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Recruitment Procedure and Forms

1. A note about responsibilities

The Dean of Faculty or Head of Service has overall responsibility for the recruitment and appointment of fixed-term hourly-paid academic staff and will ensure that all relevant information is submitted to the Human Resources Department to enable contracts of employment to be issued prior to commencement of the work. Whilst reference to Dean of Faculty/Director of Institute is used within this Appendix C, it is recognised that in practice, procedural responsibilities may have been delegated by the Dean of Faculty/Director of Institute, to the Head of Department and / or Programme Directors, and Faculty/Institute Administrators also play a key role in supporting the smooth administration of fixed-term hourly-paid academic appointments.

The Finance Department provides business support to the Dean of Faculty/Director of Institute in determining and confirming available budgeted resources.

The Human Resources Department is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the recruitment process and issuing relevant contracts of employment. The HR Partner assigned to the Faculty/Institute will provide support to the Dean of Faculty/Director of Institute in fulfilling his/her responsibilities.

2. Establishing resource needs and obtaining approval to appoint

The Dean of Faculty/Director of Institute will identify any areas where additional short-term staffing needs may be required on a semester by semester basis. This will be in the context of overall planned and budgeted resources having regard to the Faculty's/Intitute's existing staffing plan (taking into account anticipated staff turnover, student numbers, and options other than like-for-like replacement where appropriate).

Where a fixed term hourly paid contract is required, the role type and number of hours will be determined by reference to the Role Definition Model.

3. Advertising

Faculties and Institutes will liaise with Human Resources Partner with regard to advertising a role. As with other instances of recruitment, this will be managed via University's e-recruitment system.

4. Pre-employment processes

For all appointments, the following is required:

  • proof of eligibility to work in the UK
  • confirmation that the appointee is suitable for the role e.g. a current CV and / or evidence of qualifications.

5. Interview and selection

Selection for the role will ideally be through face-to-face interview, although where appropriate a telephone interview may suffice. The interview will be conducted by at least two members of academic staff, typically a Programme Director and relevant member of academic staff.

The Programme Director is responsible for developing appropriate interviewing questions to ensure a consistent and fair approach for all applicants. The questions will be based on the Job Role and Person Specification. Interview forms and associated guidance are available via the HR pages on StaffNet and the HR Partner is able to provide a suite of competency based interview questions.

The Programme Director will ensure that a record of the interview and decision making process is kept by the Faculty/Institute for a period of six months following the appointment.

6. Pre-employment checks: academic and professional qualifications, eligibility to work in the UK, employment references, and criminal record disclosure

The Programme Director will ensure that the necessary pre-employment checks are carried out within the Faculty/Institute, liaising with the Department Administrator and / or Human Resources as appropriate.

Academic and professional qualifications and eligibility to work in the UK

Evidence of eligibility to work in the UK must be provided prior to appointment. Information/training for Faculty/Institute staff on eligibility to work criteria is available from HR colleagues.

The following documents are to be produced by the appointee, then checked signed and photocopied by the Programme Director or Faculty/Institute Administrator:

  • UK Birth Certificate
  • UK/EEA Passport or Passport with valid visa entry.
  • Certificates of educational and professional achievements

The copy documents will be saved by the Faculty/Institute Administrator in the shared documents folder for safe retention and to be made accessible for immigration audit purposes.

7. Process for issuing contracts and ensuring payment for work via the University's payroll

Once a Programme Director identifies the need for temporary module teaching cover they complete Section 1 of the Request the appointment of New HPA Staff form, detailing hours and costs.

Once the Dean of Faculty/Director of Institute has approved the request a new HPA can be recruited, and with Section 2 of the form completed with the new HPAs personal details, with CV and right to work documents, this is submitted to the Faculty/Institute Administrator.

The Faculty/Institute Administrator logs the details and sends the Starter Pack to the HPA for completion. Returned forms are saved to the shared drive.

The Faculty/Institute Administrator notifies the HR Department that a contract can be generated via HPAHelpdesk@stmarys.ac.uk and a contract is generated by HR for the HPA.

Once the contract has been signed and returned as accepted by the appointee, and all pre-employment information provided, the HR Department will arrange for the individual to be added to the University's payroll. Payment will be claimed by the individual via the Fixed-Term Hourly-Paid Academic Timesheet.

If the Faculty/Institute wishes to increase the number of hours or extend the contract duration, the means for doing so is via submission of the Request to Vary or Extend a HPA contract form, allowing five working days for the request to be processed and the contract variation issued to the member of staff before the additional work is undertaken.

All forms are available via HR Forms, Policies and Procedures for Staff.

8. Induction

To ensure that members of staff are appropriately integrated into the Faculty/Institute, the Programme Director shall arrange for all new staff to receive an appropriate induction programme at Faculty/Institute/ Department level.

Module Convenors will normally attend an academic induction, delivered by Centre for Teaching Excellence and Student Success (CTESS).