Selection panel
Chair
The Oxford Learning Institute offers an on-line course in recruitment and selection, which qualifies those completing it to chair recruitment and selection panels. In cases of recruitment to academic-related or support staff, or academic appointments where the University is the main employer, each selection panel should be chaired by a member of staff who has been trained within the previous four years.
Composition of panel
In accordance with the University's Code of Practice on Staff Recruitment and Selection wherever possible, there should be a member of each sex involved in the decision to make an appointment
The involvement of more than one person with every stage of the recruitment process should avoid decisions being made on the basis of stereotyped assumptions or prejudices on the part of one interviewer and will make any claim of discrimination in the interview more difficult to sustain.
Wherever possible, the same panel should be involved in the entire selection process. However, where a new member joins those involved at the earlier stages it is important before the interviews to clarify the role that person will play, and to ensure that he or she understands the selection criteria and has been fully briefed on decisions already made.
Conflicts of interest
Where possible, staff should avoid involvement in selection panels if one or more of the candidates is likely to be someone with whom they already have a close relationship through work or personal involvement. If this cannot be avoided, the potential for conflict of interest should be acknowledged at the outset by the selection panel, which should discuss how it can best be dealt with, and keep a record of what is agreed.
See also
Panel briefing
It is the responsibility of the chair of the selection panel to ensure that all members of the panel are familiar with the University's Code of Practice on Staff Recruitment and Selection and with the University's guidelines on recruitment and selection.
The role of the panel is to:
- agree the selection criteria for the post
- shortlist applicants for interview
- decide on the interview format (questions, tests, etc)
- carry out the interviews
- reach an agreed selection decision
- nominate a member of the panel to give feedback to candidates
In agreeing interview arrangements, framing its questions and making its decisions, the panel must use the selection criteria previously agreed. Once the details of the post have been advertised panels must not introduce new criteria or exclude existing criteria. The interviewers should agree in advance how they will gain evidence of the candidate’s ability to meet the selection criteria, and how the various issues to be explored at interview will be divided amongst them. Some criteria may be tested more appropriately by means other than interview, e.g. by a practical test or exercise, asking shortlisted candidates to assess information and propose recommendations (see: selection tests).
Particular attention should be given to those criteria which can only be assessed through interview, for example personal qualities or skills such as perceptiveness and oral communication.