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Original poster

NHS Recruitment

81 replies

AXCS · 16/11/2022 18:33

I’ve read a few posts regarding this but wonder if anyone has any experience with NHS recruitment or Trac.

I’ve been offered a band 2 post a couple of weeks ago now, about a week later I got a conditional offer letter. I immediately filled in all forms and sent back and had my pre employment ID check a couple of days later.
I’ve had notification today that my DBS is being processed so that’s progress.

one reference says ‘complete’ but the other just says it’s been sent and ‘awaiting reply’. This is my current employer and they’ve told me they’ve sent it back though HR at current employment only provide a basic letter stating basic details of employment dates, job titles etc confirming the employment. Will NHS require more info? Is this why if hasn’t been updated to ‘received’ or ‘complete’?

also waiting on Occupational Health, Trac just says ‘with OH’ after I sent back my OH forms and immunisation list. It’s a band 2 admin job and I didn’t flag anything in forms that would raise any concerns.

Any suggestions on how long those remaining tasks should take? I would LOVE to get a start date soon!

any NHS recruitment experience would be appreciated! I’m not currently in the NHS, and never worked for them before.

Thanks!

OP posts:
Londonnight · 26/11/2022 10:06

stripes416 · 26/11/2022 10:03

Does anybody know if the NHS pay goes up when minimum wage does? I'm thinking more the band 2-3 who are only slightly above minimum wage at the moment. I believe the MW goes up in April and will very nearly match band 2 pay.

Yes, it does. When the last minimum wage went up mine did too to slightly more than MW [ I'm band 2 ]. I'm now on £10.36 per hour.

clockapp · 26/11/2022 10:07

I interviewed 16th September and I start 5th December

clockapp · 26/11/2022 10:07

It's Been constant chasing though tbh

Original poster
AXCS · 27/11/2022 07:54

Does anybody know how long the audit takes at this stage?
so if all my pre employment checks are complete and just need to ‘go to audit’ before I can get a start date - how long should I expect this to take?

OP posts:
Original poster
AXCS · 30/11/2022 10:46

I rang as I hadn’t heard anything in nearly a week, after the suggestion I should be contacted about a start date. Recruitment tell me that something is stuck waiting for approval from the manager.
they tell me the approval request was sent to the manager at the weekend, so it took about 3 days after I spoke to them last for them to take any steps… and here we are a week on and no further on!

might start pestering and ring them every couple of days, never mind once a week as nothing seems to happen in the mean time.

OP posts:
Original poster
AXCS · 30/11/2022 10:48

All I have is the recruitment number and Trac (which they don’t respond to anyway) so can’t do much about it! Maybe the manager is in leave, so fingers crossed for progress soon 😔

OP posts:
Pythonesque · 01/12/2022 00:22

This makes interesting reading for me too, with similar experiences. I think prompting your manager-to-be to check in with them is appropriate, if you have any way at all of getting in touch with said manager.

I'm starting a part-time 8 month locum position next week. Was offered the job 8 weeks ago after someone pulled out (presumably for a better offer, it's the kind of post where that would happen). The start date has always been fixed (works for induction as there are trainees rotating onto the same rota next week). But all the stuff from trac still said about not arranging a start date until all checks completed etc.

Occ health had my info for at least 4 weeks before I got a message that I needed blood tests and how to arrange them. When I phoned to make an appointment (at the "last resort" option of their department because I live in walking distance so nowhere else was suitable) - the email was sent to me the morning after the one afternoon a week they have appointments ...

I wanted to arrange some orientation days before I started, and it was definitely more than coincidence that my "everything's complete" messages from Trac came through the afternoon of the day I emailed my supervising consultant to set them up ... She mentioned having to reiterate to them that she was happy with my references and wasn't waiting for a clinical reference as there wasn't going to be one! (I'm returning after many years out, and am self-employed in an unrelated field) My referees have been amused that although listed as character referees they have still been asked all the standard questions as if they'd employed me.

Hope you get sorted soon!

stripes416 · 01/12/2022 13:44

How long after a verbal offer did it take to receive a written offer?

HollyJollyNovember · 01/12/2022 13:55

I@stripes416 in my case it was July 28th offered the job verbally and got written confirmation after all the checks and references and occy health etc on the 28th November... couldn't believe it really.

They just didn't answer the phone or emails. Thank god I had another job!

stripes416 · 01/12/2022 14:30

HollyJollyNovember · 01/12/2022 13:55

I@stripes416 in my case it was July 28th offered the job verbally and got written confirmation after all the checks and references and occy health etc on the 28th November... couldn't believe it really.

They just didn't answer the phone or emails. Thank god I had another job!

Oh wow! So did you not hear from them at all after the verbal offer? How did they do any checks without asking for you any information? They have reference details from the application form but they wouldn't have much else would they?

HollyJollyNovember · 01/12/2022 15:00

@stripes416 they put all the information on trac and I filled it in and sent it back. Didn't hear anything until my dbs returned to me. Then I got a phone call from occy health about 2 months later. I was emailing all the time and constantly phoning.

