University of Glasgow - MyGlasgow - People & Organisational Development - Recruitment

Recruitment Policy

Introduction
Aims
Scope
Principles
Recruitment and Selection Procedure
5.3 Planning Stage
5.4 Resourcing Stage
5.5 Onboarding Stage
Employing Staff Overseas

A PDF version of this Policy can be accessed here: Recruitment Policy 2025

1. Introduction

1.1. University Strategy sets out our vision as a world-class, world-changing university; our mission is to bring inspiring people together and create a world-class environment for learning and rese It recognises that it is people who drive our success and that we cannot achieve our ambitions without talented, passionate and motivated staff.

1.2. Accordingly, the University strives to attract, select and retain world leading talent of the highest calibre, it is imperative that we have a fit for purpose recruitment strategy and complementary policies, procedures and resources to achieve this aim.

2. Aims

2.1 The policy is intended to:

demonstrate the University’s commitment to a fair, consistent and transparent process which duly reflects equality of opportunity in our recruitment and selection practice, in support of our diverse and inclusive organisation;
ensure all applicants are considered based on their individual merits and relevant abilities for any particular post;
provide a robust framework for the recruitment and selection of staff underpinned by the principles outlined below, systematically ensuring that the most suitable candidate is appointed

3. Scope

3.1 This policy covers all activities that form part of any recruitment and selection process within staff recruitment.

3.2 Responsibility for ensuring that the correct procedures are followed lies with the Hiring Manager responsible for recruitment activity within their area, whilst the ongoing effective conduct of this policy will be monitored and reviewed by People & Organisational Development.

3.3 All colleagues involved in the recruitment and selection of staff are expected to observe these procedures and to ensure that their actions are consistent with the core principles noted below.

4. Principles

4.1 The University operates a competitive recruitment process founded upon a fair, open and transparent approach designed to enable the selection of the most appointable candidate from the widest range of suitable applicants.

4.2 An effective recruitment and selection resourcing strategy is a key aspect of our employer brand with a view to positively enhancing our reputatio The University endeavours to ensure that all candidates are treated fairly, with dignity, respect and courtesy, ensuring a positive candidate experience.

4.3 The University strives to attract and engage staff from diverse backgrounds and proactively seeks to avoid unfair bias in its processe The University actively encourages the recruitment of staff with disabilities and will make reasonable adjustments at all stages of the recruitment process as required. The University is a Disability Confident Employer, and operates a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the outlined essential criteria.

4.4 The University will promote best practice in recruitment and selection, and will continuously develop innovative attraction and delivery strategies in our practices.

4.5 All documentation relating to applicants will be treated confidentially in accordance with data protection legislation and the University’s Privacy Statement.

4.6 All members of an Appointing Committee must undertake training in recruitment and selection prior to participating in any recruitment and selection process. The University will provide appropriate training, development and support to those involved in recruitment and selection activities in order to meet this core pri To adhere to this policy, it is mandatory for staff involved in recruitment and selection to complete the following training:

Diversity in the Workplace (online)
Unconscious Bias in HE (online)
Recruitment and Selection Training (online)

4.7 The University encourages applications from all suitably qualified candidates; the successful candidate requires to provide appropriate documentary evidence of their right to work in the UK (See also section on UKVI Sponsorship below) prior to taking up their employment.

5. Recruitment & Selection Procedure

5.1 There are three key stages in the recruitment and selection process, namely Planning, Resourcing and Onboarding. These are outlined in detail below.

5.2 Supporting documents and guidance for each of the stages is also outlined on the People & Organisational Development website within the Recruitment Toolkit.

5.3 Planning Stage

The recruitment and selection process will not commence until the need for a role has been established consistent with the strategic plans and budgetary implications which will be assessed and evaluated by the College or University Services as appropriate.
Local Resourcing Co-ordinator (LRC), aligned to the College/ University Services, will act as the main point of contact for the Hiring Manager for the duration of the recruitment process.
To commence the recruitment process, the Hiring Manager should contact their LRC with the role requirements, particularly the Job Description – generic job descriptions can be downloaded from the Job Descriptions Library. This also applies to replacement posts.
Where there is a new role, or a generic job description is not available, the job description will be required to be graded in accordance with the Pay & Grading Procedure. The LRC will be able to advise.
The LRC will take the vacancy planning phase forward until the vacancy is approved and ready to be advertised where appropriate. Where applicable, evidence of the relevant grant award for externally funded posts should also be provided.
Please speak to your LRC before engaging with any recruitment agencies or external executive search providers.
At this point the LRC will also consult with the Hiring Manager to agree the Appointment Committee and the proposed timeline and any associated selection tools to be utilised.
Clinical posts are subject to additional requirements, as outlined in the agreement between the University of Glasgow and NHS on the Recruitment and Selection of Clinical Academic Staff which can be found at: University/NHS Joint Working.
The University is committed to preserving and maintaining employment wherever possible and realises that situations can arise whereby employees may find their employment at risk (e.g. in potential redundancy situations or through ill-health). The Redeployment Policy aims to support, as far as is reasonably possible, the securing of suitable alternative employment opportunities within the University for employees in such a position.

