The recruitment process for hiring managers

Priority consideration of redeployee applications

Access to the redeployment jobs portal is available for staff in certain circumstances, including those who have received notice of redundancy. This will enable them to apply for vacancies in the council before they are made available to other internal and external applicants.

Other redeployment applicants will be able to apply for positions once they have been removed from the redeployment portal and at this point, these staff are also entitled to priority consideration against other internal or external applicants.

If you have any queries regarding this process, please feel free to contact your recruitment team.

Priority order of appointment

  • Employees (either permanent or fixed term) who are on maternity leave and are facing redundancy due to a restructure.
  • Employees who have a disability where Occupational Health have recommended permanent redeployment.
  • Employees who have received written notice of redundancy. This includes employees who are on a fixed term contract that is coming to an end, whether prematurely or on the expected date.
  • Employees who are in a post that is vulnerable to redundancy. This includes employees who are going through a consultation process and where it is clear that their role may be directly affected.

Advertising

  • Submit your vacancy for advertising in the normal way.
  • The vacancy will be exclusively available* for redeployees to consider via the redeployment portal and they will have seven days to consider, and submit an application.
  • If there are no other redeployee applications, you must inform the Recruitment team who will update TalentLink as per the usual process and the job will be released to other internal and external applicants.

Exclusive job portal exemptions

Circumstances under which a post does not need to be advertised in the exclusive jobs portal:

If the position is

  • Less than 6 months in duration (secondment or fixed term)
  • Bank work
  • For a uniformed fire fighter, teacher or Saturday library assistant
  • Uniquely qualified - eg. Coroner
  • Has been advertised in the last 6 weeks
  • Particularly specialist or difficult role to fill

Shortlisting redeployee applications

  • If you receive any redeployee applications, you must consider them and complete the selection process as soon as possible and preferably within three days of the initial closing date.
  • If the applicant meets the minimum criteria for interview as detailed in the job profile, they are guaranteed an interview.
  • If the applicant does not meet the minimum criteria, you must confirm the reasons why in the TalentLink system.
  • If the role is on a higher grade, the employee will still be guaranteed an interview if they meet the minimum essential criteria. However, you should appoint the highest scoring person resulting from the selection process (as this is a promotion). When shortlisting, you should check the current grade of any redeployee applicants when shortlisting.
  • If there are no redeployee applications or the redeployee applications do not meet the criteria, you must inform the Recruitment team who will update TalentLink as per the usual process and the job will be released to other internal and external applicants.

What if there is more than one redeployee who meets the benchmark for appointment?

If there is more than one redeployee applicant who meets the benchmark, you must follow the order of priority set out above. To avoid any confusion, it is advised that you contact and discuss this with your HR Relationship team prior to confirming the outcome.

Within each group, if there is more than one candidate that meets the minimum criteria for a given role, the decision about who is offered the job will be made on the basis of a competitive selection process within that group.

Any internal applicant not in one of these groups is not entitled to priority consideration and should be considered alongside other internal applicants and after full consideration has been given in the recruitment process to any employee in one of the above categories.

Interviewing a redeployee candidate

  • You can invite the applicant for interview in the normal way, through the TalentLink eRecruitment system. If it is short notice, it is recommended that you call the applicant to confirm arrangements directly.
  • You should apply your selection process in the normal way to determine if the candidate meets the minimum criteria to be appointed

Appointing a redeployee

  • If the candidate meets this benchmark, you should contact them to offer the position and can confirm the appointment in the normal way, through the WCN system.
  • The recruitment team will send them an offer of alternative employment letter and you should arrange the start date in the normal way.
  • As the employee is under notice of redundancy, they are entitled to a four week statutory trial period.
  • Managing the trial period.
  • On successful completion of the trial period, you should contact the recruitment centre to confirm, and they will confirm the appointment by sending the employee a contract of employment.
  • If you have any concerns throughout the trial period, you should contact your HR Relationship team to discuss.

If the redeployee applicant is not appointable

  • You must inform the Recruitment team who will update TalentLink as per the usual process and the job will be released to other internal and external applicants.
  • You must also record structured feedback against the reason(s) why the candidate has not been successful in the TalentLink system.

Recruitment Team contacts

If you have any redeployee related recruitment queries please contact your adviser:

  • Joanne Simmons 0208 541 9486 - Customer and Communities/Environment and Infrastructure/Chief Executive's Office/Change and Efficiency
  • Raji Bassi (Part time) 0208 541 8768 - Adults Social Care
  • Gina Hoskins (Part time) 0208 541 8598 - Adults Social Care
  • Victoria Haywood 0208 541 9604

*Other than those hard to fill or specialist roles that have been agreed with HR Relationship teams and Recruitment

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