Recruitment
Recruiting in LUU
We have put together some step by step guidance for our staff to ensure that all our recruitment in LUU is effective and successful. We have you covered with our step by step recruitment guide.
Top Tips
Review your needs. If a member of your team hands in their notice take a step back and look at the structure of your team. Do you want to recruit a like for like role or take the opportunity to mix it up?
Put a temporary solution in place. There is often a gap between someone leaving a role and getting a replacement. Is there someone in the team who you could give some additional responsibilities to in the interim? You can use the salary of the empty role to give a financial increment for temporarily acting up which makes it fair and a great development opportunity for one of the team.
Act quick. If you are replacing like for like then you should really get the recruitment of your new role started in the same week that you get handed their notice.
Prepare the documents for Recruitment
To recruit for a role you will need to prepare all of the following documents.
Job Description
Person Specification
Advert Wording
Welcome Letter
Interview Documents
Find out more about these below.
Tip 💡 If you are replacing like for like then it is likely that the People team will have copies of previously used documents. You can request these from the People team but they will need reviewing by you to ensure they are as accurate as possible.
Job Description
The Job Description should be reviewed to ensure all the information is accurate and up to date.
You may be able to edit Job Descriptions without them needing to be Job Evaluated. An example of a significant change that would need to be Job Evaluated would be if you were to give the role management responsibilities they previously didn’t have. An insignificant change you would not need Job Evaluated would be if you were to add a minor new skill such as ‘Must be proficient in the use of Google workplace applications.’
Person Specification
The Person Specification is an important document that clearly outlines the knowledge, skills and behaviours you are looking for in this role.
Your candidate will use this to see if they meet the required criteria and you will use this to shortlist against and set your interview questions.
All our Person Specifications tell the applicant how we will judge each of the criteria, this could be in the application form, in a test or at interview. So make sure you have accurately filled out these boxes.
Advert Wording
We will make sure that all the necessary details such as dates and salaries are on the advert and we always put some generic sentences about LUU but we need you to sell the role.
Create some eye catching wording that will interest applicants and make them want to download the JD and PS for more information.
This wording should be about 150 - 250 words.
Welcome Letter
We want you to write a letter to all your potential candidates telling them more about the role. You can tell them about your team structure or outlet, describe projects or work they will be doing and give them an idea of what the role entails.
In the welcome letter you can really help them visualise the role and get excited about joining your team. If your role includes weekend working or late nights then the welcome letter is a great place to tell them these details.
Interview Documents
All your interview documents will be checked over by one of our team which is why we need them to be submitted with your other recruitment documents. The People team can help to ensure you are asking the right questions to get the best candidate but we are also checking to ensure our process is inclusive and fair. You should always interview with a diverse panel for your interviews. This can include members of staff from other teams across LUU that your team regularly work with to provide diversity of view. You should consider the diversity of your current team and include panel members who do not represent those in your team.
Panel Interviews
All our interviews in LUU include a panel interview with set questions you ask the candidate. This interview should be between 5 and 11 questions long and your questions should be designed to check all the essential areas of the person spec and some of the desirable areas. You should use our Question bank for your questions only slightly adapting them to suit individual scenarios in your area.
LUU Question Bank Interview Question Template
Presentation
You could ask your candidate to prepare a presentation for their interview. This is particularly good if their role includes a need to present complex ideas to an audience. You should prepare a title for the presentation, a time frame e.g. 10 mins and let the candidate know if there will be digital equipment there for them to use on the day.
Test
You could provide a test for your candidate to complete as part of their interview. This is a great way to test their proficiency at written tasks, data inputting or interpretation and creative tasks. To create this task use real life examples of work that they will be expected to do in their role.
Raising a Vacancy (RAV)
Creating a new role or replacing like for like?
LUU has two different Raising a Vacancy Forms and to make sure there are no avoidable delays you need to make sure you fill out the right one.
Recruiting a replacement Role
This is if someone in your team has left and you are looking to replace them with someone doing the same role and there are no significant changes to the Job description, person specification or job Duties.
