A recruitment panel is a list of candidates who have been successful at the selection or interview stages. Candidates are placed in order of merit. The highest-scoring candidate is first on the panel; the candidate with the second highest mark is second and so on.
Creating a new panel
Use panels for frequently-occurring vacancies. This is efficient use of time and resources as potential candidates are interviewed only once for the same role.
For infrequent or one-off vacancies, it is better to use a specific panel for a named vacancy and location. For example, Director of Nursing for a named acute hospital.
Record all recruitment decisions regarding panel formation in the campaign file. Include the rationale for decisions and the relevant people who made the decisions.
Tell your candidates about any recruitment decisions that will affect panel formation. Explain how a candidate’s choice at application stage affects the panel they are placed on and the job offers they receive. This will help them make informed decisions at the application stage.
In the applicant information document explain how:
- panels will be formed and used
- any decisions made can impact the panel and the candidates on it
- candidates can ask to be removed from a panel
Panel duration
The duration or relevance of a panel will vary. For example, this can depend on the number of candidates, the role, and the number of likely vacancies.
Panels are usually in place for 1 year. You can extend the panel duration beyond 1 year to fill specified purpose and permanent vacancies.
For a selection process of considerable size, the general recommendation is to expire the panel after 18 months to 2 years.
A panel lifespan of up to 3 years can happen when significant resources are needed to run a revised selection process.
Panels older than 3 years should be expired and a new recruitment process started.
Contact all available candidates if the panels are exhausted. This is to maintain transparency in decision-making.
You can modify panel management rules during the panel's lifespan based on service needs. Tell all remaining candidates about any changes.
Candidate complaints and requests to review are mainly due to a lack of transparency around decision-making about extending or expiring panels.
Location
The job specification will tell candidates about the possible location choices you have decided. You can give candidates the option to select locations.
Use this information to help you see the areas of most interest. For example, offer all locations to the candidate who scored highest. Then, offer the candidate who scored next highest the locations still available. Repeat this process until you fill all posts in order of merit.
For high-volume campaigns, it might be more appropriate to attach applicants to specific locations. For example, allow applicants to choose 2 locations in order of preference (for example, 2 counties).
Following successful interviews, place those candidates, in order of merit, on a panel for those 2 counties. Offer posts to them as they arise on a county basis. This allows reasonable access to posts for all eligible candidates.
Any recruitment decision cannot be unduly restrictive. For example, only allowing applicants to choose 1 location to speed up the job offer process or restricting applicants to 2 locations within a county is unduly restrictive. This does not provide access to potential job opportunities across a wide area.
The applicant information document must include all information on how you manage panels and locations.
Creating specialty panels
You can also create multi-specialty panels from a single interview process. This usually happens for senior grade roles. For example, if recruiting for a senior occupational therapist you could create different panels for:
- General Medicine Acute Services
- Neurology Acute Services
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
You can also run separate campaigns or interviews where the roles are distinctive.
If you choose to create multi-specialty panels from a single interview process, you need to make sure that the interview board:
- has time in the interview process to assess and score each specialty area
- give a specific score for that unique area
After the interview, place successful candidates, in order of merit, on the relevant specialty panel.
If a candidate applies for more than 1 area, they will have different scores and different orders of merit for each specialty panel.
Assign each candidate a panel status
Active - candidate successful at interview who meets the eligibility criteria, you can offer them a job.
Dormant validation - candidate successful at interview, who is yet to achieve registration with the relevant professional body or regulator.
Dormant undergraduate - candidate successful at interview, undergraduates due to complete their study in the year of the application.
Dormant status means these candidates will remain dormant on the panel until they provide proof of registration. This proof will change their status to active.
This means you will make sub panels for each specialty within that profession.
The application form will need to capture if there are specialist qualifications or experience needed to carry out the role, capture this information. This will have an impact on interview length and panel formation.
Any recruitment decision cannot be unduly restrictive. For example, only allowing candidates to choose one specialty area to speed up the interview and job offer process is unduly restrictive.
A candidate can apply for multiple specialty areas if they have the relevant qualifications and necessary experience for that specialty.
The service or discipline may decide that candidates can only have reasonably acquired the necessary experience or knowledge in a specified number of specialty areas. This is not restrictive criteria.
Record all decisions, the individuals who made them, and the rationale for them in the campaign file.
Using an existing panel
Check if recruitment responsibility for the role lies with local recruitment teams or National Recruitment Service (NRS).
