Recruitment Policy(Including Safe Recruitment Practices)Please click here for a BSL version of this policy

Scope
RAD follows a compliant safe recruitment process and aims for it to be administered in a manner that isseen as fair and professional by both internal and external candidates.
The recruitment process is designed to attract and retain those people who will make the best
contribution to the achievement of RAD’s mission, vision and strategic goals.

Safeguarding
RAD is committed to safeguarding and ensuring the welfare of children, young people and adults at riskand expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
The suitability of all prospective employees or volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment
process in line with this commitment.

Equal Opportunities
In adherence to RAD’s Equal Opportunities Policy, all candidates will be treated with the same highstandards of objectivity, courtesy and efficiency regardless of any factor that is not relevant to therequirements of the job.
To encourage applications from as wide a group of candidates as possible, RAD will look sympatheticallyat requests for flexible working patterns and job sharing arrangements. However, the needs of theorganisation must be the main consideration in deciding whether or not such working patterns will besuitable for specific posts.

Advertising of Posts
All roles will have a job/role description and a person specification which will be reviewed and approvedby the recruiting manager before advertising commences. The recruiting manager will also review andapprove the advert to ensure it attracts the best candidates for the job. In the event that RAD needs torecruit someone with a specific characteristic, best practice requires this is assessed for compliance withthe Equality Act 2010 and reference is made to this lawful basis within the advert.
All client facing posts will be subject to satisfactory references and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
checks. Some posts will require medical checks.
Permanent posts will usually be advertised internally and externally in a variety of different ways, thiswill include Deaf media, sector specific media, local press and social media, each post will be reviewed
and the advertising media we use will be determined by the job role.
Author: Office of the CEOReviewed: July 2019
Page 2 of 6

However, there are exceptions e.g:
1. Existing members of staff may be offered temporary or permanent additional hours provided
that the work is similar to that already being done by the team.
2. Where progression opportunities are identified as part of a person’s Continuous Professional
Development.
3. In some cases funders require us to advertise all jobs publicly and recruit strictly on the basis of
the best available person who presents themselves for employment. This is to comply with theirequal opportunities policies. In these cases the funder’s requirements will be followed.
4. Where there is a redeployment requirement in relation to funding.

Applications
Candidates will be required to submit their application, which might include only a CV and supportingstatement. (If an application form is not required through the application process, a completed form
will be required upon appointment.) On application, candidates will be asked to submit a signed anddated agreement to RAD’s employee privacy notice and also to provide critical information, e.g. criminal
convictions for the purpose of safeguarding and information relevant to the guaranteed interview
scheme (ref below).
All applications are passed on only to people authorised to review them as part of the recruiting process,usually the recruiting manager and one other panel member.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme
RAD is committed to the employment of Deaf people and disabled people.
We guarantee an interview to any candidate who is Deaf or who has a disability within the meaning of
the Equality Act 2010 and who meets the minimum job requirements listed in the column headed“Essential” on the Person Specification.
Candidates may request that their application is considered under the terms of the Guaranteed
Interview Scheme by completing the declaration on page 1 of the Application Form or stating this in theirapplication.

Internal Applicants
To ensure that current staff are aware of opportunities within the organisation, vacancies will be postedon the staff egroup (RAD Announce). Staff are actively encouraged to apply for posts for which they feelthey have the necessary skills and abilities.

Department Restructures or Redundancy Situations
Author: Office of the CEO
Reviewed: July 2019
Page 3 of 6In cases where there are department restructures or redundancy situations, any members of staff
directly affected will be considered first for permanent and temporary posts, prior to wider
advertisements, except where funders require the job to be advertised publicly, in which case staff facing
redundancy will not be given preference, but will be treated equally with other applicants.

Making the Selection Decision
Shortlisting
A list of shortlisting criteria is drawn up from the person specification. At least two staff skilled ininterview techniques will use this list to fairly review all applications received, to assess suitability forinterview.
The shortlisted candidates will be asked to bring the following original documentation along to theinterview, as appropriate: Proof of identity (e.g. birth certificate, passport, driving licence) Verification of current address (e.g. utility bill, credit card or bank statement – dated within thelast 3 months).
For candidates who are unsuccessful the copied documents will be destroyed immediately. For
candidates who are successful the documents will be used to commence pre-employment checks (seebelow).
For any shortlisted candidate whose application form reveals gaps in their employment history, therecruiting manager will make a note to ask for further details as a final question at the end of theinterview. The response will be recorded and retained together with all other recruitment
documentation.

Interview
Interview panels will normally consist of three people who have a variety of knowledge and experience(including sector specific and business) to ensure there is balance in the interview panel. The recruiting
manager should be present and where possible a minimum of one Deaf staff member. (There could be
exceptions to the aforementioned with the relevant Director’s approval.)
If any interview panel members know any of the candidates selected for interview, they must disclose
their relationship (for example friend, family member, etc) to the recruiting manager.
Well written interview questions that are linked to the job description/person specification are preparedand reviewed in advance. These enable the panel to extract as much information as possible to help
reach an informed decision. The recruiting manager will usually act as the lead interviewer and will
ensure that members of the panel are satisfactorily briefed and prepared beforehand.
For any candidate who has gaps in their employment history, the recruiting manager will ask for an
explanation and record the response.

Author: Office of the CEO
Reviewed: July 2019
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The interview panel must arrive at a decision after the interviews are completed. Each panel member
must complete a scored assessment sheet. The highest scoring candidate may not always be thecandidate who the panel thinks is most suitable for the post as there may be factors not included on theassessment sheet, or information which arises in the interview itself, which should be taken into account.
Where the highest scoring candidate is not the preferred candidate, the panel must be able to explain
their decision, taking care not to base the decision on any factor which might be discriminatory.
Factors which might indicate that the highest scoring candidate is not successful might include
commitment to RAD’s aims, attitude or personal motivation.
The reasons why candidates were not successful at interview are systematically recorded by theinterview panel; these records will be retained by the Human Resources Officer (HRO) in accordance with
RAD’s document retention procedures. On request, this feedback will be given to candidates by therecruiting manager.

Pre-employment checks
Once a decision is made the HRO will be responsible for ensuring that an offer is made to the successful
candidate subject to the following conditions:

Two satisfactory references (however, where those references do not cover a person’s mostrecent three years’ employment, further references may be requested at our discretion)
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. This applies to the majority of roles, on the rareoccasion that this is not required a risk assessment will be carried out. Refer to DBS Policy formore details.
Right to work in the UK
Medical questionnaire (for some roles)

References
The HRO will check the application form to confirm the candidate’s preference for giving consent toapproach the referees. Once consent is confirmed the HRO will send a written standard reference form
to the two named referees together with a copy of the job description.

Right to work in the UK
RAD is responsible for checking candidate’s eligibility to work in the UK and uses the Home Officeguidance for verifying documentation.

Medical questionnaire
Candidates offered employment with the Independent Living Service are expected, with reasonableadjustments made as required, to be physically and mentally fit to provide support in accordance with
the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These candidates will
therefore be asked to complete a standard medical questionnaire which will be reviewed only byauthorised personnel (usually the recruiting manager).
Author: Office of the CEO
Reviewed: July 2019
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Reviewing if recruitment was effective
It is good practice to monitor the application and recruitment process and decisions to ensure a fair andequal procedure is followed. The HRO will provide recruitment feedback to the Chief Executive and thiswill also be encouraged through early stages of employment, via supervision/other meetings in order tocontinually improve RAD’s recruitment procedures.

Associated Policies
Data Protection
Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS)
Employment of Ex-Offenders
Equal Opportunities

Author: Office of the CEO
Reviewed: July 2019
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