Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Page 1 of 15
Before we start
Page 2 of 15
Recruitment
This resource aims to support those who need to recruit and select
research staff.
Learning outcomes
Write down as many items as you can of where things can go wrong and
the implications.
Page 3 of 15
Getting it wrong There is not enough money
Always check you have enough funding for your recruitment first
Short listing will be difficult and ultimately you will get a small pool of
suitable candidates.
Most research funded jobs are specialist and typically you will get few
applications anyway, so poorly written person specifications will make this
worse.
It is not fair on the applicants who have taken time and trouble to complete
an application form.
It is not fair on the referees who may feel they have to rush the reference
to meet a deadline
Page 4 of 15
Getting it wrong - Interview poorly structured
This does not get the best out of each candidate and gives them the
feeling that your institution is not a good place to work.
Sometimes you do get two very strong candidates and you do wish to
pursue the strongest one first e.g. chase references.
Process of recruitment
Making a wrong decision, or adopting bad practice when recruiting
research staff can be costly, not just in legal terms, but will effect the
overall performance of your project.
Objectives
Page 5 of 15
The recruitment process stages
The recruitment process begins when you have Approval to recruit into
your research group. Methods of approval vary so you will need to follow
the internal process.
Remember that recruitment doesn't finish until after the appointment has
been made and you have reflected on any changes that you would make in
future recruitments.
1) Advertise
3) Identify vacancy
8) References
Feedback below.
Page 6 of 15
Feedback
1) Identify vacancy
Have you got the funding? Without it you will not be able to start the
recruitment process
4) Advertise
6) References
Page 7 of 15
7) Interviews and test
You have not the time to recruit and train before the project ends
Can you reorganise some of the work and then recruit someone at a
different level i.e. to complete more routine tasks and let the project team
concentrate on the more complex aspects of the project? If you can do
this and you need clerical or technical input, you may be able to save time
in the recruitment process or even employ a temp or casual member of
staff.
Please check what your local policies and procedures are beforehand.
Remember any solution will hinge on whether you have the money so
check this first.
Page 8 of 15
A member of the team is on long term sick, the
project is suffering
Anyone on long term sick will be covered by the institutions terms and
conditions of service and will have their employment rights associated with
their contract. They will be entitled to sick pay in accordance with their
contract.
Understandably you will have pressure to complete the project. You might
want to check to see if there is any spare funding that you can use. Even if
it means recruiting at a different level (see note 1).
Check whether there are provisions in your grant for maternity pay and
replacements for staff going on maternity leave.
Some bodies do not make provisions for this and you will need to check
this out.
If the maternity leave occurs at the beginning of the project and you have
permission to replace then you may wish to recruit in the normal way.
If the project is coming to an end you may wish to reorganise the work and
recruit at a different level (see note 2).
Students (assuming that they will have graduated or are working to the
recommended number of hours for a student) will need to be recruited
following a proper process and considered alongside other applicants.
It is not good practice to get anyones hopes up before you have checked if
there are any issues surrounding a work permit.
Page 9 of 15
Before you start writing anything, review any existing job specification or
write a new one. It is important to spend time to really think about what you
need. Time spent here will make sure that you do not recruit in haste and
affect the performance of your project.
These documents outline the duties of the post and the skills required to do
a job.
Once you have completed this section you should be more aware of the
things to include in a Job Description and Person Specification.
You will understand the purpose of each document and how they differ
from each other. You will have thought about the importance of making
criteria appropriate, clear and measurable.
Avoid wording which implies that members of one sex are more likely to be
able to do the job.
Do not use too much jargon otherwise you may not attract a wide enough
pool of applicants.
It is good practice to split the job description into different tasks rather than
produce one large paragraph of narrative.
It is important not to restrict the job description to only about four or five
duties.
Page 10 of 15
How to write a person specification
The Person Specification is a profile of the personal skills, qualifications,
abilities and experiences you will look for in the recruitment and selection
process.
The criteria you decide on should relate directly to the duties of the job
description and contain the minimum requirements essential to do the job
effectively.
These criteria should then form the basis of the advert in order to attract
the most suitable candidates and the basis of the selection criteria.
For many research posts qualifications, abilities and experience are often
specialised and it is likely that you attract only a small number of
applicants.
It is a good idea to stand back and really question whether what you have
drafted as essential criteria are really essential.
Sometimes you may be able to train staff in certain specialist skills and
thus you may widen the pool of applicants.
2) Translate duties into the abilities and skills needed to do the job.
Specify necessary skills as far as possible in precise job-related
terms.
5) Identify experience required to carry out the job. Define the extent.
7)
Page 11 of 15
No one without these criteria will be offered the job, no matter what other
attributes they might possess.
Desirable refers to those criteria which are not essential; someone could
do the job without this.
Be aware that different institutions will ask you for different formats in the
presentation of a person specification.
Some will ask you to identify which criteria you will short list against at
application form stage.
This is because there are certain attributes required for jobs that cannot be
tested on paper such as interpersonal skills, oral communication, and
presentation skills.
This is much fairer and you should be able to defend easily any complaint
made by an unsuccessful applicant after initial short listing.
Some institutions may ask you to indicate from where you will gather the
evidence to match any applicant to the person specification e.g. application
form, interview, presentation etc.
Advertise
Posts should be advertised in appropriate areas e.g. jobs.ac.uk correct
publications and journals. You will need to be aware of any rules and
procedures in your institution.
It is good practice to give closing date of a minimum of two weeks after the
advertisement appears.
You will need to check what rules there are with regard to closing dates in
your own institution.
Write down some scenarios where there may not be a need to advertise
Page 12 of 15
Short listing
Objectives
Once you have completed this section you will understand the importance
of short-listing and use of rigorous systems to maintain the fairness of the
selection procedures.
The availability of written selection criteria enables a panel to carry out the
selection in an organised and efficient way; it makes short-listing easier
and interviewing more focused.
This should be resisted: not only may it result in indirect discrimination, but
an over-qualified candidate may be appointed, with job dissatisfaction the
potential consequence.
Selection criteria that you use must be clearly stated in the person
specification. A distinction should be made between the selection criterion
itself and the evidence which may show that a candidate meets the
criterion.
Page 13 of 15
Ideally all criteria should be capable of being measured, either through
candidates' applications or CVs, the interview or a selection test. This
becomes difficult when qualities such as motivation, enthusiasm or a
pleasant personality are included.
You will already have thought about the person specification and how and
where qualifications, skills and attributes can be assessed in the
recruitment procedure in the section about how to write a person
specification.
Page 14 of 15
Short listing candidates for research posts
Arrange for the selection panel to meet to short list (click here for
some notes about the selection panels for research staff)
Agree which criteria you will short list against and ensure that these
can be assessed from an application form
Conclusion - Recruitment
The aim of this resource was to support those who need to recruit
and select research staff.
Page 15 of 15