Recruitment Agencies may be used as a supplement to normal advertising of vacancies in the following cases:

1. Senior Appointments (eg Vice-Chancellor, Heads of Schools).
2. Vacancies where advertising has proved unsuccessful in attracting the required quality of applicants.
3. Vacancies where special expertise is required or the potential field is very limited.

This guidance does not apply to agencies used for recruiting short-term temporary staff.

Selection of Agencies

Use of recruitment agencies should be restricted to those selected by the University through the university's tendering process.

Any agency selected through the tendering process should have a statement that it operates in accordance with equal opportunity principles and that it recognises the requirement that it operates within the general and specific duties of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000.

 

KEY POINTS

Recruitment Agencies will only be used for highly specialised or hard to fill vacancies.

Operation

• The decision to use a recruitment agency for recruiting to a specific post must be made by the Vice-Chancellor or Chair of Council.
• Any materials to be used by the agency such as the text of advertisements or recruitment literature must be agreed with the Director of HR. 
• Recruitment agencies must make it clear to potential applicants that the University will apply its own appointment procedures in addition to those applied by the recruitment agency. 
• The CVs of any candidates identified by the recruitment agency should be sent to the Human Resources Department in advance of any closing date indicated by the University's own recruitment procedures. 
• All applicants whether identified by the recruitment agency or through normal advertising will be subject to the University's selection procedures before appointment.

 Informal Contact

• Heads of Department are encouraged to plan in advance for potential recruitment campaigns for posts where special expertise is required or the potential field is very limited and to generate interest from potential applicants. 
• Where such potential posts are identified, Heads of Departments may wish to consider in advance of any recruitment the formulation of person specifications and job descriptions for circulation to other Universities as a means of generating interest. 
• Any such documentation must be agreed with the Director of HR. The documentation should make it clear that no vacancy yet exists.
• Any enquiries that arise through this means, or where during the advertising process contact is made by Heads of Department or members of staff with potential applicants, it should be made clear that all applications will be subject to the University's normal selection procedures. Heads of Departments must take due care to ensure that Equal Opportunity principles are not compromised by informal contacts.