Effective Recruitment and Selection:

A Guide for Selectors

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Job Descriptions

3. Person Specifications

4. Advertisements

5. Application Packs

6. Short Listing

7. Interviewing

8. Additional Selection Methods

9. Use of References in the Selection Process

10. Disabled Applicants

11. Use of other Communications Media for Interviewing

12. Further Advice

13. Feedback on Recruitment and Selection Procedures

14. Overview of Stages in Recruitment and Selection

Useful forms on the HR intranet:

Reason for Not Interviewing Form

Interview Rating Form for assessing the Valued Ways of Working (that are relevant to the role)

Reason for Not Appointing Form

1. Introduction

To ensure The Open University provides a high quality service and continues to meet its mission of improving people’s lives through education, it needs to be able to recruit and select the best quality staff: fairly and cost-effectively; in the right numbers; with the right capabilities and experience; and at the right time.

To achieve this there must be fair, robust and efficient recruitment and selection processes, which comply with current legislation and best practice. In accordance with our equality and diversity policies, job applicants will be treated solely on the basis of their merits, regardless of gender, colour, ethnic or national origin, age, background, disability, religious or political beliefs, family circumstance, sexual orientation or other irrelevant distinction. Not everyone with the right skills and experience is able to work full-time. Offering flexible working opportunities is one way of enabling the University to meet its objectives and assist staff recruitment and retention.

Applicants make their own selection decision about The Open University as an employer based on how they are treated in the recruitment and selection process. It is therefore essential to ensure that the experience is a good one.

This guide is written for all staff involved in the recruitment and selection process.

It provides:

  • Practical advice on fair, efficient and effective practice in the recruitment and selection of all categories of staff, in line with the University equality and diversity policies.
  • Guidelines for interviewers to enable them to gather information effectively from candidates.
  • Guidance on legislation and other University policies and how they relate to recruitment and selection.

The recruitment process at The Open University is devolved to Units. Heads of Unit/Sub-units should ensure that all staff involved in recruitment and selection have received appropriate training, including equality and diversity awareness, before being appointed to a panel. Most Units have a Recruitment Co-ordinator whose role is to liaise with Human Resources (HR) and ensure appropriate procedures are followed in the Unit. They should also take local responsibility for the quality of application packs (see Section 5).

2. Job Descriptions

A job description describes the main responsibilities expected of the jobholder. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list of job duties, rather an outline of what the job entails.

The job description and person specification (see Section 3 below) are core to the recruitment and selection process and together provide the basis for the advertisement, Job Related Information, short-listing, interview questioning and other testing of candidates.

Existing job descriptions should be reviewed and updated prior to recruitment. Significant changes will require the job to be submitted for regrading. Any flexibility available in filling the job should be considered. Could the job be filled on a part time or job share basis thus enabling candidates with other commitments to apply? Supporting flexible working patterns can help to recruit and retain skilled and experienced staff - the University’s Agile Working Policy and Guidance and Additional Guidance on Job Sharing contains more details.

The job description will set out:

  • Job Title
  • Purpose of the job – two or three bullet points giving an overview of the job purpose and how it fits with Unit and/or university objectives
  • Reporting relationships
  • Managerial and financial responsibilities
  • Summary of main responsibilities

Avoid making the job description too long and/or too detailed as it will become incomprehensible to external applicants and reduce later flexibility. For any role it should be possible to capture the main responsibilities in a list of between 8 to 12 (maximum) short sentences.

Check for unintentional discrimination implications in your job description for the nine protected characteristics i.e. gender, race, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief or sexual orientation.

Although the behavioural competencies of the Valued Ways of Working and Leadership Competency Framework will be most relevant to the person specification it is important to bear in mind that certain elements of the job description are relevant to it as well. When writing the job description, aim to use the Valued Ways of Working or the Leadership Competency Framework to shape the language used in the job description. This will allow the Valued Ways of Working and Leadership Competency Framework to be referred to later as part of induction, probation, CDSA etc.

3. Person Specifications

The person specification plays a vital role in the recruitment process. It must be written carefully to avoid any kind of discrimination, which could then be perpetuated throughout the whole recruitment process. Candidates must be assessed against the person specification and not against each other.

The job description and the person specification must be devised in accordance with the Valued Ways of Working for non leadership roles or the Leadership Competency Framework to help in short listing and to score candidates against whatever assessment is used at the interview stage.

The person specification defines the qualifications, experience and capabilities of the person doing the job to the required standard. It should specify the essential requirements for satisfactory performance in the job. It may also set out desirable qualities, which an ideal candidate might possess, but these should be kept to a minimum. The line manager or someone with direct knowledge of the job should be involved in the process of drawing up the person specification.

