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Advertising and recruiting roles

From February 2027, a new Talent Attraction (TA) team will carry out the majority of core recruitment, candidate liaison and onboarding duties previously handled across local departments and administration teams.

Planning and strategic hiring
The TA team will prepare and refine job descriptions, advertisements and assessment criteria; collaborate with hiring managers on the overall recruitment strategy, panel selection and interview schedules; and perform early candidate screening. The hiring department will still identify the initial vacancy and get financial approval.
Marketing and advertising
The TA team will create and manage job requisitions within Workday, including post edits or withdrawals; select and place job adverts across appropriate media; actively headhunt for senior and specialist roles; review potential candidate pools; and manage closing dates. The hiring department will still share adverts across their communities.
Shortlisting
The TA team will perform the initial longlisting to reject candidates who don't meet essential criteria; manage shortlisting matrices; distribute applications to panels; chase required paperwork; conduct candidate assessment activities; and manage the applicant journey in Workday. The hiring department will still select the final shortlist.
Interviewing
The TA team will answer candidate queries, distribute interview details, coordinate reasonable adjustments, support candidate travel and subsistence, and reject unsuitable applicants. The hiring department will still handle the on-the-day logistics, like arranging interview rooms, AV and catering in advance; and select their chosen candidate.
Onboarding
The TA team will submit offer paperwork; issue formal job offers and employment contracts; review starting salaries; provide candidate feedback; and manage Right to Work, DBS and reference checks. The hiring department will still order IT kit; set up office space; arrange system access; and oversee local health, safety and training responsibilities.

The Talent Attraction working group are communicating with colleagues who currently carry out recruitment activities across the University, with a view to building the new team by December 2026. Recruitment for casual workers and GTAs will remain in local teams, and not form part of the TA team’s remit.

Benefits for the York community

  • Time and money: cutting the admin burden by screening and reviewing unsuitable candidates earlier in the process, and the current costs of using external agencies for specialist headhunting.
  • Equality and diversity: proactively engaging with underrepresented demographics before the shortlisting phase, and implementing standardised best practice to reduce unconscious bias in decision-making.
  • The candidate journey: enabling staff to act as brand ambassadors to give the best first impression, and better oversight of the user experience in Workday to provide a more seamless experience.

Continuing the conversation

Full details and step-by-step guidance will come through the functional training from November onwards. If you or your line manager would like to share any thoughts before then, please do discuss them with local representatives in the Change Network to feed back to the team.

You can also use our Staff Learning Collection for practical resources on change and personal development for you and those you work with, and explore the full range of wider wellbeing support on offer.

Programme timeline

Common questions