Recruitment & selection policy

This policy describes the policy and procedures to be followed when recruiting and appointing staff at the National Football Museum.

1. About this policy

The National Football Museum (NFM) is committed to equality of opportunity. Employees will be recruited, trained, developed and promoted on the basis of their ability and the requirements of the job. To ensure the best person for the job is recruited, selection for any post will be based on merit.

2. Scope

  • United Kingdom legislation makes is unlawful to discriminate in employment against a person based on their:
  • disability
    • gender
    • gender reassignment
    • marital status and civil partnership
    • race
    • age
    • sexual orientation
    • religion or belief
    • maternity, paternity or adoption status
  • This policy and procedure must be applied by all employees, trustees and external consultants or advisers involved in staff recruitment. All those involved at any stage of the recruitment and selection process should be aware of and adhere to the contents of this policy.
  • The policy should also be applied in relation to the recruitment and selection of external contractors where the value of the contract is more than £5,000.
  • From time to time, where justified, special targeted recruitment initiatives may be used in response to under-representation of particular groups however the main underlying principles of this Policy and Procedure will remain.

3. Aims

  • The aims of this Recruitment & Selection Policy and Procedure are:
  • to ensure that recruitment processes are fit for purpose.
    • to appoint the best person for each job.
    • to ensure equality of opportunity for all applicants.
    • to ensure the safe and effective recruitment of anyone working with children or adults that may be considered at risk.
    • to ensure compliance with all relevant legislation.
    • to support and encourage internal career development, where applicable.

4. Procedure – preparation

  • This procedure is designed to give practical guidance for the implementation of the Equality & Diversity Policy, in terms of the employment of staff and volunteers.
  • The recruitment and selection process should not commence until a full evaluation of the need for the role has been completed. This also provides the opportunity to review the job design and working arrangements.
  • All current and future jobs should have job descriptions covering the purpose, the duties, the responsibilities and the reporting structure of the job.
  • Job descriptions must comply with the Equality & Diversity Policy and must include the requirement to adhere to the Equality & Diversity Policy.
  • A person specification must be drawn up for every job and must relate to the contents of the job description. It should be used to draw a picture of the relevant qualifications and abilities required for the post and only contain genuine occupational requirements.
  • Requirements contained within the person specification will be divided into essential and desirable requirements. This differentiation is important and must be carefully considered because only if there is a large number of candidates meeting all of the essential requirements will the desirable requirements be used as a means of further selection.
  • Education and experience should be considered in relation to each other and neither element should be used in isolation. In most cases, relevant experience may be regarded as a substitute for any required educational qualifications.
  • Skills/abilities/knowledge: these headings cover the practical ability to perform given tasks. The requirements must be clear and unambiguous and qualified according to the level of ability required. E.g. “communication skills” should be defined in terms of purpose, with whom and at what level.
  • The person specification may include knowledge and experience which is not necessarily related directly to the post, but which would enable the person to do the job more efficiently, e.g. in the case of a driver, knowledge of the local area.
  • Willingness to adhere to this policy must be included in the essential requirements.
  • Requirements not included in the person specification must not be used as a basis for selection.

5. Procedure – advertising

  • All full-time vacancies of over six months’ duration or part time vacancies of over 12 month’s duration or contracts worth over £5,000 plus vat (where applicable) must be both externally and internally advertised. (Part time is defined 16 hours or less per week). In exceptional circumstances there may be a preferred internal candidate identified where the role in question is part of their planned career development. This will be noted in any internal adverts.
  • Advertising must be as wide as possible within budgetary constraints and positive steps must be taken to attract applications from under-represented groups by informing specialist organisations and agencies of all vacancies and stressing this policy. Recruiting managers must seek approval from the senior leadership team before using agencies that require a fee.
  • Advertisements must be consistent with the relevant job description and person specification and must make positive reference to this policy by stating the NFM’s intention to strive to achieve equality of opportunity.
  • Recruitment literature will not imply that there is a preference for one group of applicants although the NFM will act in accordance with current legislation if a requirement for positive action is identified.

6. Procedure – applications

  • A standard application form, the job description, the person specification, equal opportunities monitoring form, general information about the organisation and the Equality & Diversity Policy statement should all be sent to all enquirers or be available on the NFM website.
  • All applications must be submitted in writing, either via post, email or personally delivered.
  • Speculative applications will be acknowledged and retained for 12 months, candidates will be contacted if suitable roles arise.
  • The NFM’s candidate privacy statement will be made available to all applicants,

detailing how their personal data is processed conforming to the GDPR.

  • All candidates who are interviewed should be sent this Recruitment & Selection Policy. Direct telephone enquiries about the post will not be taken other than about the terms of employment of the post, so as to avoid the possibility of some candidates being unfairly advantaged. Candidates may, of course, research the nature of the post and the organisation in other ways.

