
    • An integrated recruitment platform that both grows with the UW and improves the applicant experience.

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Change Champions Network

The Change Champions Network is a group of campus recruiting partners named by their department’s leadership who stay closely informed on program design and who, in turn, share critical information about recruiting changes with their own units.

Starting in February of 2025, the Change Champions Network meets on a monthly basis.

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Program Updates

The following messages were shared with UW leaders and the HR Community of Practice:

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What to Know About Cutover & Launch

How to prepare:

Go-live is coming! Here are a few things you can be doing now to help ensure a smooth transition at go live – for you and your candidates:

  • Wrap up what you can. Try to complete as many in-process requisitions as possible – the fewer candidates going through two systems (starting in UWHIRES and ending in Workday), the smoother it’ll be for everyone. 
  • Avoid double-posting. Don’t run a recruitment in both UWHIRES and Workday. It’s confusing for candidates – and you. 
  • Decide now: close or convert? 
    • If the req has been open for two months or longer and you haven’t identified any candidates to phone screen or interview, we recommend closing the req and reposting after go-live. 
    • If you are doing phone screens or interviews, we hope you can find a finalist from the existing pool of candidates (even if after go-live) – if you don’t, you’ll need to open a new req in Workday. 
  • Thinking of opening a new req? Consider waiting until go-live to provide a more uniform experience for candidates and hiring managers. 

Feel free to reach out to your Recruiting Office Partner if you have any questions about whether you should close or convert a requisition.

July 28 (4:00 pm):

Deadline for department approvals on new Job Requisitions.

July 30 (4:00 pm):

  • Last day to post or repost a position job to UW Jobs.

August 4 (week of):

  • Any frozen requisitions will be automatically closed.

August 8 (4:00 pm):

  • Please tell us what requisitions you would like closed by the end of day.
  • Deadline to submit Department Hire (pre-hire) activity.

August 11– August 18: UWHIRES and Job Application Pause

  • 5:00 pm: UWHIRES will go offline for applicants – no applications will be accepted during this time.
  • 5:00 pm: Hiring managers will have read-only access to their Manager Workbench.

Hiring managers can still:

  • Phone screen and interview candidates.
  • Make and/or renegotiate verbal offers for finalists whose Sexual Misconduct Disclosures (SMDs) are cleared before or during cutover (Recruiting Partners will be in touch with hiring managers if SMDs come in during this time).
  • Screen candidate bank applicants in UWHIRES.

August 18: Workday Recruiting Go-Live!

  • Any requisitions that were posted to the UW Jobs site as of August 11 will automatically be posted to the new Workday Recruiting system.
  • Reqs marked “internal only” will only appear on the UW Jobs Hub, visible only to UW employees.

Starting at 1:00 pm:

  • Departments can start entering new job Requisition changes they’ve been holding onto and ask their ROP to edit converted reqs.
  • Hiring Managers can access their in-progress open requisitions in Workday.
  • UW employees can access the new Jobs Hub (the app will appear automatically in their Workday Menu).

Starting at 2:00 pm:

  • External applicants can access the new Careers at UW site (people will still start at the UW Jobs page).

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Frequently asked questions

Yes, absolutely – your feedback is a priority. We are already gathering input through surveys and the Change Champions Network. After go-live, we’ll continue to ask for your feedback during the Adapt phase, as we move our focus to fine-tuning recruiting processes and rolling out new features.

Workday Recruiting is expected to go live on August 18, 2025. We’ll share more specific dates this Spring, once key design decisions are finalized.

Training will become available in Summer 2025. Expect a mix of hands-on sessions, instructional materials, and tailored resources to help everyone feel confident and ready for go-live.

While we anticipate a brief cutover period close to go-live, we are still determining what activities, if any, will need to be paused or for how long. More details about cutover will be shared Spring 2025.

At go-live, only those employee populations currently handled in UWHIRES or UTemp Hires will transition to Workday Recruiting.

While hiring history from UWHIRES can’t be converted to Workday, we are working on plans for how hiring managers and HR partners can access historical hiring data post-implementation and will share details as we learn more.

No, our focus for go-live is on launching core functionalities that support UW’s existing hiring processes. AI resume screening is not part of the initial scope for Workday Recruiting.

Workday will enable department-level reporting not available in UWHIRES. At go-live, departments will have access to Workday-delivered dashboards and reports. Then, during the Adapt phase, we can fine-tune or develop new reports based on institutional needs and user feedback.

While we certainly hope Workday Recruiting will reduce manual steps and improve workflows, it’s not a magic wand that can make the complex work of the hiring process go away – the work is still the work and the hiring process, which relies on many humans and their very busy calendars, simply takes time.

Having said that, we are optimistic that Workday Recruiting will deliver a more modern and improved experience for our candidates, provide deeper analytics that will better inform recruiting decisions, and can be more easily adapted over time to meet the ever-evolving needs of the workforce and our University.

Direct staff to the Workday Jobs Hub for Internal Applicants web page, where they can learn about the new internal applicant experience, mark their calendars for upcoming Lunch & Learns, and explore other resources.

Top tip: If staff don’t have a copy of their UW resume saved elsewhere, they should log into UWHIRES before August 11 at 5:00 p.m., go to Edit My Profile, and copy their resume text into a document for future use when applying in Workday.

What’s next

As this project progresses, we’ll keep you informed about what’s changing, important timelines, how to prepare for go-live and the change management support available to you.

Questions?

You can always reach us at wdrecruiting@uw.edu.

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