Recruitment guidelines

Our goal is to become Scotland’s leading university, celebrated internationally for the quality of our graduates and the impact of our research. In order to reach that goal, we must become a world-class recruiting organisation that successfully attracts, selects and inducts the best possible academic, research, professional and support staff.

There are standards that all recruiting managers should follow in order to ensure high-quality hiring decisions and practices. These are based on best practice in the field of recruitment, and reflect our core values:  Valuing People, Working Together, Integrity, Making a Difference, and Excellence.

In summary, our staff recruitment practices should: 

• Attract and engage the highest quality candidates
• Enhance our reputation as an employer-of-choice by delivering an outstanding candidate experience to all applicants – both successful and unsuccessful
• Be fair and consistent
• Be non-discriminatory and inclusive of people from all walks of life.

Your School/Directorate People Team are available to help and will be happy to guide you through the recruitment process.   

Our recruiting philosophy 

Recruiting talented staff is central to our aim of becoming Scotland’s leading University. It is only through the quality of our teaching, research, professional and support staff that we can provide a world-class experience for our students, and deliver teaching and research that transforms lives, locally and globally.

Everyone involved in a recruitment cycle is making potentially life-changing decisions. Recruiting Managers are identifying the people who will make the biggest difference to their teams and help their Directorate or School achieve demanding goals. Candidates are investigating whether the University is an organisation that will support and develop them – and weighing us up against other potential employers. Many candidates are also trying to decide if a role at Dundee is worth relocating from other parts of the world.

Fair and rigorous assessment

We need to use robust assessment methods to identify the strongest candidates. Whether we’re testing for academic excellence or vocational skills, we need to aim for assessment that is both rigorous and rigorously fair. All candidates should have the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise and enthusiasm.

Great candidate experience

Just as importantly, we want Dundee’s friendly, down-to-earth culture to be reflected in our recruiting practices. We want every touchpoint the candidate has with us to be a positive one – from the moment they read a well written and engaging job advert, to visiting the campus for a welcoming and robust interview; from timely assessment feedback to an effective induction. Ultimately we want all our new hires to feel excited about joining us, and for all our candidates to feel good about the University regardless of the outcome of their application.

It is your role as a recruiting manager to ensure that we deliver on both of these challenges. The People team will be on hand to help and advise you, but responsibility for good hiring practice ultimately lies with you.

Legal framework for recruiting

There are three type of legislation that you need to be aware of when recruiting.

• Equal Opportunities
• Right to Work
• Data Protection

Equal opportunities

We are bound by both a moral and legal obligation to ensure our hiring practices are not discriminatory. The Equality Act 2010 consolidated and expanded on previous equality legislation to provide a comprehensive framework to employers and service providers. Quite simply, it is illegal to discriminate, directly or indirectly, based the following protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Marital Status
• Pregnancy
• Race
• Religion
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation
• Ex-offenders with “spent” convictions

Discrimination in recruitment can take a number of forms:

• Direct discrimination
  • Treating someone less favourably based on a protected characteristic, e.g. rejecting a candidate because they are a woman.
• Discrimination based on association
  • Treating someone differently because of their association with someone with a protected characteristic, e.g. rejecting a candidate because their brother is a controversial religious figure.
• Discrimination based on perception
  • Taking an action based on the belief that someone has a particular protected characteristic – even if that isn’t the case, e.g. rejecting a candidate because you believe that they are gay (even if they aren’t).
• Indirect discrimination
  • When a requirement or practice appears to be neutral, but its impact particularly disadvantages people with protected characteristics, e.g. a job advert that states that candidates must have a minimum of 10 years’ experience could be seen as indirect discrimination against younger candidates.
• Discrimination arising from a disability
  • Treating someone unfavourably because they have a disability, e.g. rejecting a candidate for a role that involves using a complex modelling system because the candidate has a visual impairment.
  • This definition of disability covers a wide range of physical, mental and sensory impairments, including specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, mental health difficulties such as depression, and chronic health conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy. The definition also includes people with cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis from the point of diagnosis. 
  • In many cases, discrimination arising from a disability can be avoided by the provision of reasonable adjustments. View guidance for line managers in supporting disabled staff

The University is also bound by the Public Sector Equality Duty which, among other things, charges us to actively advance equality of opportunity. We want to actively encourage more applications from candidates who possess characteristics that are currently under-represented at the University.

All managers involved in recruitment of new staff should complete the online diversity training available.

Right to work

The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 means we have to ensure that all staff have the legal right to work in the UK for the duration of their contracts.

Any offer of employment is subject to the candidate producing their original passport, work visa or birth certificate.

We can sponsor non British and non Irish candidates, but there are very strict rules in place, and we must abide by them to retain our sponsorship privileges. If you shortlist a non British or non Irish candidate, you should contact your Senior People Partner to understand our obligations, or find out more by visiting: Work Visa FAQs

Data protection

When they apply for a job at the University, candidates trust us with a lot of personal data, including some sensitive information. Under the General Data Protection Regulations Act, we have an obligation to keep this information as securely as possible, to only hold it for as long as we need it, and to only use it for the purpose of processing their application.

Candidates also have the right to request all information we hold about them, in any form. That includes shortlisting and interview notes, which they can request up to 6 months after an interview.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has the power to impose fines for breaches of the act. Visit our Data Protection pages for more information on our Data Protection obligations.

Recruitment process

There are three broad phases involved in hiring new permanent or fixed term staff. All are equally as important. As a Recruiting Manager, it’s your responsibility to contribute to all three phases.

High level recruitment process overview

The details of the recruitment process differ depending on the type of staff you are seeking to recruit. Please contact your Senior People Partner if you require any guidance on recruitment of the following:

• Non-Clinical Academic Staff
• Clinical Academic Staff
• Senior Clinical Lecturers and Consultants
• Professional Services  Staff