Recruitment, Retention & Selection Procedure

New Established Vacancies
Re-advertising Vacancies
Casual Vacancies
Job Descriptions
Writing a job description
Using e-Recruiter
Advertising
Shortlisting
Composition of an appointing panel
Interviews
Post interviews
Right-to-work, Acceptance (Candidate Hire), Induction
Staff Relocation Bursary
Probation

New Established Vacancies

New established roles are ones that don’t exist in your structure / the University.

If you’re the Head of your department and want to create a new position in your department, we recommend that you follow these steps:

Speak with your Human Resources Business Partner to discuss your recruitment needs.
Depending on the outcome of the conversation with your Business Partner, you will need to consult with your Finance Business Partner to ensure that you have / or to source the financial resources for the new established role.
If your Finance Business Partner can confirm the financial resources, you’re required to write a business case and structure that will need to be approved by the University Executive Group. Please speak to your respective PVC for further information.
If your business case is approved, please see the below steps:
- Compose a job description
- Discuss with the Department for Welsh Language Services to ensure the correct level of Welsh language is chosen
- Submit the job description for HERA process (link to HERA process)
- Finalise the job description with your respective HR Business Partner Team
- Begin the e-recruiter process.

Re-advertising established vacancies

If you want to advertise a direct replacement to an established post in your structure / department, you must follow the below steps:

Ensure that you have submitted the HRN form which notifies the Compliance and Resourcing team of the staff member leaving and your intentions to re-advertise.
Discuss with the Human Resources Business Partner Team any updates you’d like to make to the job description.
If you want to review the Welsh Language levels, you must speak with the Department of Welsh Language Services with your Human Resources Business Partner.
Once you’ve completed the above steps, you can begin the e-recruiter process.

Casual Vacancies

Casual vacancies are a mechanism that enables a department to appoint an individual into a role without advertisement, shortlisting nor interview. Casual vacancies must only be used for a maximum of three months fixed term and cannot normally be extended.

We recommend that you discuss your casual vacancy request directly with your Human Resources Business Partner and Finance Business Partner.

Job Descriptions

Many roles already have a Job Description in place. HR should have a copy of current Job Descriptions for the direct replacement of an existing position.

It is prudent to review these older Job Descriptions to ensure that they are still representative of a job that can naturally change over time.

Keep in mind if there are other people working in the same position, any changes may impact on their salary grade. If a Job Description does not exist, you will need to write one.

Writing a Job Description

When writing a Job Description, keep it brief and accurate. Make sure any special conditions are clear from the outset (fixed term, maternity cover, part time etc.). Always include a name and contact details of someone that applicants can speak to informally about the position.

The Job Description should be an outline of their responsibilities. It does not need to be a long list of the tasks they will be expected to perform.

Quantity of tasks does not impact the grade. When writing a Job Description, you should focus on who and what the role-holder would be responsible for, and the scope of those responsibilities.

Take particular care when using the words “support”, “lead” and “manage” to accurately reflect their level of responsibility. The role holder cannot manage something if their line manager is responsible for it.

Framework Agreement / HERA

Job Description Templates

Using E-recruiter – Putting a vacancy on e-recruiter

The below information outlines the e-Recruiter process for new, replacement and casual vacancy request.

Step 1 - Log onto e-Recruiter and select create job.

e-Recruiter link: : https://aber-ats-sso.hireserve.com/

Step 2 - Complete the job detail form.

The information that you provide on this form is essential for the Resourcing Team to advertise your role and for the Compliance Team to process your successful candidate. Please watch the below video for a step-by-step guide on how to complete this step.

Step 3 – Attaching your job description.

We will need this for the job advert.
Please use the following job description templates for all vacancy requests.

Step 4 – Submit for approval.

We have three separate workflow approval processes.

New Established vacancies workflow

If you have a new role in your department / structure, you will need to follow the below steps on e-Recruiter:

Approval from Welsh Language Services
Approval from Finance Business Partner
Approval from your Head of Department
System E-mail to Recruitment Manager to upload populated English Job Description. To upload your job description to e-recruiter, please follow these steps: Jobs > Workflow Notifications > Click the action step icon (circular blue and green arrow) and click save.
System E-mail to Recruitment Manager to upload populated Welsh Job Description. To upload your job description to e-recruiter, please follow these steps: Jobs > Workflow Notifications > Click the action step icon (circular blue and green arrow) and click save.
Vacancy sent to Human Resources Assistant to create the job advert
Human Resources Resourcing Officer reviews and approves job advert
Human Resources Assistant publishes job advert. Confirmation e-mail sent to Recruitment Manager.

