04 February 2024

A maternity cover, just in time

Only some two and a half weeks ago, the School interviewed for a post in biological oceanography, and to my surprise, only three days later the email came through from the Head of School that one of the candidates had been appointed. That is so quick!

There was another job vacancy where speed was of the essence. I think I mentioned it before, but my Welsh medium colleague Mollie is about to go on parental leave. And the idea was that we would recruit a maternity cover. But it was left so late! I was quite nervous about it.

One Friday I was sent the information of the applicants, with a request to join a shortlisting session next Monday. I accepted that.

It wasn't a laborious shortlisting session; there were only three applicants, and one of them didn't speak a word of Welsh. Unfortunately, you can't just cast aside the letter then. You still have to fill out the spreadsheet in which you log to what extent they meet every single one of the essential and desirable criteria. It seems pointless! If this person would enquire why they hadn't been shortlisted, we could just say it was because they didn't speak Welsh. I would say that is a good enough explanation! But no. So the session was longer than I hoped.

What we produced in the end was a shortlist of only one person. At least it would be relatively easy to find a good date for the interview. And we found one that same Thursday.

Long story short: she interviewed well, so we basically immediately afterwards sent the paperwork to HR. They gave us the OK to offer her the job on the spot, and she accepted. So before the end of the day we already received the email. I have a new colleague, for 12 months, and her name is Claire! I am really chuffed with this outcome! And not a day too soon; Mollie only has one pre-parenthood working week left...

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