What happens to your application
Candidates may be wondering what happens to their application once they have applied through the company’s job web site.
Most roles have a set deadline for applications and during the period when the role is open for applications the recruiting line manager and the HR Advisor, who is handling the vacancy, will be monitoring the candidate applications as they come in.
The recruiting line manager and the HR Advisor will have set pre selection criteria for the role and you may find at this stage that your application has been rejected as it does not meet the basic criteria.
Once the advertising deadline has expired the recruiting line manager will be focused on sifting through all the applications who have achieved the basic criteria for the role.
A short list for interview will be drawn up. This process can take up to two weeks after the closing date.
If candidates are invited for interview they will received an automated e mail asking them to either:
(i) contact the HR Services Central Support team to organise a convenient time and date for testing or interview
(ii) inviting them to an interview or a testing session on a specific date.
Some candidates may not hear back from us for a while, this may be due to the fact that they are not on the first sift for interview, but are in a holding position. Candidates may get an e mail stating this, but if nothing is heard for a week or so they should not be unduly concerned.
Following the first part of the selection process candidates should hear within one week of the next steps, these could include:
(i) whether they have been successful or not in their applications
(ii) invite to next stage, which may be a further interview or an assessment centre
(iii) an offer of employment
(iv) a communication stating that the candidate’s application is on holding pending further actions.
If a candidate’s application is on hold, then they are welcome to keep in contact with the HR Department to check on progress.
Offer of Employment
If the candidate is offered a contract of employment with the Group this will take the form of an Offer pack.
The Offer pack will contain details of the offer of employment and will include:
• Letter of offer
• Terms of Employment
• Hours of work
• Holiday entitlement
• Pension details
• Any applicable benefit details
• Invitation to begin the process of a pre employment medical
• Request for the names and address of two referees
All offers of employment with the Group are subject to satisfactory references and a pre employment medical.
References
References are taken up for all new employees, the successful candidate will be asked to nominate two referees.
The Group prefer that these referees are work related, one of which must be the successful candidates last employer
Referees will not be contacted without the explicit permission of the successful candidate, and will be contacted by either telephone or e mail.
If any of the references are less than satisfactory the successful candidate will be contacted to explore the issue in more depth before a final decision on employment with the company is reached.
For specific roles you may be asked for evidence of other more detailed references, such as evidence of professional status; degree qualification certificates; credit checks or more detailed previous career history checks. If these are required then they will be confirmed to you in your offer pack
Pre-employment Medicals
As part of the Offer of Employment the successful candidate will be asked to attend a pre employment medical.
Successful candidates may either go to their own doctor, with the appropriate company pre-employment forms, or go to a recommended practitioner. The cost of a pre-employment medical will be refunded by the company.
The practitioner who completes the pre-employment medical will send a report back direct to The Group’s Occupational Health Department. These reports are confidential and do not go through either the recruiting line manager or the HR Advisor.
Employees are not permitted to start work with the company until the pre-employment medical has been completed and the Group Occupational Health Department have received a satisfactory medical report back.
If the pre employment medical is less than satisfactory this will be explored with the candidate before any final decision on employment with the company is reached.
For some “safety critical” roles the successful candidate may be expected to undergo drug and alcohol testing as part of the pre employment medical, however this will be identified early on in the recruitment process, so that candidates are aware that this may occur.