Re-advertising Established vacancies workflow:

If you’re re-advertising an established role, you can duplicate the role by clicking ‘File > Copy’ and you will need to remove ‘duplicate’ from the title and follow the instructions outlined below:

Recruitment Manager to add previous job reference number and previous job title. If you’re unsure what this is, please contact the Resourcing Team on thrstaff@aber.ac.uk before submitting to the next workflow step.
Approval from Head of Department
System E-mail to Recruitment Manager to upload populated English Job Description To upload your job description to e-recruiter, please follow these steps Jobs > Workflow Notifications > Click the action step icon (circular blue and green arrow) and click save.
System E-mail to Recruitment Manager to upload populated Welsh Job Description. To upload your job description to e-recruiter, please follow these steps Jobs > Workflow Notifications > Click the action step icon (circular blue and green arrow) and click save.
Vacancy sent to Human Resources Assistant to review and to create the job advert
Human Resources Resourcing Officer reviews and approves job advert
Human Resources Assistant publishes job advert. Confirmation e-mail sent to Recruitment Manager.

Casual Vacancies workflow:

If your vacancy is casual, these are the steps to follow:

Human Resources Assistant to confirm the Casual Vacancy Request
Approval from Welsh Language Services
Approval from Finance Business Partner
System prompt to Recruiting Manager to upload AAF1 form. Jobs > Workflow Notifications > Click the action step icon (circular blue and green arrow) and click save.
Human Resources Assistant to approve recruitment and start the onboarding process.

Advertising

Once you have received approval through e-recruiter, the Resourcing Team will place your advert on the University website and the following third-party websites (as requested):

jobs.ac.uk
Swyddle, Lleol and Golwg
Jobs Centre Plus
Social Media.

You can select to advertise internally only or both internally and externally. The minimum recommended advert duration is two weeks or one week if you are advertising internally only.

Our internal vacancies page is for internal and prior-consideration candidates. Under the Redeployment Policy, staff who are facing redeployment or redundancy are on Prior Consideration for all jobs. Prior Consideration maximises job security, minimises the requirement for compulsory redundancy and protects the interests of our employees whilst retaining skills within the University.

If you require a bespoke campaign, we can advise how this can be facilitated. Please note that the costs of a bespoke campaign will need to be met by the Academic Department or Professional Service. This may include advertising in the following areas:

Professional communities e.g. CIM, CIPD, ACCA etc.
The Times Higher Education Jobs / The Guardian Jobs.

It is also helpful to include the interview date(s) in the job advert. It is not mandatory to interview a candidate who is not available for the date shown on the advert.

Shortlisting

When your job has closed, the Resourcing Team will send you the submitted application forms for shortlisting. Before shortlisting commences, you must declare whether you have a specific interest in any of the applicants e.g., colleague, family member, friend, referee. This will not impact the shortlisting, but an alternative interview panel composition may be appropriate.

Please note that acquaintances and work colleagues from different teams don’t post a conflict worth altering the panel composition but declare them if there is any doubt.

To shortlist applications, you must:

use the shortlisting matrix.
fill the “Key to Shortlisting Criteria” with the Essential Criteria from the job description.
list the applications by reference number and consider each applicant against the essential criteria.

Where there are more than 30 applicants, you may choose to do a longlist where you score against one or two essential criteria only. This can be useful to reject unsatisfactory applications without fully shortlisting. Complete the shortlisting in full for all remaining applications.

Against each criterion, an applicant should be scored 0-4:

The Candidate has provided no evidence
The Candidate has provided limited evidence
The Candidate has provided satisfactory evidence
The Candidate has provided good evidence
The Candidate has provided excellent evidence

When the shortlisting is complete, total the scores against each candidate and rank them.

