CARLISLE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

Recruiting Staff

This factsheet aims to debunk some of the myths and rumours about how your organisation should recruit staff for both existing and new jobs. It covers some of the basic areas, acting as a guide rather than a final reference point. The factsheet covers the steps involved and should be read in conjunction with Factsheet 15: Being a Good Employer.

There are some basic steps in the process of recruiting a new staff member that you should take:

	Prepare a timetable
	Put together a pack for applicants
	Make sure any internal preparation is done
	Advertise the post
	Shortlisting
	Interviewing
	Decision time
	Before the new staff member starts

1:Prepare a timetable

A good way of doing this is to work backwards from the date that you want the new employee to start work. It is important however to err on the side of caution and make sure that the times you allocate are realistic. It is better to have too much time planned in than too little so ensure that you take this into account when planning the process.

2: Put together a pack for applicants

Some of the things that you might put into an applicants’ pack:

A copy of the job description This is the document that includes the roles & responsibilities of an employee. If you’re creating a new job then the Management Committee should spend time on developing this and if you’re simply employing a new person in an existing job then it should review the job description before starting the application process.

A copy of the person specification This is the document describing the qualities, skills, knowledge and experience that you need the person who undertakes the role to have. (These are usually split up into “Essential” and “Desirable”) This should also be created or reviewed by the Management Committee before the recruitment process begins to make sure it is up to date and accurate.

An Application Form along with guidelines you want to include on how to fill it in.

A Monitoring Form If you decide that you want to monitor the applicants that you get in terms of equal opportunities (see Factsheet 5: Equal Opportunities for more information.)

Copies of any relevant and up to date information about the organisation.

Information about interview dates.

3: Make Sure Internal Preparation is Done

There are some important tasks that need to be undertaken within the organisation before advertising the job. These include

Choosing who will be on the interview and shortlisting panel (it should be the same people on both!) You should make sure that a representative of the Management Committee and the line manager for the job being recruited are included on the panel. It is usual to have between 3 and 5 people on a panel (but always more than 1!) Also you should make sure that there are no conflicts of interest for any of the panel members – for example nobody should be on the panel who has too close a connection to, or is related to, any of the applicants.

	Training for the panel if necessary in the processes of selecting new staff.
	Ensure that you are ready to deal with requests for application packs and any phone call queries before you send out information about the job. And let any other staff who might have to handle these queries know what the procedure is.
	Make sure that you have a system for shortlisting candidates for interview such as a points system/tick boxes. See shortlisting section for more information.
	Set up a system so that you can keep all the paperwork for the recruitment process. It may be very useful later in the event of a complaint for example.

4: Advertising the post

Advertising the job is one of the main costs involved in recruitment so make sure that you build this consideration in from the start. You will need to balance out the costs with considerations about how and where you advertise the post.

Where to advertise it? You could try The Guardian on a Wednesday (This is the day that it advertises “Society” jobs which includes jobs in the voluntary and community sectors), the Big Issue, local papers, Community newsletters etc. You could also advertise it in some minority press such as the Pink Paper (weekly Lesbian/Gay Bisexual Newspaper) or Asian Times for example.

You would need to put in the advert information about:

	Funders, if they require you to do this
	Details of what the job involves, length of contract, pay scale, location
	Your charity registration number if you have one
	Details of how to get hold of an application pack including the phone number if necessary
	Possibly some basic information about the organisation (maybe including the pay levels for the job).

You should also remember that nobody who is on your Management Committee can be employed by the group (They would have to resign from the committee before applying for any job in the organisation).

The point at which you advertise the job is one of the most important points in the recruitment process in terms of equal opportunities. It is therefore important to stick to good practice basics at this time, such as: advertising the job in as many different places as possible to attract a wide variety of applicants and experiences.

5: Shortlisting

You should have already decided who is sitting on the interview and shortlisting panels and have given them training if necessary. You should also have decided on whether or not you’re going to use a system. For example you could use the person specification as a base and use ticks and crosses to assess candidates or you could use a points scoring system, again comparing against a set of criteria or the person specification.

The process of shortlisting should have 2 parts. The first part is an opportunity for Panel Members to assess and score the applications individually. Then there should be a meeting at which the panel compare their scores or opinions of the applications and discuss/decide who will be interviewed. It is important for the panel to be as honest as possible in their evaluations of applications as there won’t be time to interview everyone who applies for a job. If all the applications are of a high standard then only pick out the highest of them for interview.

6: Interviews

Again it is a good idea to use an agreed scoring system for interviews and to write down any comments as you go along. Use these to discuss and make a decision after all the interviews. You can, if you feel it is appropriate, arrange to have some kind of competency based test as part of the interview (so long as you’ve told the interviewees of this beforehand). In the interview itself you should introduce each of the panel members, explain clearly what will happen in the interview, give the interviewee an opportunity to ask questions of the panel and explain to the interviewee what will happen after the interviews. For example when they will be told if they have the job.

7: Decision Time

Using the scoring system as an aid, decide who you think should get the job. If necessary you can go to second interviews. But again balance the perceived need to do this against the cost of a second round of interviews. Once you have picked a candidate then you can make a verbal offer followed by a written offer of the job, dependant upon satisfactory references. (This is the point at which you take up their references). You could include with the letter of appointment two copies of a contract for them to sign (one to keep and one for the organisation to file) and a copy of the Terms and Conditions of employment (for more information about these see Factsheet 15: Being a Good Employer). In the letter of appointment you should include information such as any probationary period that will apply, the start date (taking into account any period of notice they may have to serve), pay, etc. You should, once this offer has been accepted, tell the other candidates that they have been unsuccessful and be prepared to give feedback if they request it.

8: Before They Start

Before your new member of staff starts work you should make sure of several things.

	That you have let any other staff know who has the job and when they will be starting.
	That you have arranged a desk/space for them to work in.
	That you have arranged an induction for the new staff member (include things like time with any other staff that they might be working with, an intro to the organisation)
	You should arrange your new employees tax, National Insurance and pay as soon as you know they will start. There are 2 options:

- You could either get an intermediary body to do your payroll for you

- You could arrange to pay your staff member by cheque for example and then phone the Inland Revenue Employers Helpline (08457 143 143) for a pack to fill in to make sure that you are abiding by the law on tax and NI contributions.

This is very important as there are severe penalties for not complying with this law.

9: Further Help

Carlisle Council for Voluntary Service

Telephone 01228 512513