7. Procedure – shortlisting

  • The shortlisting panel should be a minimum of three people for externally facing posts and two for internal administrative posts and should be as diverse as possible; it will be substantially the same as the interviewing panel. At least one member of the panel should have undergone fair recruitment and selection training.
  • The panel should receive copies of all applications, the job description, person specification and the Equality & Diversity Policy and Procedure.
  • The equal opportunities monitoring form should not be seen by those shortlisting and interviewing. The form will be securely stored for a 12 month period. As a minimum the form should request information about race, gender, sexuality, age band and disability and where the advertisement was seen.
  • All internal candidates and all disabled candidates who meet the essential requirements for the job should be shortlisted.
  • Criteria for selection must be consistently applied to all candidates and each panel member should note the reason for not shortlisting a candidate, these notes should be retained for 12 months. The application form should not be used as a test of literacy unless this is a requirement of the post.
  • Assumptions should not be made about foreign qualifications which should be checked with an appropriate body in the case of any doubt.
  • Desirable requirements may be used to reach a manageable shortlist.
  • If a member of the panel has a close personal or familial relationship with an applicant they must declare this as soon as they are aware of the individual’s application. It would be necessary for the panel member to avoid any further involvement in the recruitment and selection process.

8. Procedure – interviewing

  • The interviewing panel may have additional members compared with the shortlisting panel in order to improve diversity. The purpose of the interview is to assess an applicant’s ability and suitability for the job as laid down in the job description and person specification. It also gives the applicant an opportunity to gain more information about the post and the organisation so that they can decide whether to accept the post if offered.
  • Interviewers should make themselves aware of any likes or dislikes they might possess about, for instance, a style of dress, language, type of background. Interviewers should guard against hasty judgements, stereotyping and general assumptions.
  • The interview venue should be accessible and disabled candidates should be asked if they have any particular access requirements. The interview room should be quiet and steps should be taken to prevent any interruptions. The venue and room layout should also be as unintimidating as possible so as to relax candidates and encourage them to talk freely.
  • Reasonable planning time must be allowed before the interviews begin so that the procedures for evaluating candidates are agreed and the questions agreed and allocated. The chair of the panel should ascertain that all interviewers share the same understanding of the person specification and whether those that drew it up consider any essential criteria more important than others.
  • Each candidate should be asked the same questions which must relate to each aspect of the person specification. Follow up questions may vary. Questions should not use initials, jargon, etc that may not be understood by the candidate. Indirect questions such as “tell me about yourself’ or questions relating to a candidate’s personal circumstances are acceptable as long as all candidates are asked. It is acceptable to ascertain relevant information, such as whether a candidate is able to work unsocial hours or are capable, in terms of their health, of carrying out the functions of the job.
  • Selection or practical tests may be used providing the candidates have prior notice and that the test relates directly to the job requirements. Tests must be checked to ensure that they contain no gender or racial bias and do not disadvantage disabled candidates. Authorisation from a member of the senior leadership team must be sourced before a test is used.
  • The chair should give each candidate the opportunity to ask questions; should tell candidates when a decision will be made and communicated and should be able to provide information about the terms and conditions of the post.
  • The following system of evaluation is recommended and should be carried out at the end of the interviewing on the basis of notes taken during interviews. Each candidate should be rated according to their ability to fulfil each job requirement and not in comparison with other candidates. Each requirement should be rated separately. The requirements should be scored differently according to whether they are essential or desirable, as follows:

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS 0-4

4          Comprehensively meets requirement

3          Nearly meets requirement

2          Partially meets requirement

1          Hardly meets requirement

0          Does not meet requirement

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS 0-2

2          Comprehensively meets requirement

1          Partially meets requirement

0          Does not meet requirement

  • Panel members should score independently and only discuss their scores in order to arrive at a final decision. If there is insufficient evidence to make an assessment this should be indicated.
  • An overall assessment of the pattern of rating scores should be made in order to distinguish between candidates. The rating scores should not be added up.
  • If it is the case that some essential requirements are more important than others, then this should be taken into account when making an overall assessment. In making a final decision the scores for essential requirements should be considered first. The following categories may be used when making the overall assessment:

SR        Strongly recommended

R        Recommended

P          Possible

NR       Not recommended.

  • The chair of the panel must ensure that the notes and evaluation sheets made by each member indicating whether candidates met the job requirements or not are handed in and kept for 12 months.
  • If any applicant or any interviewer considers that this code of practice has not been complied with or that there has been unfair discrimination, they will inform the most senior staff member or the Chair of the Board within three working days. The complaint would be heard by an appeal panel; the panel would include at least one Trustee but should otherwise conform with the requirements for a shortlisting panel. No members of the original interview panel may be part of the appeal panel, but members should be asked to be available for the appeal so that they can provide evidence relating to the proceedings.
  • Unsuccessful interviewees will be contacted in writing and advised that their details will be kept on file if they wish to be contacted about future suitable roles.

10. Offers of employment

  1. Any offer of employment must only be made to candidates who meet the relevant

selection criteria and to the candidate identified as the “best” candidate by the selection panel. Offers of employment will be confirmed in writing, although may be initially communicated by telephone. Offers of employment will remain conditional until any necessary pre-employment checking has been carried out. These may include:

  • References – two written references must be obtained, one being from the current or most recent employer using the NFM proforma. If the applicant is a school / college leaver educational references must be obtained.
    • Disclosure and Barring Service check – for certain identified posts.
    • Asylum and Immigration – checks regarding entitlement to work in the UK.
    • Qualification and Registration Certificates – to ensure that key relevant qualifications have been awarded and any necessary registration is up to date.

11. Reserve candidates

Where an appointed candidate decides not to take up post or leaves within three months of being appointed, the selection panel may offer the post to a suitable reserve candidate.