Nhs recruitment process

[Laurenx1x1]

Hi everyone
I was offered a job in the nhs last Friday as a receptionist and they said we will now request references..
will they do this straight away? What’s the process.. I’m aware it could take some time but I’ve heard nothing since.. and they take ages to reply to any emails !! I just want to crack on😅

Any info is appreciated

Lauren

NHS recruitment takes ages.

Every step takes ages.

Ring them if nothing has happened in a week.

It takes forever. I've known 8 to 12 weeks.

It's a slow process! I would advise to keep in touch with them if you don't hear from them. But for the references, they won't co tsct you, they will go straight to the people you listed as references. So you could always check with them if they have recieved the request for a reference yet, and make sure they have sent it!

Second that. It’s surprising how long the process takes. I’ve been waiting a week for an interview date and I know there’s only two of us on the shortlist. How hard can it be?

I was offered a job 6 weeks ago. DBS is back, occupational health is booked, but my god is the referencing taking FOREVER. I’ve given up on ever starting

Chase them, and then chase them some more! I'm a senior manager in the NHS and do a fair bit of recruiting. The more you chase the quicker it will happen. Try not to annoy your new line manager but don't worry about nagging HR!

I'd expect it to take a couple of months (at least) and be happy if it took less. Most of the delays with references relate to either the candidate providing incorrect email addresses, or the referee not responding, certainty in my experience. Once they are back, they'll most likely need to go to the person who is recruiting to be reviewed.

The 2 months comment relates to the time until actually starting, rather than references being returned, although some referees do take that long!

I should have also said that some NHS organisations have one start date each month so everyone does induction as soon as they commence, and it also means people don't miss payroll cut off. That can delay starting too.

I think I was waiting almost three months. When they eventually contacted me about a start date it was on my birthday. Typical!

s others have said, they'll write out to the referees you listed on your NHS Jobs application (in some places, for reasons I have never understood, they want you to re-provide your referees details on a separate form). Your referees will be emailed a form to complete, either an online form or a word doc to fill out and email back. If they want to write a 'letter' type reference back rather than filling in the form, that's fine too...

You'll likely be asked to do some Occupational Health forms (these can take forever to come back, no 1 cause of recruitment delays in my trust right now as OH is understaffed), DBS/criminal record check forms, and you may also need to re-provide your ID documents and proof of any qualifications to the recruitment team. A good recruitment team will work on all this simultaneously rather than waiting for one step to be complete then moving on to the next but some are slow so do have patience. The checks are frustrating but they are all there for a reason which is to keep patients safe and protect the trust at the end of the day.

You can help keep things moving by checking in with the recruitment team regularly (don't bug them every day but a polite weekly email or call is OK) and also by nudging your referees to do the forms asap when they get them...

Months... you will develop quite a mature relationship with your future line manager (about how to fill in the next form) over email before you ever actually work for them!!