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Recruitment Toolkit
This toolkit is designed for new research leaders recruiting to their team for the first time, particularly researchers who are new to the UK and those looking to improve their recruitment practice.
The toolkit will guide you through the whole process:
- Design roles that fit your project’s needs.
- Ensure your job adverts speak to the right applicants.
- Run interviews that help you identify the best candidates.
- Plan an effective start for new recruits.
To get started, work your way through the whole toolkit or jump to the section that best suits your current need. Alternatively, browse videos, downloads and recommended resources from the Recruitment Toolkit in the collection below.
Looking for an in-depth introduction?
If you’re new to recruitment, why not make your way through our detailed and structured exploration of everything you’d need to know to get started.
A thorough guide to recruitment with videos, downloadable helpsheets and links to further resources.
Need specific advice?
Jump directly to the section of the toolkit that covers where you are in the recruitment process.
Videos
Dive straight in to these videos from our Recruitment Toolkit to watch Fellows and experienced PIs share their insights and experiences of recruiting a research project team.
Focus on EDI
Explore pages of the toolkit related to equality, diversity and inclusion in the recruitment process.
Download the EDI guidance from the Recruitment toolkit.
Downloads
Take your pick of the worksheets and guidance documents provided in the Recruitment Toolkit.
- Questions to ask when planning your recruitment strategy [Word, 2.5MB]
- DRAFT – Example recruitment strategy – smaller project [Word, 2.1MB]
- DRAFT – Example recruitment strategy – larger project [Word, 2.1MB]
- Factors to consider when recruiting a PGR student [Word, 1.3MB]
- Reasonable adjustments checklist [Word, 1.1MB]
- Shortlisting matrix template [Excel, 23KB]
- Example interview questions [Word, 1.1MB]
- Example interview summary sheet [Word, 1.1MB]
- Examples of offer and rejection emails [Word, 1.1Mb]
- EDI in recruitment [Word, 1.1MB]
- Checklist of key recruitment information to find [Word, 1MB]
Links
Browse the additional recruitment resources we recommend in the toolkit.
- ‘Job Design’ – Online factsheet from the CIPD
A guide to the principles of effective job design and how this impacts on employee motivation. - Textio software for checking for bias and non-inclusive language)
Run your job descriptions through this software to see whether the language you are using has a gender bias. - ‘Textio Crib Sheet’ – Online PDF guide from Imperial College
A guide to using Textio. - ‘A Guide to Inclusive Recruitment for Employers’ – PDF online from the CIPD
An in-depth guide to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion at all stages in the recruitment process. - ‘Inclusive Recruitment’ – Online toolkit from Imperial College
A guide with several academic recruitment case studies, highlighting good practice in language for job descriptions, as well as many other areas. - ‘Guide to Positive Action and Inclusive Recruitment’ – Online guide from UCL
A great start if you want to get to grips with what positive action actually means in practice. - ‘Gender bias starts before a candidate is even hired’ – Online article in People Management magazine
An overview of a 2017 study on biased language in UK job descriptions.
- Inclusive recruitment: Guide for employers (CIPD)
A step-by-step guide for employers to ensure fair processes are set up to attract a more diverse talent pool. - The University of Glasgow Athena SWAN Neurodiversity Resource Hub
See the section on ‘Advertising roles and use of language’ for a great resource for ensuring your adverts are inclusive and encourage a diverse talent pool. - Textio software for checking for bias and non-inclusive language
Run your job descriptions through this software to see whether the language you are using has a gender bias. - ‘Textio Crib Sheet’ – Online PDF guide from Imperial College
A guide to using Textio.
- A new approach to interviews, can we improve the experience? (University of Leeds)
A case study about sending interview questions in advance. - Understanding unconscious bias (The Royal Society)
An animation and briefing that introduces the key concepts and current academic research around unconscious bias. - Rethinking Research Assessment: Unintended Cognitive and Systems Biases (DORA)
A summary of how unintended biases can affect recruitment and selection from the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). - Academic Recruitment at Imperial – case studies and toolkit (Imperial College London)
Useful guidance on unconscious bias can be found in this PDF toolkit. - A head for hiring: The behavioural science of recruitment and selection (CIPD)
A PDF exploring how insights from behavioural science might help us improve recruitment practices. - Unconscious bias observers could boost interview inclusivity (HR magazine)
An online article reporting research from the University of Manchester. - Unconscious Bias Observer Scheme (University of York)
Webpage introducing the Department of Chemistry’s unconscious bias observer scheme. - Reasonable adjustments at work – Making a request (Acas)
Online guidance including information on reasonable adjustments in the recruitment process. - Recruitment and induction of your new research group (Imperial College London)
Advice from experienced PIs on recruiting your first team in The Academic’s Success Guide.
- Induction factsheet (CIPD)
A look at the induction process, and the purpose of induction for employer and employee. - The psychological contract (CIPD)This factsheet examines what the psychological contract is, why it’s important and the strategic implications it has on the employment relationship.
- The Academic’s Success Guide: Recruitment and induction of your new research group
Advice from Imperial College London on recruitment, induction and expectation setting with postdoctoral research assistants and PGRs. - Research Culture: Welcome to the lab (eLife)
An article on how to create a welcome guide for new researchers, with links to examples of ‘onboarding’ documents from several labs. - Thinkwell: Resources for research supervisors
Hugh’s Kearns website provides some useful tools for induction and agreeing expectations with PGRs. In particular, a downloadable Things to Tell New Students PDF with practical induction checklist that can also be adapted for use with staff. - Guidance for Managers (Imperial College London)
This webpage includes a PDF ‘Onboarding and Induction Checklist for Managers’ designed to help line managers plan and execute a successful, informative and welcoming induction for a new starter. The checklist does have some elements specific to Imperial College but there are many useful pieces of advice in here.
Upcoming events
If you’re a member of the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network, why not register for one of our recruitment events.
- There are currently no recruitment events scheduled
Share your feedback
We’d love to hear where this toolkit has had impact and what you think of it. Please share with us:
- how you’ve found this Recruitment Toolkit useful
- what else it would be helpful to add
- any issues or out-of-date content
- comments or suggestions for how to improve accessibility.
Copyright notice
The resources on this page and in the Recruitment toolkit (except external links or where marked otherwise) are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY) licence. Please attribute the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network and UKRI if you reuse them.