{"id":34,"date":"2026-07-11T13:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/?p=34"},"modified":"2026-06-11T13:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:19:22","slug":"let-me-take-you-back-to-the-old-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/2026\/07\/11\/let-me-take-you-back-to-the-old-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Let me take you back to the old days!\u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Coombes, Recruitment Coordinator<\/strong>I\u2019ve worked in this role for 25 years, having originally joined as a Personnel Assistant reporting to a\u00a0Personnel\u00a0Manager.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Back then, recruitment looked very different.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was responsible for recruiting \u2018manual\u2019 staff, while colleagues focused on \u2018clerical\u2019, \u2018technical\u2019 or \u2018research\u2019 roles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Every day\u00a0we\u00a0had to listen to the \u2018adline\u2019\u00a0where\u00a0applicants\u00a0would leave an answerphone message requesting an application form.\u00a0We\u2019d write out their name and address and post a blank application form to them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he post\u00a0room staff always brought us\u00a0piles\u00a0of mail including application\u00a0forms that we recorded manually and saved in individual slots in a big filing cabinet. When the closing date passed, the recruiting manager collected the batch of applications and shortlisted manually, bringing the paperwork back to the office\u00a0for us to contact the candidates.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We shared a printer between\u00a0two\u00a0desks and every letter was printed, signed by the Personnel Manager, and\u00a0then\u00a0posted \u2013\u00a0this included invites\u00a0to interview, reference requests, offers of employment, and contracts (including lots of sheets of paper for every element\u00a0of work).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The printers were constantly churning out paperwork, phones were always ringing,\u00a0and\u00a0the \u2018hatch\u2019 was always busy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Things have changed massively over the years\u00a0and now almost every\u00a0task is completed\u00a0electronically.\u00a0Hopefully the changes have saved a few trees\u00a0though!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u00a0as a Recruitment Coordinator\u00a0we\u00a0also\u00a0provide guidance for recruiting managers. This\u00a0ensures that\u00a0we\u00a0attract the best candidates,\u00a0the advert is informative,\u00a0inclusive\u00a0and\u00a0highlights\u00a0the employee\u00a0benefits\u00a0the university offers. Building good working relationships with our stakeholders is key\u00a0to\u00a0running\u00a0a smooth\u00a0and successful\u00a0recruitment campaign.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00a0support\u00a0the\u00a0recruitment\u00a0process\u00a0from start to finish. From receipt of an\u00a0approved\u00a0Staff Request Form (SRF),\u00a0creating\u00a0the advert,\u00a0checking the\u00a0shortlist,\u00a0arranging\u00a0interviews,\u00a0making employment\u00a0offers,\u00a0and issuing\u00a0contracts, through to\u00a0adding\u00a0new starter details on\u00a0the payroll system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Staff immigration\u00a0checks are\u00a0also\u00a0a huge part of our role,\u00a0establishing\u00a0both\u00a0if a role is sponsorable and whether a candidate has eligibility to work in the UK.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the successful appointment of\u00a0a\u00a0candidate\u00a0we\u00a0also provide\u00a0data dashboards to\u00a0the recruiting manager to\u00a0help\u00a0them\u00a0make\u00a0future advertising decisions\u00a0-\u00a0providing information\u00a0on the number\u00a0of hits on the vacancy, number of applications, media sources\u00a0etc, and an\u00a0applicant\u00a0analysis\u00a0with\u00a0equal opportunities data.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The university has grown enormously over the years with new departments\u00a0and\u00a0institutes,\u00a0and new opportunities\u00a0open to\u00a0both\u00a0staff and students.\u00a0The HR Department has grown\u00a0too with almost 70 members of the team attending\u00a0the festive celebration\u00a0in\u00a0December\u00a02025!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Every day is\u00a0different,\u00a0and I\u2019m\u00a0never surprised at some of the questions we\u2019re asked. I\u2019m\u00a0still learning and asking questions\u00a0myself!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Although the workload has increased, along with the number of team members, the office is much quieter these days\u00a0both\u00a0in terms of\u00a0the general buzz of equipment and\u00a0the level of\u00a0staff\u00a0chatter, but one thing that has\u00a0remained\u00a0the same\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0teamwork. There is always a friendly\u00a0and\u00a0supportive\u00a0colleague ready to\u00a0provide assistance\u00a0and guidance, and lots of\u00a0long-term\u00a0friendships have been made\u00a0over the years\u00a0<\/span>\ud83d\ude0a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claire Coombes, Recruitment CoordinatorI\u2019ve worked in this role for 25 years, having originally joined as a Personnel Assistant reporting to a\u00a0Personnel\u00a0Manager.\u00a0\u00a0 Back then, recruitment looked very different.\u00a0 I was responsible for recruiting \u2018manual\u2019 staff, while colleagues focused on \u2018clerical\u2019, \u2018technical\u2019...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,2,7,3,4],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-hiring","tag-recruitment","tag-staff-recruitment-staff-recruitment","tag-talent","tag-talent-acquisition"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/talent-sphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}