University of St Andrews

Once the appropriate approval has been received you should complete the appropriate Further Particulars template and return this to the Recruitment team.

Further Particulars (Professional Services) G1-4 (Word, 92 KB)

Further Particulars (Professional Services) G5 (Word, 92 KB)

Further Particulars (Professional Services) G6-9 (Word, 93 KB)

• Please do not alter the information about the University (this is standard to all templates and written by Corporate Communications and the Principal's Office)
• Please do not alter the formatting of the template
• Please do not use an old, saved template as the information on the templates is regularly updated
• Unless otherwise stated, applications will consist of the online application form only. Convenors who wish candidates to provide additional documentation such as CV or a covering letter must make this clear in the 'How to Apply' section of the Further Particulars
• The desired start date should be included.  Where this is non negotiable (eg due to funding end dates or the return date for a member of staff on leave), this should be clearly stated on both the Advert and the Further Particulars 

If the post is new, then you will need to write the Further Particulars from scratch but may find it useful to consult the generic role profile for the job family and grade you are appointing to as a starting point.  The opening statement for each profile will be particularly useful as it provides an overview of the level of responsibility for each grade.

Care should be taken when writing the person specification for the post as this will impact on your candidate pool, establishes the essential criteria for the satisfactory performance of the job and provides a template for transparent decision making during the selection process. 

While one size does not fit all, generally 10-12 essential criteria along with 6-10 desirable criteria will cover most recruitment exercises and allow the panel to filter applications easily and fairly.

It is expected that applicants invited to interview have met all the essential criteria to be considered eligible for appointment. In order to produce a manageable shortlist, desirable criteria may be used for further filtering. 

Criteria should be measurable via documentation, application form/CV, interview and (where appropriate) test or presentation. 

If the post is a replacement, then you may use the previous Further Particulars but please cut and paste the job and School/Unit information from the appropriate online template as this will contain the most up to date information on equality, visa, contractual and University matters. If you do not have the previous version to hand, the Recruitment team will send this to you upon request. 

If advertising multiple posts at the same grade with the same remit, one set of Further Particulars may be used indicating how many posts are on offer. 

If advertising one post which may be offered at different grades depending on the experience of the successful candidate, one set of Further Particulars indicating the different remits/experience required for each level may be used.

If advertising several posts at different grades or with different remits, multiple Further Particulars will be required although these can be cross referenced to ensure candidates are aware that more than one post is on offer. 

Please contact the Recruitment team for advice if you are unsure how best to proceed. 

For some posts, you may also wish to consider holding open online presentations/Q&A sessions via MS Teams prior to the closing date.  These provide candidates with more information about the job, the School/Unit and life in St Andrews and gives them the chance to ask anonymous questions via the chat facility to help them decide if the job is a good fit.  This also eases the pressure on the named contacts for informal enquiries and may result in a more focused candidate pool.  Due to time zone differentials, HR advise setting up two hour long sessions and including the link and times in the advert at the time of publishing.

There is no longer a minimum requirement for how long to advertise posts, therefore this is now at the recruiting manager’s discretion and depends on the grade of the post and the urgency to make an appointment.  HR recommend:

• 1-2 weeks for jobs graded 1-2 or for internal, offline recruitment exercises (see Where to advertise)
• 2-4 weeks for jobs graded 3-6
• 4+ weeks for jobs grade 7 and above

Other factors to be borne in mind are holiday periods (where a longer advert may be required in order to catch all potential candidates) and timelines to appointment.  When setting a closing date, it is advisable to work back from the desired start date of the new employee remembering to take into account any potential notice period they may have to serve in their current role.  Realistically most recruitment exercises take between 28 and 48 days from start to finish.

Where possible, the interview date should be included at the time of publishing, but if this is not possible, the interview date must be confirmed with HR prior to the closing date.

Before the closing date is reached, HR will contact the Convenor to confirm if the advert is to be extended. 

In some instances, it may be desirable to run a rolling advert with no firm end date.  Please seek advice from the Recruitment team if you wish to explore this option.

Depending on the urgency, duration and specialism of the post, jobs may be advertised

• internally to the School/Unit/specific department only
• internally to the University
• externally from the outset

All routes can be hosted on the University’s e-recruitment system, Engage, although it is also possible to run an offline School/Unit/department only recruitment exercise in some instances.  Please seek advice from the Recruitment team or your HR Business Partner as to whether your vacancy is suitable for an offline process and how to do this. 

If your post is fixed term, then you may wish to consider offering it as a secondment opportunity for internal candidates.  Please consult the secondment policy for further details or contact the Recruitment team to discuss. 

Professional services roles graded 1-4 will be posted automatically on the University jobspage, on FindaJob and Indeed with the costs to be met by HR.

Professional services roles graded 5-9 will be posted automatically on the University jobspage, jobs.ac.uk, Findajob, Indeed and on LinkedIn with the cost to be met by HR. 

Convenors are free to circulate job details to their own networks/contacts and the recruitment team will obtain costs for advertising elsewhere upon request.  Additional advertising will be charged to the School/Unit or grant.  

External recruitment agencies or head hunters may also be used for more senior posts or where there is evidence that the usual advertising outlets have failed to result in an appointment.  Please seek advice from the Recruitment team if you wish to explore this option.

When the advert is received by HR, it will be allocated to a member of the Recruitment team who will be the key contact for the vacancy. 

A number of steps are required before the post is published depending on whether a new post number is required, to check if the post is visa sponsorable and where external funding needs Finance confirmation.  In line with the redeployment policy the University also has a duty to support employees facing redundancy, therefore the post may need to be flagged to them prior to advertising. This will depend on who is on the redeployment register and the type/grade of post being advertised.  

Please bear in mind that the post will be in a queue of vacancies prioritised by closing date.  HR will endeavour to post the advert within three working days where possible and subject to having complete information from the Convenor.  The Recruitment Assistant will keep the Convenor informed of any delays, as well as sending an update on when the post has been published. 

While our inhouse Recruitment team successfully recruit staff to hundreds of posts every year, a recruitment agency may be used for:

• Senior posts (eg Principal's Office, Directors or Heads of Service)
• Highly specialist posts
• Posts in highly competitive areas for staff recruitment
• Readvertising where previous attempts via traditional routes have failed to secure an appointment

The cost of using a recruitment agency will generally be borne by the recruiting School or Unit.

Please contact the Recruitment team for further details on how to use an agency.