To ensure quality mechanisms are in place in relation to the School s recruitment advertising procedures

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1 ADVERTISING GUIDANCE Recruitment advertising is managed by the School s HR Division. Please contact the HR Adviser for your department if you have any queries: Aims of policy The purpose of the advertising guidance is: To support Departments/Divisions in recruiting the best candidates for their vacancies by providing clarity to recruiting managers on a variety of advertising related issues To ensure quality mechanisms are in place in relation to the School s recruitment advertising procedures To promote the School s continued commitment to equality and diversity To highlight where Departments/Divisions can reduce the administrative costs related to advertising, whilst still attracting the best field of candidates. External advertising The LSE supports open transparent recruitment and diversity in all of its staff groups, therefore all vacancies are normally advertised externally to the School. This ensures as wide a pool of potential candidates as possible, ensuring open and fair competition and equal opportunity. It supports Departments/Divisions in making appointments with the confidence that they have selected the best available candidate for the role. It makes clear to existing staff that the appointments procedures of the School are fair and transparent. Advice can be sought from the HR Division on the most effective advertising sources. When to advertise Departments/Divisions are asked to be mindful of the time of year they choose to advertise to ensure a good field of candidates and maximum value for money. It is normally true that advertising around the Christmas, Easter or summer periods may not provide a sufficient response, and may also require extended timescales. The advertising process requires significant time commitment and careful thought should be given to commencing the planning of recruitment early to allow for this. Changes to Academic Support Job Descriptions and Person Specifications will need to be evaluated against HERA (Higher Education Role Analysis), the School s Job Evaluation method, and agreed prior to advertising. Specialist publications and journals may require serveral weeks notice in order to place an advert. Duration of advertisements All externally placed adverts for Academic and Research vacancies will appear for a minimum of 4 weeks to ensure the School meets the requirements of Home Officer in relation to obtaining a visa for the successful candidate should this be required. Should an appointee require a work permit, this can take a minimum of 4 to 8 weeks to obtain, and sometimes longer. Work permit processing timescales are outside the control of HR and the School. Departments/Divisions are asked to be aware of these

2 timescales and factor this into their recruitment campaign to ensure that the recruitment runs as smoothly as possible. As is current practice, all externally placed adverts for academic support posts band 1-5 will appear for a minimum of 7 days and academic support posts bands 6-10, will appear for a minimum of 2 weeks. This is to increase the likelihood of a wide pool of candidates, by ensuring the vacancy has been widely circulated. It is also recommended that the date of the interviews is included in the advert to allow candidates to organise their diaries accordingly and decrease the drop out rate at the interview stage. Internal advertising There will be exceptional circumstances when it is considered appropriate for a post to be restricted initially to internal advertisement only. Departments/Divisions should indicate the reasons for wishing to advertise internally. Such circumstances will be rare and will need to be approved by the HR Division. Examples of where internal only advertisements are agreed include: Where LSE specific knowledge (not Higher Education knowledge) is essential for the post, without which the role could not be undertaken; Where the vacancy is viewed as a developmental role for existing staff and there is a pool of talent within the School at the grade directly below that could apply for the post (this applies to vacancies up to and including Band 6 only); Where a re-structure is being undertaken, with full advice from HR. With prior approval of HR and where there is a fixed term vacancy within a Department/Division, considered to be a development opportunity suitable for one or more members of staff within the same Department/Division, approval may be given to advertise to a specific staff group. Departments/Divisions will be required to publicise the details throughout the whole Department/ Division via , inviting applications using the standard application process. The benefits of this approach are to ensure open and fair competition, transparency in procedure and motivation of staff by demonstrating the School encourages development and career progression. It is extremely unlikely that vacancies for Bands 7-10 will be considered suitable for internal only advertisement and advice should be sought early from the HR Division if this is being considered as an option. We recommend that internal vacancies will are advertised for at least 2 weeks, to ensure staff have an opportunity to see the advert and have adequate time to prepare and submit an application. Please be aware that internal advertising is not suitable for roles where there is strong likelihood of the successful applicant needing to obtain permission to work in the UK - these roles must be advertised externally for 4 weeks to meet Home Office requirements Online advertising All vacancies are advertised on the LSE online recruitment system, to ensure open and fair competition throughout the School, and to promote the development of existing staff. All School vacancies are placed on which is accessed by those interested in working within the Higher Education sector. 2

3 Other online advertising jobsites available include and as well as - the HR Division can provide details of other specialist sites that target roles in specific sectors. The majority of recruitment advertising in the UK is now conducted online, rather than in print media. Targeted online advertising is a cost effective way of advertising vacancies, and usually reaches a much larger audience than print advertising. Online advertisements for LSE roles will usually feature a link to the Jobs at LSE online recruitment system. This allows the job seeker to view an advert and click through to the LSE system to find out more about working for the School, further details on the role, and then apply for the role online. The HR Division recommends that appropriate job sites should be used to advertise a role, and can advise you on which sites to use when planning your recruitment campaign. The HR Division will fund the cost of one advert on plus the reasonable cost of a further standard LSE branded advert on another targeted site (such as or professional body s recruitment site). For senior and specialist posts, full use of appropriate university and professional mail bases could also be used, and departments may wish to post their role on other specialist websites they have access to with a link to the LSE online recruitment system. If you wish to supplement this advertising with further web advertising, or any print advertising, this can be arranged by the HR Division. The cost of this additional advertising will be met from your department/divisional budget. Please contact the HR Adviser for your department for more information. Advert copy The advert should grab the reader s attention. It should provide a short summary of the Department or Division the role is based in, the key duties and requirements of the role and an indication about why applicants should apply for the role. Please note that where a Tier 2 visa may be sought for the successful applicant, the Home Office requires that the advert for the role must have included the following information: The job title The main duties and responsibilities of the job An indication of the salary package or salary range or terms on offer Skills, qualifications and experience required The closing date for applications If a Department/Division decides to fund a print advert, we recommend that the print advert is also short, sharp and attractive, and contains a minimal amount of text. It should indicate that more detail is available on the LSE online recruitment system. This will also help to reduce the size and cost of the advert, and encourage potential applicants to visit the School s web site where they can obtain fuller information on the School.. The HR Division will look at the text of all adverts to be published and make suggestions to recruiting managers as appropriate. It is also advisable to include the interview date within the body of the advert in order to give applicants sufficient notice to organise their diaries, and reduce the numbers unavailable on the selected interview date.. A copy of the Recruitment Toolkit, which includes guidance on writing adverts, can be obtained by ing the HR Division. Advertising salaries All salaries at the School are inclusive of London Allowance. 3