When assessing candidates that are Welsh speaking against non-Welsh speakers who are willing to learn, the following scoring should be used:

Has not provided any evidence
Has not provided sufficient evidence
Has provided evidence of willingness to meet the Welsh language level
Meets the Welsh language level
Has provided evidence of having used the Welsh language extensively e.g. in the workplace.

Where a candidate has scored 0 or 1 for any essential criteria, regardless of how well they have scored elsewhere, they are deemed to be unable to meet the requirements of the job, and therefore will not be invited to interview.

When you have lots of high-scoring applications, you can shortlist against the desirable criteria to find the best candidates.

The University will occasionally receive applications from prior-consideration candidates. These applications must get prior consideration over other internal and external candidates.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee interview for any applicant who has declared a disability and have met the essential criteria.

We ask all applicants if they have been convicted of a criminal offence in the UK. Having a criminal record does not bar someone from working for the University. The Recruiting Manager is responsible for considering the nature of the vacancy against the circumstances and background of the offence. Convictions should not influence your shortlisting but should be discussed where a disclosure has been made.

All disclosures of convictions should be kept in strictest of confidence and not disclosed with anyone who is not directly involved with the vacancy. For further information or advise, please contact your respective HR Business Partner.

Once the above has been actioned, please clearly list in the documents we provide the candidates you want to interview and submit your shortlisting as per the instructions sent.

Composition of an appointing panel

The compositions of the recruitment panels are specified below. However, in exceptional circumstances, where this is not possible to adhere to these panel compositions approval should be sought from the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development or Head of Human Resources Services to vary the panel membership.

It may be necessary in exceptional circumstances for the Vice-Chancellor to nominate a Pro Vice-Chancellor to take their place on the recruitment panel.

A gender-balance should be maintained on recruitment panels. Where in exceptional circumstances this is not possible the agreement of the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development or Head of Human Resources Services should be obtained.

Where candidates elect to be interviewed through the medium of Welsh, the panel composition will ideally reflect this requirement. Where this is not possible, simultaneous translation facilities will be made available.

Executive level posts:

Vice Chancellor (in accordance with Ordinance)

Chair of Council (Chair)
Deputy Chair of Council
3 independent members appointed by and from the Council
1 member appointed by and from Senate (with provision for an alternate)
Vice-Chancellor or Principal of another university institution (determined by the
Chair of Council)
University Secretary or Director of Human Resources and Organisational
Development

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (in accordance with Ordinance)

Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
2 independent members appointed by and from the Council
1 member of Senate (determined by the Vice-Chancellor)
[In cases of externally advertised positions] A representative of appropriate standing from another Higher Education Institute
University Secretary or Director of Human Resources and Organisational
Development

Head of Professional Service (Executive members and University Secretary)

Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
Pro Vice-Chancellor
1 independent member appointed by and from the Council
If the post requires specialist technical skills, Chair may nominate an external representative
Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development or deputy

Academic Posts

Head of Academic Department

Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
Pro Vice-Chancellor
External representative with relevant expertise (only where required for specialist posts e.g. for Head of IBERS this would require BBSRC representation)
Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development or depute

Professor

Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
Pro Vice-Chancellor
Head of Academic Department
External representative with relevant expertise (only where required for specialist posts)
Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development or Head of Human Resources Services.

Reader

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
Head of Academic Department
Human Resources Business Partner

Senior Lecturer

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
Head of Academic Department
Human Resources Business Partner

Lecturer

Head of Academic Department (Chair)
Professor or Reader within the Academic Department
Member of Academic staff from another Academic Department
PDRA/Research Assistant/Associate Lecturer /Part Time Teachers
Head of Department or depute (Chair)
Member of Academic staff from the Department (normally the line manager)
Member of staff from another Academic Department or in the case of collaborative projects, a member of staff from the relevant partner department or institution

Professional Service Departments

Head of a Professional Service or Grade 9/10 Posts (not Executive level)

Vice-Chancellor (by request)
Pro Vice-Chancellor or Executive level Head of Professional Service (Chair)
Head of Professional Service
If the post requires specialist technical skills, Chair may nominate an external representative
Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development or Head of Human Resources Services

HERA Grade 8

Head of Professional Service*
Line manager or nominee
Member of staff from another Department
HR representative where requested by the Chair *N.B. Chair will be the relevant line manager

Hera Grades 5, 6, 7

Head of Department (by request) Line manager (Chair)
Member of staff from Department unless the Head of Department is on the panel
Member of staff from another Department

Hera Grades 3, 4

Line manager (Chair)
Member of staff from Department
Member of staff from another Department

Hera Grades 1, 2 and other non-Hera posts*

Line Manager or nominee
Member of staff from Department

Prior Consideration and Aber Refresh Panels (where there is 1 candidate)

Line manager (Chair)
HR representative

Where there is more than 1 candidate, the normal Composition of Appointing Panels must be followed.

