Check you are ready
You will need:
- approval for the post
- job specification signed off at an appropriate senior level
- selection process mapped to include the knowledge, skills and abilities you will measure at each stage of the selection process
- additional candidate information document and the application form for the role
- Identify your target candidate pool. Is it difficult to recruit this grade / profession and is a wider applicant pool preferable? If so consider accepting applications from candidates who will need a work permit.
Read more about your employment permit options.
Attracting candidates
Advertise all posts on the HSE jobs page.
You must advertise posts for Grade VIII and above on www.publicjobs.ie and the HSE jobs page.
To advertise on publicjobs website, complete the PAS external advert request form and email it to externaladverts@publicjobs.ie
You must advertise with the Department of Social Protection Services and EURES (European Network of Employment Services) for at least 28 days if you want to employ candidates who require a general work permit.
In some cases, you will need to look to the open market to attract candidates with particular skills. You can decide to use other appropriate sites to attract candidates to your post.
Irish language
The Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 requires that a minimum of 20% of HSE advertising must be in the Irish language.
This includes recruitment advertising (including vacancy notices) on our HSE website and social media channels, as well as paid recruitment advertisements placed in newspapers, radio, and television.
This means that at least 1 in 5 staff vacancies should be advertised in Irish, or in both English and Irish. For now, start working towards having all your vacancies listed in both English and Irish to ensure compliance with the Official Languages Act.
For notices placed on HSE websites, list the job title and location for each post in English and Irish. Use the certified Irish language list of all existing job titles to help you do this.
HSE email addresses that send 'out of office' or automated responses must be in Irish, or both Irish and English. The Irish language version must be first, followed by the English version.
Find examples and translations for this, and phrases for recruitment related correspondence in the Useful Irish words and phrases resource.
Currently, you only need to translate the job listing on the website or the paid advertisement to be compliant. This is unless you intend to run the entire recruitment process in Irish, which may be a consideration for some Gaeltacht-based positions.
If you use social media to promote job vacancies, at least 1 in 5 posts must be in Irish or in both Irish and English.
Additional resources and information are available on the Irish language hub in the Discovery Zone on HSeLanD.
Before you advertise
Before you advertise, you need to:
Prepare to advertise on the HSE website
To advertise on the HSE jobs page you need to complete the advert template. Use the format provided, or select from the dropdown menu where available.
Fields with a star-shaped symbol (*) are mandatory. If these fields are not complete, your template will not be accepted.
All remaining fields are free text.
Field 19 is the only field where you can use a hyperlink. That is, for the application web link, if applicable.
Do not use hyperlinks in any other field.
Adverts must comply with the HSE digital communications policy.
Use the job specification to help you complete the template accurately.
You must include the following:
- Job title. You must use a mix of uppercase and lowercase or other capitalisations. For example, HR Manager. Do not use all capitals or all lowercase. That is, HR MANAGER or hr manager.
- Staff category and grade code. The medical/dental subcategory is a mandatory field. If it does not apply to your advert, select Not Applicable.
- County, HSE area and location.
- Contact details for informal enquiries. Note, email addresses in informal enquiries and/or application details must be in plain text and not a hyperlink. If it is a hyperlink your advert will be returned to you.
- Contract type and the type of competition. That is internal or external.
- Go-live date for the advert, and campaign reference number. Note you must use all caps in the campaign reference number, which cannot be more than 20 characters in length. Do not use any special characters or spaces.
- Closing date and time of the campaign. The closing date must be in this format HH:MM DD/MM/YYYY
You can also include post specific information, if relevant, and proposed interview dates.
The Advert template must be saved as an excel spreadsheet, to avoid it being returned. PDFs are not accepted.
Remember in cases where it difficult to recruit this grade / profession and a wider applicant pool is preferable you may need to advertise the role more widely.
Review the advert and marketing material
Make sure advert and marketing materials are:
- clear, concise and designed to give equal opportunity
- effective at attracting the widest pool of talent with relevant talent and experience
- accessible to everyone
- inclusive and not excluding any group within society
All materials and adverts must reflect, where appropriate, the agreed job and person specification, and assessment process.
You must save your Job Specification, Application Form and Additional Campaign Information as word documents. PDFs are not accepted.