Recruiting Managers will be required, as part of the recruitment process, to consider internal ‘at risk’ candidates. A priority interview must be offered to any eligible ‘at risk’ employees who apply for a vacancy and who match the grade and have the potential to meet the essential criteria.
Priority interviews are ahead of all other candidates (that are not at risk) with the sole exception of colleagues in the below categories, who should be given absolute priority over all others:
- pregnant individuals
- individuals who gave birth or adopted a child within the last 18 months. This includes those currently on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave and/or those who have returned to work but remain within an 18 month period of the birth/ adoption placement*

*the priority in cases of shared parental leave only applies where such leave has been for six continuous weeks or more, unless it followed a period of maternity or adoption leave in which case full priority applies as above.

5.4 Resourcing Stage

Advertising

The central Recruitment Team are responsible for placing recruitment advertisements for staff.
As a minimum, adverts will be placed on the University’s Jobs at Glasgow web page, however most vacancies will be advertised more widely, aligned to the requirements of the role to ensure we secure the strongest possible field of candidates.
LRCs will liaise with the central Recruitment Team on behalf of the Hiring Manager to agree the most relevant and appropriate attraction strategies for particular posts and applicable advertising timeframes. The University has access to and utilises a number of talent attraction platforms.In the event of any challenges recruiting to a particular role, alternative routes to market should be discussed with the LRC or central Recruitment team.
Adverts will utilise proactive and positive language, reflecting the University’s strategic aim of attracting diverse applicant pools, including women, minority ethnic groups and those with disabilities, particularly where these groups are underrepresented in a School/Service. In addition, it may be appropriate to promote University-wide or local achievements in Athena SWAN, Stonewall Diversity Champion membership and our Disability Confident Employer status.
Regius Professors and some other senior University appointments may be subject to additional requirements. The LRC will liaise with the central Recruitment Team to provide further information and guidance.
It may not be appropriate to advertise a vacancy externally where:
- an appointment may be made via an internal advertisement to support career development and/or retention;
- the length of post is less than 6 months and a suitable applicant has been identified;
- where a specific person is named in any award funding;
- other circumstances, in which case, advice should be sought from the
- local College/US Head of P&OD.

Closing Date of Vacancies

Research & Teaching and MPA (Management, Professional & Administrative) vacancies at Grade 6 and above will normally be advertised on the University’s website, other appropriate external websites and/or publications for a period of 4 weeks, or as otherwise agreed with the Hiring Manager as part of their consultation. Such positions attract international applicants who may not have an automatic right to work in the UK and therefore require sponsorship to take up any such position. The University is required to provide evidence of a robust recruitment process, demonstrating that the post has been appropriately advertised.
MPA (up to and including Grade 6), Technical & Operational vacancies will normally be advertised on the University’s website and other appropriate websites for a period of 2 weeks, or as otherwise agreed with the Hiring Manager as part of their consultation.

Cost of Advertising

The central recruitment budget held by P&OD funds standard job vacancy adverts placed in jobs.ac.uk (for vacancies at Grade 6 and above). Any additional advertising costs incurred will be charged to the relevant School/ /Service undertaking the recruitment activity. Relevant information will be provided to the Hiring Manager by the LRC following discussion with the central Recruitment Team.

Membership of Appointing Committee

The Appointing Committee will be determined by the Head of School/ /Service or relevant Hiring Manager in line with the University’s Appointing Committee composition . Full details are contained within the Appointing Committee Guidance Notes within the Recruitment Toolkit.