Interviews

Candidates should be given at least 7 days’ notice for interview. You must complete and return the shortlisting to the Resourcing Team at least 10 working days ahead of the proposed interview. The Resourcing Team will issue invitations by email to the successful candidates at least 7 days prior to the interview date. HR will contact unsuccessful candidates.

Interview arrangements (Online / Face-to-face):

The interview date and panel needs be confirmed before the interview can be organised. As a Recruiting Manager you’re required to submit the following information:

Interview Date
Interview Times
Interview Duration
Interview Location
Where and to whom should they report to?
Confirmation of panel members – All members must have complete the Equality and Diversity E-Learning
Details of any assessment tasks/presentations
Topic of presentation/nature of the task
Date and time if held separately to the interview
Duration of the presentation/task
Who will be the audience
Will PowerPoint Facilities be available; o Assessment criteria for the task/presentation.

All panel members, led by the Recruiting Manager, should familiarise themselves with the candidates’ applications and the Job Description in advance of the interviews.

Question-and-answer interviews are most common, but we also encourage the use of work-based exercise selection alongside this.

Teaching staff are generally expected to make a presentation or short lecture on their subject area or teaching style.

Administrative roles can be asked to complete an in-tray or admin exercise.

Technical or catering staff could be asked to complete a task. These assessments can be more representative of the candidate’s general performance and abilities.

All vacancies that are Welsh Language Level B1 or above must include a question or assessment task to assess the candidates Welsh Language abilities to compare against the essential criteria.

Interviewing Prior-consideration candidates

If you’re interviewing a candidate from the Prior-consideration list, the interview should be informal, and you don’t require the full interview panel. The Recruiting Manager and a member of the HR team are required.

If you do not feel that the candidate is appointable, you must get approval from the Director of HR before you inform the candidate of the outcome. You will need to demonstrate why the candidate is not capable of doing the job with reasonable training. When the Director of HR has confirmed, you can communicate the recruitment decision.

Scoring and selecting your candidates at interview

Using the Interview Summary Sheets, each panel member must make notes on the answers that the candidates give.

You should also include conclusions on the presentations/assessment tasks. These notes must be written in pen, legible and practical to score. These will be used to provide feedback to the candidates, and the candidate can request to see these.

You can include a note such as “wore red jacket” as a reminder but must not include anything such as “terrible fashion sense” or “bad body odour”. These comments are inappropriate.

Each question should be given a score of 0-4:

The Candidate has provided a poor or incorrect answer
The Candidate has provided a limited answer
The Candidate has provided a satisfactory answer
The Candidate has provided a good answer
The Candidate has provided an excellent answer

You may choose to score assessment tasks or presentations differently if it has a heavier weighting, such as a lecture for a teaching position, but you must keep a measurable objective score.

You may choose to leave all of your scoring to the end to assist consistent scoring across all the candidates. The panel should have a brief discussion on the scores and the candidates.

Interviewing is difficult and it is easy to forget something that a candidate has said. For specialist roles, the panel cognate may need some guidance on any questions that they may not have the specialism to fully understand. Panel members are welcome to amend their scores should the discussion change their view.

All of the scores should be totalled for each candidate for each panel member. Write these onto the Interview Summary Matrix and total all of the scores. The highest scoring candidate(s) should be appointed.

Post interviews

The Recruiting Manger is responsible for contacting the successful candidate. Once the successful candidate has provisionally accepted the offer, the Recruiting Manager must contact all unsuccessful candidates.

Receiving a rejection is a very unpleasant experience and should be done with sensitivity and tact. They will be expecting your call, so do not prolong it any more than necessary. You should offer them the opportunity for feedback, either now or at a later date.

