University of St Andrews

Because of the wide variety of professional services jobs, it is difficult to be prescriptive about the constitution of recruitment panels but HR recommend:

Grade of job	Number of panel members	Convenor
1-2	2	Line Manager
3-6	3	Line Manager or next manager up
7-8	3-5 (panel to also include line manager if this is not Head of School/Unit and often a senior staff member (grade 7+) from outside the School/Unit)	Head of School/Unit
9	5 (likely to include senior staff from across the University with whom the role holder will work closely and possibly an external assessor)	Quaestor or Vice Principal to whom the role reports

In all cases, the Head of School/Unit will be added as a silent panel member so that they are aware of all recruitment activity taking place in their area. 

It is also possible to appoint appropriate external panel members to any panel depending on their specialism or where the post is part of a joint project or initiative with another University or organisation. 

All panels should be of mixed gender to avoid issues of unconscious bias.  Additional panel members can be added from other Schools/Units or HR if it is impossible to achieve this locally.  

Please also bear in mind any conflict of interests, whether personal or business related, when appointing panel members.  Further details can be found in the Declaration of Interests policy and by seeking advice from the Recruitment team where necessary.

The University has a policy on mandatory training which includes training relevant to the recruitment of staff.  If not already done so, prior to becoming a panel member everyone must undertake:

1. Recruitment and Selection online training
2. Unconscious Bias training
3. Diversity in the Workplace training

These courses are hosted by the Organisational & Staff Development Services (OSDS) where you will find links to the short modules under the 'all employees' section.

Even if the above training has been undertaken already, panel members may also find it useful to review this short unconscious bias video as a refresher prior to sitting on a panel. In addition, a longer, optional Recruitment and Selection training session is periodically offered by Organisational & Staff Development Services in conjunction with the HR Recruitment team. Details will be made available to staff as these sessions are scheduled.

Instructions on how to access the e-recruitment system and review applications will be sent to all panel members when the vacancy is advertised and an email, with shortlisting instructions, will be sent when it closes. The Recruitment team can also provide one to one training on all aspects of using the system if required.

The Convenor or Chair of the panel has a number of responsibilities in addition to the other panel members at various stages of the recruitment process.

At advertising stage

Write advert/Further Particulars and send to the recruitment team

Decide on where to advertise outside of the normal outlets if required and request costs from the recruitment team

Be a point of contact for informal enquiries from applicants prior to interview

Choose panel members (liaising with the Principal’s Office for academic/senior appointments if required – see checklists) and notify the recruitment team

At shortlisting stage

Decide shortlisting matrix/scoring method if used

Chair long/short listing meetings, guiding discussion and taking casting vote if necessary

Decide on format of interview and any selection exercises such as presentations or tests

With the panel, decide on interview questions

At timetabling stage

After shortlisting meeting, complete Interview Details form (Word, 223 KB) and send to recruitment team to allow them to draw up timetable

On receipt of final timetable from recruitment (following candidate acceptance), organise Teams interviews or venues if holding in person – this may be delegated to an administrator within the School/Unit

At interviewing stage

Chair interviews – make introductions/closing remarks and ask some questions

Chair post interview discussions to agree successful candidate and take casting vote if necessary

Collate feedback from panel members and provide a summary to candidates when asked (following shortlisting/interviews)

At appointment stage

Make verbal offer to successful candidate – confirm start date, salary and any other conditions of offer

Personally update unsuccessful internal candidates following interview (the recruitment team will follow this with the official regret email)

Complete Details of Appointment Form (Word, 236 KB) with successful candidate’s details and send to recruitment team to allow them to issue written offer

It may not always be necessary to produce separate long and shortlists due to smaller candidate pools or time pressures, but where such a step is required, all panel members must take part in both the longlisting and shortlisting stages. 

As the aim is to conclude the interviews within a single day, ideally longlists should consist of:

• 10 people if the shortlist is to be reduced to four
• 12 people if the shortlist is to be reduced to five (or six when there are multiple posts on offer).

Notes should be retained on longlisting recommendations as these will be used to justify decisions to include/exclude candidates if challenged.  Panel members should be aware that candidates may request sight of any notes related to their application and recruitment experience so these should be written accordingly.   

In order to be GDPR compliant, only the panel members should review the applications.  It may be possible for another subject matter expert to review the applications, but generally those people would be a panel member.  Please seek advice from the Recruitment team for advice. 

Generally shortlists should consist of up to six people for a single post if interviews are being held for two posts on the same day. Consideration must also be given to time for tests, presentations and tours as required. 

If the candidate pool support it, it is desirable to keep one or two candidates in reserve to make up the shortlist should any of the chosen candidates pull out of the recruitment process.  These reserve candidates will be held in abeyance until such time as the final timetable is confirmed (see Interview timetables). 

Where the quality of the candidate pool permits, shortlists should be of mixed gender.  For senior posts, if this is not possible, the Principal's Office may request that the post is readvertised.

If the candidate pool yields only one or two potentially appointable candidates, you may wish to consider extending the closing date or advertising elsewhere.  HR will notify existing candidates if this is the case.  If after extending the search, there are no further potentially appointable candidates, then it is advisable to interview the ones you originally identified in order to assess if they are suitable for the job or to rule them out in the event that the post has to be readvertised.  

Failure to shortlist

If the panel is unable to shortlist any of the candidates, then:

• the Convenor should update HR who will regret the candidates
• the School/Unit may readvertise at that point and consider alternative outlets
• the Further Particulars should be reviewed and refreshed and indicate that previous candidates need not reapply

Alternatively, the Convenor may wish to take some time to consider future strategy which may, or may not, result in a future readvertisement.  As part of staffing complement management, HR will contact the Head of School/Unit for an update as to whether the post is still required if it has remained inactive for four months.