Shortlisting

The Appointing Committee carries out the initial shortlisting of applications by comparing evidence in the application against the essential and desirable criteria for the post as set out in the job description.
The central Recruitment Team will circulate the relevant documentation (Shortlist Assessment and Interview Request Forms) via the Recruitment Portal to all members of the Appointing Committee, once the closing date has been reached. A shortlisting panel may be constituted from and in agreement with the Appointing Committee, who will be involved in determining the shortlist. All members of the Appointing Committee should be in agreement with the final shortlist.
All candidates called for interview should meet the essential criteria, given the expectation that candidates will not otherwise be able to operate successfully in the role. Where a candidate does not meet one or more of the essential criteria, that candidate cannot be invited to interview. Where a large number of candidates appear to meet the essential criteria then the desirable criteria should be used to identify those who are most suitable to be invited for interview.
The University is a Disability Confident employer in recognition of its commitment to fair recruitment and employment of disabled people. This involves a commitment to interview any disabled applicants who meet the published essential criteria for an advertised post. The shortlisting assessment form will be clearly marked to indicate that a candidate has applied through this scheme.
Appointing Committees will normally expect to interview no more than six candidates per vacanc
It is essential that the required information is correctly provided on the Shortlist Assessment Form as this will become the formal record of the application outcome to candidates with regards to whether or not they have been shortliste It is important to remember that individuals may challenge any shortlisting decision and may seek feedback accordingly. Shortlisting decisions must be fair, objective,non-discriminatory, and properly recorded.
The fully completed Shortlist Assessment Form, representing the collective view of the Appointing Committee, must be uploaded along with the completed Interview Request Form, by the chair of the Appointing Committee to the Recruitment Portal.

References

It is normal for the University to take up employment references for all staff. These are normally taken up in advance of interview for Research & Teaching, subject to candidates having given their express permission for the University to do so. For other vacancies references are normally taken up beyond the job offer stage, with any such job offer issued conditional subject to the receipt of satisfactory references.
The purpose of an employment reference is to obtain information about the employment history of a candidate. References require to be treated with caution by the Appointing Committee, due to the potential for bias whether favourable or unfavourable to a candidate. The central Recruitment Team is responsible for obtaining references at the appropriate time and once permission has been granted by the applicant(s).
We require two satisfactory references prior to a candidate’s start date (three for senior Academic positions), one of which should be from the candidate’s most recent employer (where applicable). In the event that a candidate’s references are not received by their start date, the start date may be delayed.
In the event that any concerns are raised regarding a reference, the Recruitment Assistant will liaise as necessary with the Hiring Manager and local P&OD team

The Interview

All shortlisted candidates will be seen and considered by the same Appointing Committee and should typically be interviewed on the same Where this is not possible, the interviews should be held over as short a period as possible.
The central Recruitment Team will contact all shortlisted candidates to confirm interview detail
The central Recruitment team will assist with the arrangements of interviews that are to be conducted online.
The University aims to ensure that all candidates have a positive interview experience at the Universi Some candidates may require assistance and all interview locations should be easily accessible. The central Recruitment Team will ask candidates if they require any additional support and where appropriate make reasonable adjustments as required. The Recruitment Assistant will liaise with the Hiring Manager to advise on any candidates requiring reasonable adjustments
Prior to interviews being held, each member of the Appointing Committee should
- Review the job description;
- Assess the application form /CV of each applicant;
- Review the essential & desirable criteria, and identify areas for further exploration/ questions and the sequencing of these.
The Convenor of the Appointing Committee will normally take responsibility for this discussion and co-ordinate the question set and the allocation/ordering of these via Committee memb The questions should be agreed by the Committee members in advance of the interview date(s). All candidates should broadly be asked a consistent set of core interview questions.

Presentations

Presentations are recognised as a formal part of the selection process for more senior posts and Research and Teaching posts in particular.

In the case of senior professional and managerial roles these will normally be conducted as part of the interview.
Candidates for Lectureships, Senior Lectureships, Readership and the Professoriate will be required to give presentations to members of the School/ /Service. While it is normal procedure for members of the School/ /Service to be present at this stage of the process, it must be understood that they have no formal role in the decision making process. However, constructive feedback may be expressed directly to the Head of School/ Service in advance of the formal interview.
The Head of School /Service, or his/her nominee, will be asked by the Convener of the Appointing Committee to comment on the candidates' presentations following all interviews, prior to the selection decision being taken.