A well-written person specification helps:

  • Maintain objectivity, avoiding bias and discrimination.
  • To design an effective advertisement.
  • Prospective applicants decide whether they have the qualifications and capabilities required to make an effective application.
  • Provide clear criteria for short-listing and final selection.
  • Generate interview questions.
  • Provide structured feedback to non-short-listed and unsuccessful candidates.
  • Investigate any subsequent complaints from unsuccessful applicants.

It is not appropriate to include all behavioural competencies from the Valued Ways of Working or the Leadership Competency Framework. Choose which competencies are most important for the role then pick which example would be most useful to measure the candidates against eg Working Together Collaboratively – looks for win-win solutions. Also be sure to make a note of the used example’s opposing undesirable behaviour (eg ignores input of others). This ensures consistency when later marking candidates against the example used.

Aim for a 60:40 split between professional/academic/technical competencies and behavioural (the Valued Ways of Working) competencies. For leadership roles essential aspects from the Leadership Competency Framework should be reflected in the person specification. There may be roles where the split differs eg a trainee role may require greater emphasis on behavioural competencies given as a trainee they may not yet have the technical experience.

For each competency (professional/academic/technical and behavioural) decide whether the competency is essential or desirable.

Encouraging Diversity in the Person Specification

The Open University has a policy of enhancing and enriching its workforce by improving the representation of under-represented groups such as people from minority ethnic backgrounds and people with disabilities.

To achieve this it is essential to avoid unnecessary barriers which may be created throughout the selection process by:

  • Avoiding the use of inappropriate language, OU jargon and acronyms.
  • Creating person specifications which, where feasible, allow for potential ability and behaviours and do not rigidly adhere to qualifications and past experience – allowing this to counterbalance some shortfalls in applicants’ current capabilities or experience. For example, a requirement to have experience of using a specific IT package might be expressed as ‘evidence of ability to learn a variety of IT packages’ or ability to write reports/draft correspondence might instead say ‘evidence of written communication skills in work, study, or a personal context’. Where selectors are prepared to consider potential ability against any of the person specification requirements this should be made clear in the recruitment documentation e.g. application pack, person specification, making it clear to candidates that selection will be on the basis of evidence of capability, not just experience and qualifications.
  • Being prepared to recognise that experience gained in other environments (e.g. voluntary work), can provide evidence of meeting the person specification ‘experience’ criteria.
  • Avoiding the inclusion of unnecessary or marginal requirements, e.g. insisting on UK qualifications. This can lead to unintentional discrimination.
  • Being aware of the danger of including culturally derived and subjective attributes such as ‘a sense of humour’.

Writing the Person Specification

The following guidelines will help you to prepare a person specification that is discrimination-free and will give you the best chance of selecting someone who will succeed in the job.

  • From the job description identify the key responsibilities.
  • Translate these responsibilities into capabilities needed to do the job. In addition, you will need to identify any specialist or functional capabilities required in the role. Wherever possible identify the level required, in terms of quality and quantity.
  • Where relevant, specify the qualifications and other exam-based knowledge and skills required. You should be clear in your own mind about what ability or range of abilities is tested in each qualification and how this relates to the job.
  • Do not make a particular qualification a requirement unless these abilities are absolutely essential and can be justified.
  • Identify any other knowledge requirements for the job. Distinguish between what candidates should already know and what they can learn on the job.
  • Identify any experience required to be able to carry out the duties. Do not over emphasise the experience required for the role unless it can be justified and ensure you take into account the possible transferability of experience and skills gained outside work as well as in previous jobs.Be clear about the mechanisms you will use to search for evidence of each required attribute, e.g. application form, interview questioning, selection tests, presentations by candidates, certificates etc.

Other points to bear in mind:

  • Can the qualifications, experience and capabilities you specify be justified in relation to the job? Being too specific about particular qualifications could disadvantage people on several grounds. For example, asking for an NVQ3 in administration disadvantages those over a certain age whose vocational training took place prior to the existence of that qualification. Similarly, requiring GCSEs potentially disadvantages those from different cultural backgrounds and educational systems.
  • It may be counter productive to require a degree if this is not essential in order to perform the job. As a desirable item a degree may represent an indicator of critical faculties, ability to acquire new knowledge or develop new skills, but these skills may have been gained in other ways.
  • Care should be taken to ensure person specifications meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Remember words like ‘young’ or ‘old’ are directly discriminatory and should not be used; time-linked experience is indirectly discriminatory and should not be used.
  • Wording such as ‘familiarity or experience of organisational budgeting and financial reporting systems’ is fairer to external candidates than ‘familiarity with Open University monitoring and budget system or inter-unit planning and contracting’.
  • The appropriate level or stage in each capability should be carefully considered. Care needs to be taken not to set the required level too high, or too low.
  • Take care with the wording of both essential and desirable criteria to avoid unintentional barriers. For example, when the criterion is ‘ability to travel’, this does not necessarily mean that the candidate must be a car owner/driver as other means of transport might be acceptable. Similarly, asking for energetic people in largely sedentary work might discriminate against some disabled people.
  • Having drafted the person specification, it is advisable to check it to ensure that it is clear, contains only relevant and necessary criteria for the job and encourages and enables a wide range of applicants. Ensure the final version of the person specification is sent to candidates with the application pack. The person specification must be retained for 12 months after the appointment is made for feedback and analysis purposes. In the event of a complaint to HR on any aspect of recruitment the starting point for investigation will be the person specification.

