Recruiting a Research Associate

All positions at the university are defined in a job description and person specification. There is a template job description provided below to help you do this. You can also contact your Senior HR Officer if you need more assistance.

The job description and person specification will need to be prepared in advance of the position approval request (see step 2), as it is attached by your iTrent administrator to the position approval request.

Researchers are in the Specialist and Supporting Job Family (SSA). As a guide, a grade 5 Research Assistant literally assists with research, a grade 6 Research Associate is expected to conduct standalone research and a grade 7 Senior Research Associate would be taking a lead and managing the project or projects.

All SSA6 positions require the post holder to have completed or be very near completion of their PhD. This is an essential criterion for sponsoring a candidate under UKVI regulations and the expected level of academic attainment for a grade 6 Researcher.

Your iTrent administrator will submit your request, which will then progress through a devolved route for Research Finance approval, this includes HR and Finance to check funding and the associated J code (used by Finance to identify externally funded posts). The funding available will determine the length of the fixed term contract and the salary range you can offer. Please note that you will not be able to start the recruitment process until a charge code has been released. In exceptional circumstances, your Dean may agree to underwrite the full project funding prior to advertising. Once funding has been approved HR will receive a workflow to complete evaluation and approve the position. The Senior HR Officer (SHRO) supporting your School may contact you at this point to discuss the job details.

Grade 6 job details will be virtually evaluated by HR.  Grade 5 and grade 7 positions will be sent to evaluation panel, if they can’t be job matched (matched to a previously evaluated position).

The process can be speeded up by uploading similar job details, which have previously been evaluated onto the iTrent system.

Allow up to 3 days for position approval. Allow up to 5 days for virtual job evaluation and up to 2 weeks if the position is sent to an evaluation panel.

This is normally done via the same School administrator who managed the approval step for you. S/he will complete a ‘Request to Advertise’ form to enable Recruitment to place the advert to your requirements.

All positions of over 3 months’ duration will be placed on the university’s redeployment register for 3 days.

A standard job advert will be placed on the university website, jobs.ac.uk and Find a Job (previously jobs centre plus). The minimum time you can advertise for is 7 days. 

The wording of the job advert must reflect the wording in the job description. If there is a discrepancy it could affect the ability to recruit a non-UK citizen.

We recommend including the date(s) for interviews on the advert. This helps your planning and deters applications from candidates who are not available on your chosen date(s) for interview. Rearranging the interview date is a common reason for delays in appointment.

You have the discretion to accept late applications however you must be consistent and accept all late applications if you do this.

Allow between 7 and 28 days for advertising.

There is a shortlisting matrix in iTrent which will pre-populate with the essential and desirable criteria you have specified in your job description. You must use the matrix as the university must have detailed records of all recruitment and selection stages.

The School administrator will then arrange interviews with your shortlisted candidates to your specification and send a ‘decline’ email to those not shortlisted.

If you want to use other selection methods (for example a written test) please allow time for this and ensure they are adequately supervised. You can get further advice on other selection methods from your Recruitment team.

Shortlisting typically takes 1 day although it can take longer if you have a high number of applications (i.e. over 30).

The interview panel (insert link to Panel composition on website) will be at least 2 people and would include yourself as the PI. Wherever possible, panels of the same gender should be avoided. The panel should convene for about 10 minutes before the first interview to agree the question set. Each interview typically would last 30-40 minutes.

The university requires at least one member of the panel to have completed Recruitment and Selection training in the past 3 years and you are not permitted to chair without the training.

Skype/Teams interviews are preferable for overseas candidates as they are an efficient and cost-effective method of interviewing. People and Organisational Development will normally reimburse reasonable travel and accommodation expenses (typically one night at Burleigh Court) if you choose to conduct face to face interviews. If the accommodation and travel costs are high, you will be contacted about the School contributing to the cost. Candidates must submit original receipts and a claim form quoting the advert REQ number for reimbursement.

It is essential that good quality notes are kept of each candidate’s response to the questions. These will be required to demonstrate the preferred candidate’s performance.

After the interviews are completed, the panel will discuss each candidate and confirm who is appointable and who will be offered the position. You can have more than one appointable candidate and place them in order of preference.

Allow 1 day for interviews.

Prior to their first day, your new joiner must visit the HR Intern to complete right to work checks. They will receive full instructions on what they must do with their offer of employment. Please note:

• No work must be completed until the right to work check is completed – this includes logging on to any IT systems.
• If your researcher is a current employee, People and Organisational Development do not need to complete right to work checks again.
• If your researcher has been an employee previously but has ended employment, right to work checks must be completed as if they were new to the university.

You will be responsible for planning a suitable induction for your new RA, using any support provided within the School. Please refer the guidelines available via the link below to help you do this.

Anyone joining the university on a contract longer than 3 months will be invited to attend a half day ‘Welcome to Loughborough’ event. This gives colleagues an overview of the history of the university, the campus layout and facilities and includes the VC or nominee outlining the university strategy. Lunch is provided and there is an opportunity to network with new colleagues from across campus.

If your RA is on probation, you are likely to be the probation adviser. Further advice on what must happen for probation to be successfully completed can be found below:

RA probation tends to be ‘light touch’ however it is worth bearing in mind that a positive experience during the first few months can help motivate RAs to seek out other opportunities to build their career here. Also, all Researchers are required to complete the mandatory training during their probation period, this is currently the ‘Respecting Diversity’ half day course and Information Security on line training.

Prior to their first day, your new joiner must visit the HR Intern to complete right to work checks. They will receive full instructions on what they must do with their offer of employment. Please note:

• No work must be completed until the right to work check is completed – this includes logging on to any IT systems.
• If your researcher is a current employee, People and Organisational Development do not need to complete right to work checks again.
• If your researcher has been an employee previously but has ended employment, right to work checks must be completed as if they were new to the university.

You will be responsible for planning a suitable induction for your new RA, using any support provided within the School. Please refer the guidelines available via the link below to help you do this.

Anyone joining the university on a contract longer than 3 months will be invited to attend a half day ‘Welcome to Loughborough’ event. This gives colleagues an overview of the history of the university, the campus layout and facilities and includes the VC or nominee outlining the university strategy. Lunch is provided and there is an opportunity to network with new colleagues from across campus.

If your RA is on probation, you are likely to be the probation adviser. Further advice on what must happen for probation to be successfully completed can be found below:

RA probation tends to be ‘light touch’ however it is worth bearing in mind that a positive experience during the first few months can help motivate RAs to seek out other opportunities to build their career here. Also, all Researchers are required to complete the mandatory training during their probation period, this is currently the ‘Respecting Diversity’ half day course and Information Security on line training.