Recruitment
European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs) are attractive employers. They are newly established international organisations that facilitate scientific breakthroughs and societal progress. Staff in ERICs can innovate and grow professionally while ERICs themselves grow to become fully operational.
Successful recruitment should be planned early on, especially when a research infrastructure starts its transition into operations. Established procedures and policies, such as recruitment strategy and policy (link), equal opportunities policy (link) and announcement policy (link), support ERIC’s recruitment strategies and practices.
Recruitment Strategy and Policy
Well planned recruitment and communication strategies, together with an adequate selection of announcement channels, help an ERIC to gain more visibility in its field and attract highly qualified candidates especially outside of its specific scientific networks. Recruitment strategy and procedures usually include equal opportunities principles, described in a separate equal opportunities policy.
An ERIC should identify its recruitment needs, including a need for non-scientific staff, such as communications, legal support, business development and grants management, well in advance. Attractive and competitive employment conditions are important since the very start of operations.
Recruitment procedure – four steps
Step 1 – Preparing the recruitment: analysis of the needs, drafting of the job description, defining internal responsibilities.
Step 2 – Finding the right candidates: job announcement and active search (advertisement strategy – national and international channels) for candidates, possible outsourcing.
Step 3 – Selecting the applicants: initial screening and interview planning.
Step 4 – Onboarding the final applicant: contracting and integration.
The recruitment process can include some additional steps, such as a need for a formal approval of the final candidate by (the Chair of) the Members’ Assembly. Recruitment procedures should remain as a living document that may be adjusted throughout the lifetime of an ERIC.
Below are some points that are considered important for an ERIC’s recruitment strategy.
Attractive location of ERIC’s seat and hubs
An ERIC’s seat country or a large hub based in a major / capital European city can be a true asset for a recruitment. A city which is well connected to international transportation will shorten the travels of an ERIC staff and attract international candidates. The candidates will also consider the cost of living as well availability of international schools.
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An additional “welcome package” can contribute to moving costs of international staff.
Attracting candidates from academia
ERICS, especially at their early establishment, can be seen as “scientific start-ups” for their academic freedom, innovation and flat organisational structures.
Candidates from universities and other academic organisations compare the conditions and opportunities of a recruiting ERIC to those they are currently employed with. It is good to acknowledge that academic candidates might fear the uncertainty caused by e.g. ERICs’ third-party or membership funding, duration of contracts, or their lifecycle which eventually end to the termination.
On the contrary, ERICs can be an important steppingstone for future career development, especially for early- and mid-career staff. Once the staff members have accumulated enough seniority, they become attractive candidates for universities, research institutions and industry.
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An ERIC’s employer competitiveness can be strengthened by comparing the working conditions and training opportunities offered by “competing employers” such as universities and other international research organisations. A competitive remuneration package aimed at senior leadership position which is higher than those of academia will attract highly qualified candidates
Equal opportunities policy
Equal opportunities policy ensures that an ERIC follows transparency and non-discriminatory principles in its recruitment procedures and employment policy. Transparency requires that all the vacancies should be publicly announced. Research infrastructures which receive European Commission’s Horizon Europe funding must provide Gender Equality Plan (GEP).
Equal- and diversity policies can be implemented, for example, by giving preference and actively encouraging young talents of all genders and candidates with disabilities to apply for open positions.
Commitment on equal opportunities should be mentioned in the vacancy announcement. The vacancy can include for example a following sentence: “______ is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to employment policies, procedures and practices which do not discriminate on grounds such as gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, race, religious belief, sexual orientation or membership of the travelling community.”
Announcement policy
Announcement policy describes which vacancies should be announced locally or internationally, which channels are used for advertising vacancies, for how long announcements are open and what are descriptions of different vacancies.
An ERIC hosted by a university can benefit from its networks and visibility in recruitment, especially in early years of operations.
A job advertisement should include the following information:
- Job title and description
- Name of the organisation that will employ the person. In case of a secondment agreement, the relationship between the organisation for which the person will work and the actual employer should be clarified.
- Description of the organisation (context, vision, mission, activities, etc.)
- Responsibilities
- Expected skills and minimal requirements
- Salary range, depending on experience and qualification
- Duration of the contract. If a probationary period exists, it should be clearly indicated. If the contract can be eventually extended that should be also mentioned, i.e. “with possible prolongation”.
- Foreseen starting date of the employment
- Exact address where the person will work
- Application procedure, including a closing date for application, types of documents to submit, (i.e. a cover letter, a resumé, eventually references, etc.) in which format (e.g. all documents in one PDF file), an email address where to send the file, and a contact person in case of questions.
- Description of the selection process: confirmation of application receipt by email, time slot for interviews, duration of the selection process, eventually composition of the recruitment committee.
- Mention about “equal opportunities policy”
Recruitment channels
- ERIC’s own channels: website, social media, newsletter, nodes’ contacts / networks
- Academic and scientific networks relevant for ERIC, including partner universities and institutes, other ERICs, RIs and EU projects
- National employment agencies
- Interdisciplinary scientific publications, such as Nature
- EURES – European Job Mobility Portal, EURAXESS, EURACTIV, EuroBrussels, AcademicTransfer, StepStone, Indeed
ERIC recruitment pages (examples)
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Allow enough time for recruitment of IT and data experts, and consider using an external recruitment service to attract the right candidates. This area of expertise is usually scarce and in high demand, not least because the ERICs are strategically involved in the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).