Interview Assessment Form

Interview Assessment Forms mirroring the criteria from the job descriptions will be prepared by the central Recruitment Team and supplied to all Committee Members via the vacancy documents on the Recruitment Portal prior to the interview date(s).
After each interview, all members of the Appointment Committee should record their comments and rate each candidate against the pre-determined essential and desirable criteria from the job description in the Interview Assessment Form.
One Interview Assessment Form representing the collective view of the Appointing Committee should be completed for each candidate after the interviews have concluded, signed by the Convener and uploaded by them against the vacancy in the Recruitment Portal.
It is practice within the University to use a candidate rating system (A – Highly appointable, B – Suitable for appointment or C – Not suitable for appointment) which is clearly indicated on the Interview Assessment Form. Where a candidate does not meet one or more of the essential criteria, they should not be deemed a suitable fit to the post.
Where consensus is reached by the interview panel, there is no need for further discussion. Further discussion is however necessary where there is not complete agreement on the interview assessment of each candidate
The interview outcome and justification for a recruitment decision should be recorded on each form to ensure the process is fair and transparent. This will enable the University to demonstrate that the most suitably qualified candidate is appointed along with the requisite documentary record of the decision for the purposes of legislative compliance and will enable constructive feedback to be provided to candidates on their request

Recommendation

Once a preferred candidate has been identified by the Committee, the Convener should complete the Interview Recommendation Form provided by the central Recruitment Team. This should be uploaded to the vacancy on the Recruitment Portal along with the Interview Assessment Forms noted above. Guidance on how to do this is available here.
The Hiring Manager should work with the Recruitment Assistant to ensure that relevant information is gathered to enable processing of the contract i.e. start date, recommended salary (confirmed by P&OD if offer is above the first spinal point of the advertised grade), etc.
Conditional offers of employment should be conveyed by the central Recruitment Team and not by members of the Appointing Committee, unless otherwise agreed with the central Recruitment Team, recognising that a verbal offer may be deemed as a formal agreement.
All post-interview correspondence, including reserve and regret communications are issued by the central Recruitment Team. The formal written offer of employment and written particulars of terms and conditions of employment (including subject to, where required), will be issued by the Onboarding Team, typically following acceptance by the preferred candidate.

5.5 Onboarding

As part of the onboarding process, the following pre-employment checks and referrals are carried out as required:

Right to Work Checks	The Onboarding team complete Right to Work checks for all new staff joining the University of Glasgow, as per UKVI Guidelines.
Verification of qualifications	Original qualifications will be checked and verified by the central Recruitment Team.
References	All outstanding references will be collected by the central Recruitment Team and an offer subject to satisfactory references, if still awaited, will be issued.
PVG/ Disclosure	Where a post requires a PVG check (as identified in the job description) an offer of employment will only be made on receipt of a satisfactory PVG Scheme record check. It should be noted that work cannot be undertaken until PVG clearance has been obtained. Full guidance is available on the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme Manager Guidance Note webpage
UKVI Sponsorship	Where a candidate is to be sponsored by the University the central Recruitment Team are responsible for completing the necessary processes and offers will be made subject to successful completion of these. See section 6 below.
Occupational Health	An Occupational Health assessment may be required for certain posts within the University, or where any potential health issues have been identified during the recruitment process. Please view the Occupational Health Referrals webpage for guidance on making a referral for an employee. The Onboarding team will also liaise with Occupational Health when managing the Research Passport process.
NHS Honorary Contracts	Clinical posts will require an honorary contract to be issued by the NHS Recruitment Team. Written particulars of terms and conditions of employment pertaining to the University contract will be issued at the earliest opportunity on receipt of the NHS honorary contract. The NHS will require full PVG and appropriate Occupational Health Clearance prior to issue.
Relocation	The Onboarding team manage the Relocation process for any new staff relocating to Glasgow for their role. Please refer to the Relocation policy for further information on eligibility and scope of the Relocation policy.

6. Employing Staff Overseas

6.1 In pursuance of the University's Internationalisation strategy, increasing instances are arising that propose the employment of staff (UK based or overseas based) to work outside the UK. The guidance found at the following link provides an overview of the process, and main areas for consideration, when contemplating employing staff based overseas or posting existing members of staff on an overseas assignment:
Guidance for managers on employing staff based overseas.

6.2 The relevant local Head of P&OD will be able to provide further advice and guidance, and to discuss the requirements related to this prior to the commencement of the recruitment process.

Document Control

DOCUMENT CONTROL

Policy name	Recruitment and Selection Policy
Approved by	University Court - June 2007
Implementation date	August 2007
Last reviewed	June 2025
Next review	June 2026
Owner	Central HR – Recruitment
Drafted by	Martina Cooper

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