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.
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.
Creating a new role or replacing like for like?
If you are creating a new role in LUU then you will need to write a new Job description and person specification for your role and submit it to the People team via unihr@leeds.ac.uk to be Job Evaluated.
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
Preparing 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.
Job Description
The Job Description should be reviewed to ensure all the information is accurate and up to date.
You can 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.
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.
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.
Filling out a Raising a Vacancy form (RAV)
Filling out a RAV is pretty straightforward but there are some tips we would advise you consider.
Grade – Tell us what grade this role is not the grade point.
Salary – If your budgets allow then advertise your roles across a range of salary points on your grade. For example if your member of staff who is leaving is on 3.6 then you can advertise the role from 3.1-3.6. This way the role is more attractive to a wider range of candidates and allows you to allocate the salary dependant on the candidates previous salary and level of experience.
Interview - Make sure you have considered a diverse panel for your interviews. This can include members of staff from other teams across LUU.
Dates – Please take note of our guidance regarding the length of time between these dates failure to do so can hold up the recruitment process. You can set longer time periods if you want to but you should not use shorter ones. When setting your advertising date please bear in mind the five days we ask for is from the date you send a completely signed of RAV to the People team. We recommend that you allow allow 1 week minimum for all signatures to be obtained.
Sign Offs
As the recruiting manager you have the responsibility to share your document and obtain the following signature sign off
1. Get your SLT member to sign off the form.
2. Get the Director of People and Quality to sign off the form.
If your the role you are recruiting is not in your budget or if you are wanting to increase the salary above the budgeted range then you will also need to get the Director of Finance and Risk to sign off the form.
Digital Signs off
Get your forms digitally signed off to reduce emails.
Share your RAV as a google doc
Ask them to write their name and the date in the sign off section at the bottom of the form.
Ask them to leave a comment over their signature saying approved. This will then confirm for us that the person who authorised the RAV was indeed the Director as it leaves the comment from their Google account.
Getting your role live
The Director of People and Quality will let you know that your role is signed off and will share the RAV with the People team who will get your role live.
Because all the information is included in the RAV we should be able to get it live without needing to contact you but we will be in touch if we have any questions.
Shortlisting
Shortlisting is completed on Staff Savvy. For guidance on how to use this system, please complete the online courses on Love to Learn 'Managing Staff in LUU'
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 on unihr@leeds.ac.uk. 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.
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 Google Meet 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 Finance 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 inform a member of the People Team. They will then provide you with their 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 Managing Staff in LUU - Love to Learn 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.