Contact the relevant recruitment team to establish if a panel is in place and the:
- parameters used to create the panel
- location for the panel, for example, community area; hospital or hospital group; whole of HSE
- duration of the panel
You will also need to check if candidates were:
- aware a panel would be used
- assessed for the particular experience or knowledge needed to carry out the role you are recruiting for
You must form a new panel if:
- advertising of the existing panel did not highlight the possibility of your location or specialty being filled from the panel
- the selection assessment did not adequately examine your specialty area
Consult with relevant stakeholders if you are considering extending or expiring a recruitment panel. This will usually be the recruiter, the hiring manager or service and the discipline.
Tell candidates on the panel the times and reasons for the panel expiry. You will also need to tell them if:
- there is a new additional recruitment campaign
- existing panel is still valid or due to expire
If the panel is due to expire, tell candidates they can apply for the new additional recruitment campaign, also known as a supplementary campaign. This will mean the creation of a supplementary panel.
If the panel is due to remain, and to consider existing candidates for the new supplementary campaign, tell candidates they must ask you to remove them from the primary panel. They will then need to apply for the new campaign.
Creating a supplementary panel
This is a panel added to the end of the existing panel otherwise known as the primary panel.
You can create a supplementary panel if no one on the existing panel takes up the job offer. You also need to decide if you will extend, or expire, the primary panel.
Primary panels take precedence over a newly formed supplementary panel. You must offer any jobs in order of merit to the primary panel first and then the supplementary panel.
Candidates on the primary panel:
- do not need to re-apply or interview again
- have a higher order of merit than those on the supplementary panel
Include all details of how primary panels takes precedence over supplementary panels in the Applicant Information Document.
Panel status
Assign each panel member an active or dormant status.
Active status means candidates successful at interview who indicate on their application that they meet the eligibility criteria to work in the Republic of Ireland.
If a candidate is active on the panel, they will receive a request for an expression of interest. If the candidate expresses interest in a role and are highest in order of merit, they will progress to the next stage of the recruitment process.
Dormant status means candidates successful at interview, who at time of application, are yet to achieve registration with the relevant professional body or regulator; or undergraduates due to complete their study in the year of the application.
It is the responsibility of the candidate to provide proof of registration. Once a candidate achieves registration with the relevant professional body or regulator, and meets the eligibility criteria, change their status to active.
Where there is no professional body, statutory regulator, or competent authority, outline how candidates can have their qualifications recognised against the agreed criteria.
For example, candidates can use NARIC's Foreign Qualifications Database to download a comparability statement to compare their academic qualification to an Irish qualification at a similar level on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), where possible.
If the database does not list their qualification, they can apply for advice on the general academic recognition of their qualification.
Candidates should note that:
- comparability statement only provides advice and is not a legal document
- qualification should be awarded by a nationally-recognised awarding body in their country of origin
- decisions on recognising a qualification for employment purposes is made by the individual employer
- decisions on recognition of a professional qualification are made by the appropriate Irish authority for that profession
Do not offer dormant candidates a job until their status changes. Decide if you want to include this cohort as eligible to apply before you recruit. You will need to include this in the eligibility criteria section of the job specification.
Tracking panel status
Use standardised naming conventions to record each panel member’s status. You can create additional naming conventions to identify the number of people appointed or removed from a panel. Example: Dormant Appointed Permanently
Checking registration details
Check the relevant registration or membership at the contracting stage. You can retract a job offer if you cannot check the documents or information provided is accurate.
The HSE is not able to employ a regulated health professional to practice in Ireland without appropriate registration. The relevant regulator is the authority for registration and recognition of qualifications. For several other health and social care professions the Minister for Health is the competent authority.
Managing panel documents
Use a central or generic email address to issue requests for expressions of interest and job offers.
Manage documents in line with GDPR and data protection policies.
Include how the panel will be established and managed in the Applicant Information Document.
Check you are using the correct panel to fill the vacancy.
Check the panel is in order of merit before issuing a request for an expression of interest.
Record all expressions of interest and job offers.
What happens next
Check that candidates on the panel are in order of merit and that no candidate has tied scores against all competency areas. If this happens, you will need to reconvene the interview boards to review the candidates and re-score them to remove the tied score. This will give you a new order of merit.
Allow a short holding period, for example, 1 week between releasing interview results and using the panel. This allows for an initial review of any complaints or appeals that could affect the order of merit.
After you form a panel, notify candidates of a job vacancy, and candidates then express or notify recruiters of their interest in the role, also known as an Expression of Interest.
Make a recommendation to proceed offer, in order of merit, to those who expressed their interest. If the first candidate declines the recommendation to proceed, offer it to the second candidate, and so on.