In the end I found the hr woman on linked in and she had her work email listed so I sent her an email complaining that it had been months and the level of communication was not acceptable and suddenly I had a start date..

stripes416 · 01/12/2022 15:04

HollyJollyNovember · 01/12/2022 15:00

@stripes416 they put all the information on trac and I filled it in and sent it back. Didn't hear anything until my dbs returned to me. Then I got a phone call from occy health about 2 months later. I was emailing all the time and constantly phoning.

In the end I found the hr woman on linked in and she had her work email listed so I sent her an email complaining that it had been months and the level of communication was not acceptable and suddenly I had a start date..

I can't believe how slow it all is. My trac hasn't been updated, it still says interview so I have no idea how long it will all take

Willowswood · 01/12/2022 15:09

I was interviewed in November, and started in April.

The hold up was definitely occupational health. They take ages and there's nothing you can do to speed it up.

stripes416 · 09/12/2022 18:27

Any luck with getting a start date OP?

stripes416 · 11/12/2022 11:13

Just wondering if anybody here knows about how much sickness would be too much in terms of sickness records and references. In the last year I've had quite a bit of time off with the children being unwell. following lockdown when they started nursery they just managed to pick up so many bugs so it was a bad year for us with illnesses. It's more like the odd day or two but quite a few of them rather than long stretches and I'm worried about them taking back the job offer. Would they contact me first to discuss or just inform me that the offer is no longer there?

TrixJax · 11/12/2022 14:21

@stripes416 in my area NHS will ask about sickness absence over the last 2 years. I've heard of someone with 3 absence periods in a year, and another with 1 period which was over 2 weeks being sent for OH assessment before written offer of job.

Was it your DC who were ill or you? Surely if it was DC then it wasn't sick leave, it would be carers leave or special leave and I don't think NHS usually ask about that.

stripes416 · 11/12/2022 14:44

TrixJax · 11/12/2022 14:21

@stripes416 in my area NHS will ask about sickness absence over the last 2 years. I've heard of someone with 3 absence periods in a year, and another with 1 period which was over 2 weeks being sent for OH assessment before written offer of job.

Was it your DC who were ill or you? Surely if it was DC then it wasn't sick leave, it would be carers leave or special leave and I don't think NHS usually ask about that.

Oh I've never thought about whether it would be classed as parental leave or sick and my employer has never said. I was off recently for covid for a day but all the others have been for my children. I'll have to ask my employers how they have classed it. Thank you. It's literally just in the last year I've had so much time off. Before then I never had sick days so it's very frustrating

Original poster
AXCS · 12/12/2022 10:01

stripes416 · 09/12/2022 18:27

Any luck with getting a start date OP?

No! And I am trying to stay calm and not be peed off but it’s ridiculous that all my Trac has been complete since 21st November and I haven’t got a start date.
so I rang recruitment last week and they said the line manager hadn’t replied yet to their query. I finally found her email address so I sent her a message, she sent a response to the recruitment team copying me in saying she hasn’t had any queries to respond to and I don’t believe there has been a response since last Tuesday.
i just rang this morning for an update and they said they still haven’t had a response from her. Just such bad communication. I’ve just sent an email across to the line manager as I’ve been copied into the query now. It’s just such bad communication I’m getting frustrated!!

OP posts:
stripes416 · 12/12/2022 10:09

Wow I can't believe how slow it's being. I think constantly asking for updates is the way to go now so hopefully they'll start moving faster with it

Original poster
AXCS · 13/12/2022 13:36

stripes416 · 12/12/2022 10:09

Wow I can't believe how slow it's being. I think constantly asking for updates is the way to go now so hopefully they'll start moving faster with it

I’ve had a message off the recruiting line manager today and she says she’s now responded to their queries. So hopefully I’m ALMOST ready for start date. Think I will ring tomorrow to confirm they have received it and chase what happens next.

I’ve never ever wanted to come across as a mither but honestly it goes to show that NOTHING happens unless you keep chasing. Nothings happened in weeks and there’s only steps taken when I ring up and ask what’s going on!

OP posts:
Original poster
AXCS · 03/01/2023 18:55

Thought I’d update with some good news! I’ve got a start date for in a couple of weeks time!

thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and share their experiences

OP posts:
EddietheEagle · 03/01/2023 21:12

@AXCS

That's brilliant! Good luck!

vdbfamily · 03/01/2023 21:51

good news

Ricardothesnowman · 04/01/2023 07:34

No wonder there is a recruitment crisis in the NHS.
Apart from the terrible pay and conditions, anyone who does actually want to work for them probably gets fed up and finds another job in the 4 months they are waiting for the HR process to go through!
People need jobs to pay thier bills, no everyone has the luxury of having around indefinitely.
This is shocking.

HaddawayAndShite · 04/01/2023 07:39

Great update OP. I’m currently job hunting and his has put me off applying for NHS jobs as I’m not in a position to wait months to hear back. What a shame, it’s systems like this that aren’t helping the situation right now, if this is employment I can’t imagine how higgeldy piggeldy the rest of the systems are