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'Recruitment of Social Workers'.
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TIPS FOR SPEEDING UP THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS
The recruitment process can be lengthy; on average it will take at least 12 weeks. As a guide you can expect the process to take place in the following time frame:
Week 1 - vacancy identified, recruitment team informed to prepare advert
Week 3 - advert appears in press
Week 5 - advert closes and applications are collected for shortlisting
Week 6 - candidates are shortlisted and invited for interview
Week 7 - interviews take place, a provisional offer is made and references and other clearances are requested
Week 9 - references and other clearances received, candidate hands in their notice with their current employer
Week 13 - candidate starts
As the process will usually take a minimum of 13 weeks, it is important to speed up the process wherever possible. Below is a flow chart showing you how you can save time within this process.
For the full recruitment and selection process please refer to the Step-by-Step Guide to Recruitment.
Doing all the above could speed up the recruitment process by 4 weeks.
If you have any queries about the recruitment process contact a member of the recruitment team as early as possible. They will be able to offer assistance and guidance.
Remember the days soon add up. The shorter the recruitment process the sooner you will have a permanent employee in post!
Identifying a vacancy - Advertising
As soon as you become aware of a vacancy you should start the recruitment process. Even if the present job incumbent has not handed in their letter of resignation or confirmed their retirement for example, you can still start preparing to advertise. Do not wait for a role to become vacant before starting the recruitment process.
Things you can start do:
Examine the job profile and person specification and revise it as necessary (if you do not have a current job profile or person specification contact a member of the recruitment team who may be able to email you a similar one used by another team).
Send a recruitment brief, job profile and person specification to the recruitment team and ask them to have an advert prepared. (Please be aware that if an advert is prepared and the position does not become a vacancy our advertising agency will charge £50 for production)
As soon as the position has been confirmed as being a vacancy or future vacancy, inform the recruitment team and ask them to advertise the role. They will work with you to get the position advertised as quickly as possible.
Ensure you are organised. Book the interview panel, interview room and any assessments well in advance to avoid delays due to diaries being full. Speak to a member of the recruitment team about arranging assessments; they will be able to offer guidance on the relevant tests, provide available dates for testing and book the room for these.
By preparing for a vacancy and starting the recruitment process early you could save one week in the recruitment process.
Making a job offer
Make an offer of employment as soon as you are able to, this should be within 2 days of the interview. Ask the candidate to make a decision and respond to you by a set date.
Agree a provisional start date (subject to clearances) as soon as possible.
CRB disclosures can take over 4 weeks to be completed. Remember if a post requires a CRB you may start someone subject to CRB clearance provided they do not work with clients unsupervised. The exception is positions requiring a POVA (Prevention Of Vulnerable Adults) check, where employees must not work until they have received this clearance. For these posts you can ask the recruitment team to request the POVA while the full CRB is being processed (POVA's can only be requested once the CRB have received a completed CRB form). Upon receiving this POVA check the candidate can start subject to the remaining CRB clearance and provided they are not working unsupervised with clients.
For guidance on the CRB process please refer to the code of practice for CRB checks
Doing this can save you at least 1 to 4 weeks in the recruitment process.
Interviews
Often delays to the recruitment process are caused after you have offered a position to someone and you have to wait for them to bring their original documents in or when you are waiting for them to complete forms necessary for their employment. The ideal time to see their documents and make copies or ask them to complete forms is at the interview stage when they are highly motivated to get the information to you promptly.
To speed up the recruitment process:
Ask candidates to bring with them their eligibility to work documents. Ask someone to photocopy these while you are conducting the interview.
For guidance on eligibility to work documents please refer to the Prevention of Illegal Working Guidance
Ask candidates for their permission to request references in advance of the interview. Often references can take over two weeks to be received from previous employers, requesting even just one reference early can save you time. Remember you may also get a telephone or email reference, provided this is followed by a signed written reference.
Email the Occupational Health form to candidates to complete prior to the interview (be aware that there is a cost associated with each occupational health assessment sent to the health provider).
Collect completed conduct forms at the interview. You should have sent this with the interview invite. If you didn't, ask candidates to complete one when they arrive for their interview.
If candidates require a CRB check, send the form with their interview invite or ask them to complete the form after their interview. Ensure they also bring sufficient identification for the CRB process and make copies of these documents.
Once you have made a selection decision ensure you shred any photocopies you have belonging to unsuccessful candidates.
By asking for documents in advance and requesting reference early you can save at least 2 weeks in the recruitment process.
Shortlisting
Ensure you collect applications from the response handling team promptly. These are available 1 working day after the closing date. If timescales are tight and applications are needed more quickly than this, contact a member of the response handling team and they will do their best to have the applications earlier.
Have your shortlisting criteria prepare before you shortlist. This will ensure you can shortlist swiftly, letting candidates know as far as possible in advance if they are being invited to interview.