4 Salaries for academic posts snd research posts should state the first and the last point of the relevant salary band, excluding the contribution points. Adverts for academic support posts should state the contribution maxima as potential for progression. For example, an advertisement for a Band 7 academic support post should be expressed as: [bottom of standard scale] - [top of standard scale] per annum inclusive with potential to progress to [top of contribution] per annum inclusive. Managers who believe there is a case for a market/salary supplement to be applied to the vacancy they wish to advertise should read the relevant HR guidance notes on Market Supplements for Academic Support Staff and also contact the HR Division to discuss as early as possible. Where market supplements are approved by the HR Division this will be expressed following details of the salary with: with an additional attraction and retention premia of x,xxx. The starting salary package on appointment will normally be no higher than xx,xxx. Diversity The School is committed in promoting diversity, therefore all adverts, irrespective of where they are placed, will include the following diversity policy statement: We value diversity and wish to promote equality at all levels. Duration of Advertising Campaign Process Advertising a vacancy externally generally takes up to eleven weeks (and sometimes longer if you wish to advertise in a publication with advance print deadlines, rather than using web advertising), from the point of creating the role on the online system to the decision-making process following the selection committee. Timeframes may also vary depending on the type of vacancy (e.g. Academic or Academic Support). Required documentation can be found at: FormsAndTemplates.aspx You should seek advice from the HR Division as soon as a Department/Division is aware that a vacancy will arise (e.g. upon receipt of a resignation letter, to cover staff absence). This will facilitate the successful filling of the position in a timely manner, and ensure that there are appropriate timeframes for the recruitment process (e.g. including drafting the job description, person specification and advert text, seeking funding and HERA grading approval, and meeting publications set deadlines). Additional time may be required if managers wish to put a case forward for a market supplement, in which case it is important the HR Division is contacted as early as possible to discuss. Commercial Specialism HR recognises there are certain posts within the School which are difficult to appoint to for a variety of reasons, typically where technical expertise is required or where the industry approach differs greatly from the approach taken within the Higher Education sector. Examples of such posts could be in parts of Catering Services and the Estates Division. Where a Department/Division can identify specific posts and justify legitimate difficulties in recruiting for these posts, the HR Division will work closely with managers to try to ensure that a bespoke 4

5 recruitment process is put in place in advance of any appointments being made to ensure the department/division is fully supported throughout the recruitment process. Where this is the case, departments/divisions must contact the HR Division as soon as possible, even before a vacancy arises so that the relevant issues can be considered and accommodated in good time. Advertising costs and payments For each advertised role at the School: HR will pay for the reasonable cost of one standard LSE branded online advert on a targeted online jobs site such as for up to four weeks. (In exceptional circumstances where the Department/Division does not wish to advertise on a targeted jobs site, HR may contribute up to 500 towards the total cost of a print advert for roles banded 1-9, and up to 1000 for roles at band 10. The balance will be met by the Department/Division) HR will pay for an LSE branded online advert on the website. The role will also be advertised on the LSE online recruitment system of the School s website. Any additional advertising costs, such as the additional cost of an enhanced online advert (e.g. upgrading an advert to job of the week on a site), the cost of any additional jobsites used, or any print advertising, will be met by the Department/Division. Re-advertisements Where a re-advertisement is required and the advice of the HR Division has also been taken into consideration during the original campaign, the costs will be treated as above (see Advertising Costs and Payments). Departments/Divisions are encouraged to discuss with the HR Division details of their last recruitment campaign and how to improve the response rate on subsequent attempts. Agencies, agency fees and Head hunters The School prefers to recruit staff directly to ensure the quality and equality of applicants. Agencies should not be considered as an option to avoid going through the School s recruitment process. The use of agencies incurs significant additional costs to the School and should only be considered after consultation with HR. HR recognises there are posts that are difficult to appoint to for a variety of reasons (as identified above in the Commercial Specialism section), which may make it necessary to seek an appointee from an agency rather than advertising. An appointee sourced from an agency where the Department/Division has opted not to advertise first, will result in the agency charges being borne by the Department/Division. Should a Department/Division wish to opt to use an Agency or Head Hunter service, approval for this course of action must be sought from HR first. It is also important to be aware of the School s financial regulations, which requires a formal tender process to be followed for all services provided to the School in excess of 8,000 excluding VAT (Value Added Tax). Further details in relation to this can be obtained from the Finance Division. In the rare cases of the transfer of existing temporary agency staff to a permanent contract and as per current practice, any further agency charges will be borne by the Department/Division and not by HR. Please note that all agency requests should go through the Schools primary selected agency in the first instance. Please contact the HR Division for further information. 5

6 Where a Department/Division has been unsuccessful in a recruitment campaign and subsequently chooses to fill their vacancy via an agency rather than re-advertising, HR will contribute a maximum of the cost of the least expensive online advert from the earlier advertising attempt(s). All other charges will be borne by the department/division. Updated September