Check the advert template is complete and the factual accuracy of all documents before you submit them to avoid delays.
Advertising timeframes and deadlines
You must submit requests by 5pm each day.
Requests will be processed at 7pm each working day.
Send your new advert requests as soon as you have completed them. You do not have to wait to send them as a batch at the end of the week.
You must send a separate email for each request.
Advert request
Complete the relevant sections of the advert template. Save as an excel spreadsheet only.
Save the associated documents in word format only. This includes the application form, job specification, and additional candidate information document.
Use the following naming conventions and format - campaign reference and description of document:
- ADVERT1234 Additional Campaign Information
- ADVERT1234 Advert Template
- ADVERT1234 Application Form
- ADVERT1234 Job Specification
Do not use punctuation or special characters.
Email hse.advertising@hse.ie and attach your advert template and any associated documents.
The subject line in the email must show:
- the action required
- campaign reference number
- post title
- go-live date
For example, Advert Request ADVERT1234 HR Manager, Grade VII go-live date of DD/MM/YYYY
Do not include any special characters such as, ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - = + \ | [ ] { } ; : ? . >
Attach the following documents in the correct format:
- Advert Template – excel spreadsheet
- Job Specification – word document
- Application Form – word document
- Additional Campaign Information – word document
The body of the email message must include the following confirmation:
I can confirm this advert has REO approval to proceed.
NRS advertising team will email you when your advert request is processed.
The advertising team will return advert requests with errors, for example:
- advert template is incomplete
- associated documents are incorrectly named
- advert requests that do not contain the required information in the subject bar
Returned requests re-join the workload schedule from the date they are re-submitted.
Cancellation request
Email hse.advertising@hse.ie to cancel your advert request on the same day as your original request.
Your email subject must include the action required, campaign reference number and post title. For example, Advert cancellation ADVERT1234 HR Manager, Grade VII.
NRS advertising team will not process your advert cancellation request if you do not submit the cancellation request on the same day as the original advert request.
If you need to cancel an advert request before the go-live date, and after the original advert request date, you should submit an advert amendment request (after the post goes live).
Amendment requests
Email hse.advertising@hse.ie to amend the advert.
Your email subject must include the action required, the campaign reference number and the title of the post. For example, Advert Amendment ADVERT1234 HR Manager, Grade VII.
Outline the reason for the amendment in the body of your email. For example, incorrect closing date or time, incorrect job specification, incorrect staff category on advert template.
Attach your advert template and any amended documents with your email.
NRS advertising team will email you when your amendment request is processed.
Incomplete requests for advert amendments will be returned with error descriptions. Returned requests will re-join the workload schedule from date of resubmission.
Extend campaign closing date request
Email hse.advertising@hse.ie to extend the closing date of your campaign.
Your email subject must include the action required, the campaign reference number and the title of the post. For example, Advert Amendment ADVERT1234 HR Manager, Grade VII.
Attach your advert template and amended documents to your email.
NRS advertising team will email you when your amendment request is processed.
Incomplete requests to extend campaign closing dates will be returned with error descriptions. Returned requests will re-join the workload schedule from date of resubmission.
Remove a live advert request
Email hse.advertising@hse.ie to remove a live advert.
Your email subject must include the action required, the campaign reference number and the title of the post. For example, Advert Amendment ADVERT1234 HR Manager, Grade VII
Provide the reason for the removal in the body of your email.
NRS advertising team will email you when your amendment request is processed.
Incomplete requests to remove live adverts will be returned with error descriptions. Returned requests will re-join the workload schedule from date of resubmission.
Re-advertise a post
Email hse.advertising@hse.ie to re-advertise a post.
Your email subject must include the action required, the campaign reference number and the title of the post. For example: Advert Amendment ADVERT1234 HR Manager, Grade VII.
Attach the advert template and any associated documents to the email. Outline any changes made to the original advert. For example, closing date or time, job specification.
NRS advertising team will email you when your amendment request is processed.
Incomplete re-advertisement requests will be returned with error descriptions. Returned requests will re-join the workload schedule from date of resubmission.
If you are re-advertising a post because it difficult to recruit this grade / profession, you may need to advertise the role more widely. For example, on jobsireland and Eures, or accept applications from candidates who will need a work permit.
