Maternity Cover Roles

[Lonoxo]

Hi, I have applied for a maternity cover role (min 6 months) and was wondering if anybody could provide info on the application process and the work/standard required as I'm a bit clueless at the moment.
Would companies bother going to 2nd round interviews? Are they less or more fussy about candidates? Wage-wise, is it regarded as contract work so you get paid a bit more to make up for the insecurity once the cover comes to an end? Thanks!

I've worked in 2 different companies on Maternity cover roles for a relatively niche industry. Pay was about the same tbh as a permanent role but it does depend i guess. Neither involved a second interview as they obviously has quite tight timescales to get people in place - I had a month & 2 weeks respectively handover in the roles before the M2Bs started their leave. Although they may still quite picky I know with the more recent role when they had tried to recruit initially had interviews with 3 candidates prior to myself who were not suitable. I was introduced via a recruiter that had been brought in as they had been unsuccessful advertising themselves. Regarding the insecurity - 1st Mat Role I actually ended up being asked to stay on within the department (and stayed for 5 years!) The other role was just for the 10months that was initially advertised it can really depend.

Im about to go back to work after maternity leave but was heavily involved in the recruitment for my cover and for other maternity contracts in the past. In terms of pay this would be the same as the grade of the permanent role you are covering and we definitely don’t lower our standards to cover the role at all. As for job prospects after the contract it would depend on whether the person is coming back from Mat leave etc.

Thanks both. I didn't even think about handover. Been asked to go to interview next week so fingers crossed.