4. Advertisements

The advertisement will reflect the most important criteria of the person specification, which must be justifiable and objective as an advertisement can be challenged on discrimination grounds. The advertisement should not be too wordy – as a guide no more than 150 words excluding the standard paragraphs – otherwise its potential impact is lost and it becomes costly. In order to enhance the University’s brand, a house style has been adopted for all advertisements and this will be applied automatically by our recruitment agency.

Whether on a website or in print, the advertisement should deliver the maximum amount of information in the minimum number of words that enables people to decide whether or not to apply.

It should also include:

  • how to apply
  • a contact for disabled applicants or for documentation in alternative formats, such as large print or audio cassette tape
  • application closure date
  • salary scale
  • location (or ‘Home Based’ where applicable)
  • at least one of the key behavioural (Valued Ways of Working or Leadership Competency Framework) competencies identified for the post is included in the advert.

Language and images used in advertising material should reflect the nature of the organisation and our intention to reflect the diversity of the society that we serve. Check that the language used is inclusive of the full range of people who could be eligible to apply. When specific qualifications are necessary it should be made clear that equivalent qualifications are acceptable so that applicants from different education systems are not disadvantaged. Care should also be taken not to discriminate in terms of gender – use ‘she/he’ or ‘you’. Age restrictions should never be stated or implied.

The aim should be to convey accurately some of the details of the job in an informal style. In particular, the use of OU jargon or acronyms may deter external candidates. Information about the department and details of benefits should be available from the application pack and/or website rather than from a lengthy advertisement.

The attractions, challenges and opportunities of the job should be described, bearing in mind that potential applicants spend around 20 seconds deciding whether a job is worth pursuing.

The advertisement should state whether applications from candidates wishing to work part time or job share would be considered. Alternatively, jobs can be advertised as job share only. Where job share applications are considered each applicant is interviewed separately and both candidates must meet the person specification.

All advertisements will include the University’s current equality and diversity statement. Other statements may be included in advertisements to encourage applications from sections of the community that are under-represented in the particular work area. The wording of any such positive action statement should be agreed with the relevant HR Partner.

It is important to implement a schedule for the whole recruitment exercise. Make sure that the membership of the panel is decided, that the members will be available for short-listing immediately after the closing date and for interviewing shortly thereafter, allowing sufficient time for notifying short-listed candidates of the date and time of the interview. Fix a date for the interview at this stage so that it may be included in the advertisement and/or the application pack. Flexibility about dates and times will be required in respect of applicants with a protected characteristic e.g. applicants with a mobility impairment who needs to travel by public transport off-peak; and people with religious observance requirements.

Although it is not always possible to achieve a balance, consideration should be given to the constitution of interviewing panels in terms of equality and diversity e.g. gender, age, race and disability.

If advertising is restricted to ‘internal only’ for any reason, only those candidates who hold salaried appointments with the University at the time of advertising may apply i.e. fixed-term contract staff, Associate Lecturers with ‘live’ appointments and Day Contracts (with contracts current for the advertising period) but not temporary agency staff.

5. Application Packs

The application pack should include:

  • job description
  • person specification
  • general information about The Open University and the Unit/Department
  • main benefits of employment
  • a reminder to applicants of the need to prove their eligibility to work in the UK
  • dates of interviews if known, details of selection panel membership and of any assessment tests that will be used as part of the selection process.

A standard format for general information and benefits is included in the Standard Job Related Information Template, available on the HR intranet site. High quality paper/colour printing for material sent to potential candidates will create a good first impression. Folders for packs of information are available from HR; these are pre-printed with general text about the University. Where literature is sent to applicants this should include the following statement: ‘We promote diversity in employment and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Job Related Informationisavailable in large print, disk or audiotape. (Minicom 01908 654901 for hard of hearing).’