Recruit, hire, and train staff

We need two part-time kitchen assistants for the summer term. Send the job description and interview schedule to HR recruiter Aisha, then to Finance for budget approval, with an interview start date of Monday next week — confirm the salary band and required DBS check are correct before you circulate.

Before I circulate the job ad to candidates, make it easy for hiring managers to pick: surface the hourly salary and shift patterns at the top, show required qualifications and the expected start date, and call out anything that would make a hiring manager hesitate like a pending DBS check or reference lag.

I drafted a job ad for two part-time kitchen assistants but the hiring panel cannot agree whether prior catering experience is essential; HR wants it as desirable. I’m worried that making it desirable will flood us with unfit applicants, but making it essential will shrink the pool. What’s the pragmatic choice to get hires by the start of term while keeping interview workload manageable?

Over several rounds we consistently miss start dates and get candidates who can’t do the shift patterns. Where are we losing time or credibility in our recruitment process, and what one change to the job ad, screening step, or interview scheduling habit would stop chronic delays and bad fits?