Recruiting a New Role/ Changes to an existing role
This process includes Job Evaluation so if there role is brand new or if you have made significant changes tot he duties or the role then this is the process you should follow.
Recruiting a replacement role
You should always review the Job Description, Person Specification, Advert wording, Welcome letter and Interview documents even when recruiting a role like for like. This ensure the information is up to date and properly reflects LUU and the role.
When you are happy with them then you can start to fill out the Raising a Vacancy form to Recruit a replacement role.
Recruiting a New Role/ Changes to an existing role
If you are creating a new role in LUU then you will need to write the Job Description, Person Specification, Advert wording, Welcome letter and Interview documents from scratch.
Your role will be Job evaluated as a part of the RAV process. This is our method of grading roles equitably in LUU and all new roles have to go through this process before you start the recruitment process. Job Evaluation can take up to 2 weeks to be completed although we aim to do this as soon as possible. Read our Guide to Job Evaluation , Writing Person Specs and Job Descriptions
Shortlisting
Shortlisting is completed on Staff Savvy. For guidance on how to use this system, please complete the online courses on Love to Learn 'Using Staff Savvy in recruitment
It is good practice to shortlist 'as you go' so you don't have large pile of shortlisting to complete on the day the job advert closes. Once you have completed the shortlisting, inform the People Team by updating the recruitment board (link on your RAV) . They will then invite candidates to the interview stage.
It is important that a minimum of two people shortlist for a particular role.
You will be provided with a shortlisting matrix to use alongside Staff Savvy. What you need to do with this is is read the application form and tick off on the matrix when you see criteria with matches the essential and desirable criteria as stated in the person specification on the matrix. This is important so that feedback can be given to candidates on their applications if they request it and to ensure a fair recruitment.
Interview Training
All members of your interview panel should have completed the following training on Love to Learn before they complete any interviews.
Interview and Selection Overview
Unconscious Bias in Recruiting
It is the responsibility of the recruiting manager to check that the panel have completed this training, The People team may do spot checks from time to time.
On the Day
As the recruiting manager you run the recruitment activities on the day:
You will need to ensure you have a room booked.
Ensure it is set up appropriately.
Supply water and glasses are provided for candidates.
Send over the links to online interview candidates.
The People Team will ensure that you have access to the Interview Schedule which includes contact details for any candidates who are completing online interviews.
Please note that the physical copies of application forms are no longer available. Should you wish to have these available to you on the day, please ensure you have a digital device through which Staff Savvy, and the applications, can be accessed.
If you are involved in an interview and you happen to know any of the candidates on the day, please do make the Chair of the interview panel aware of this. When the candidate arrives, the Help and Support Team will contact the person you identified on your RAV. They will collect your candidates from the Foyer. If your candidate needs somewhere to wait they can take a seat on the chairs on the purple chairs outside of the Faith Office.
When making your selection decision think about what diversity you were looking for in your team. When you are happy with your selected candidate make sure you fill out the relavant information on your RAV. The People team will then provide you with the candidates phone number so you can conditionally offer them the job. When offering to the successful candidate please remember to confirm the following:
The offer is conditional on the receipt of two satisfactory references and subject to us seeing their proof of right to work in the UK.
Their start date
Their agreed salary
Please confirm that they are happy for us to contact their referees
To ensure an accurate audit trail the People Team will then require an email from the recruiting manager that outlines the above.
The People Team will inform any unsuccessful candidates of the outcome of the interview process via email.
Next Steps
Once your candidate has confirmed they want to accept the role, the People Team will carry out the following actions
1. Send out formal offer letters and contracts
2. Send out reference requests (it is a condition of our offer that we have to obtain two satisfactory references before the candidate is able to start).
Plan your Induction
If this is the first time you have inducted staff into LUU, or it’s been a while, then there is a handy guide to Inductions on our Planning Inductions course
On our New Starter page of the staff Intranet you can download the latest New Starter Induction Checklist. This checklist covers all the none role specific information you need to cover with your new starters.