You must submit all interview documents by email to the Resourcing Team (hr@aber.ac.uk). All these documents must be completed in full and written legibly. The Resourcing and Compliance Team will confirm offer of employment when these documents have been received.

Right-to-work, Acceptance (Candidate Hire), Induction

Right to work

HR and other selected staff have been trained in conducting Right-to-Work checks, where candidates are asked to provide documentation to confirm their Right to Work in the UK.

A candidate must provide one of the following items as proof of identity: Passport or Residence Permit/Visa. UK citizens can also provide a full birth certificate with proof of national insurance number.

All candidates are asked to bring their Right to Work documents to HR on the day on their interview.

Online candidates are asked to get their documents verified at their local Post Office or by bringing them in to our office in Aberystwyth.

It is a legal requirement that we hold current and valid Right-to Work documents for all employees before they begin work. Further to this, it is a requirement of our Visa Sponsorship Licence and United Kingdom Visas and Immigration regulations.

If the successful candidate is not from the United Kingdom or Ireland, do not make any offers until you have discussed with the Employee Services Team. There are additional compliance requirements for these candidates that must be fulfilled before an offer can be made.

If a Faculty/Department wishes to appoint a candidate who doesn’t hold a current Right to Work in the UK, the University would need to issue a certificate of sponsorship. In order to do this we need to demonstrate why the individual was appointed over a settled worker.

There are exceptions for the following PHD level positions where you can appoint a migrant if they are the most suitable candidate. These positions are: Chemical Scientists, Biological Scientists and Biochemists, Physical Scientists, Social and Humanities Scientists, Natural and Social Science Professionals not elsewhere classified, Research and Development Managers, and Higher Education Teaching Professionals.

The Recruiting Manager, in conjunction with HR, must complete and sign off a Tier 2 Form outlining the reasons for non-appointment of EEA candidates.

Candidate Hire - Acceptance

When the appointment form has been received, accompanied with any relevant recruitment paperwork, HR will complete the pre-employment checks for the selected individual(s).HR will confirm that the Right to Work check is in place, submit references and complete a DBS check where appropriate.

References will be sent to the Recruiting Manager by HR when they have been received.

When the pre-employment checks have been completed, the candidate will receive an email asking them to complete a form to complete their employee information, including Next of Kin and Emergency contact details, health information and Bank and Tax details.

When completed, HR will “hire” the candidate, create them in ABW and issue their contract.

Induction

It is the responsibility of the Recruiting Manager or the position’s Line Manager to make arrangements for the candidate’s first days at work.

They should arrange:

Start date and time
Where they should report to
Work equipment should be made available:
- Desk/phone/computer
- Locker/drawers
- Equipment/machinery
- Departmental induction, tour etc.

For new staff who have been issued with a Certificate of Sponsorship, a Right to Work check must be undertaken PRIOR to them starting work. On their first day in Aberystwyth, the MUST come to our HR office to verify their right to work.

HR will contact the Sponsored member of staff and their Line Manager to attend a meeting at 09:00 on their first day of work to discuss their responsibilities and the University’s obligations under UKVI Guidance. Both parties will be required to sign a letter to confirm that they have read and understood their responsibilities.

All staff must also complete a Health, Safety and Environment Induction Report, available from the Health, Safety and Environment web pages.

For short-term or casual staff, this should be completed within their first 2 working days, or first two weeks for permanent staff. All staff must also complete the Diversity E-Learning Course, details of which are provided to them at the HR induction.

It is up to the recruiting department to induct your new starters. There are several templates available on the University website, but these should be tailored towards the job and your departmental needs. They should be shown how to use key equipment, be shown around the department, introduced to colleagues, and guided on emergency procedures.

Relocation Bursary

The University will support new employees to relocate to Aberystwyth. For further information about the relocation bursary and eligibility and application process, please see our dedicated page.

Probation

Most new employees have a probation period included in their offer of employment.

Category of staff	Probationary Period
Grades 1 - 10 (excluding academic staff)	12 months
Academic Staff Grades 6 -10	24 months

Where a change in staff category takes place, a further period of probation will apply in line with the probationary period for that category.

For further information about our Probation Policy and Procedure – please visit our dedicated page.