Recruit staff

All recruitment starts with the completion of an authorisation request to hire (internal link only) form (often referred to as Authorisation to Hire or ATH). There are different forms for different types of contracts:

• Fixed Term Contracts, New and Replacement permanent roles
• Consultancies
• Agency (temporary)

For externally funded projects, any research staff named in your proposal not already employed by The Open University (named DI) can be appointed without the post having to be advertised. In the case of the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, direct appointments are subject to Head of Unit assessment of the candidate at bid approval stage. You will still need to complete the appropriate Authorisation to Hire form and for this to be approved by your faculty's internal process before being passed to Resourcing Hub. If your proposal is for internally funded projects the vacancy must be advertised and cannot be recruited to as a Direct Appointment.

If employing an individual consultant, you will need to complete the appropriate Authorisation to Hire form. A contract must be in place before a consultant can start work and all consultancies must be completed before the project end date. There is one pay point per month, so work completed in one month will be paid the following month. As PI you will need to authorise that month’s payment before the deadline. Your faculty Research Manager will be able to provide details of the process for this within your faculty. Consultancies are only appropriate for short term pieces of work (usually up to a maximum of six months) and where the role is not a role already being carried out within the OU. 

If outsourcing work to an external company, a Purchase Order will need to be set up prior to them invoicing. If the company has not provided a service to the OU before they will need to be set up as a new supplier on the Ariba system. This takes a minimum of 10 days. Seek advice from your faculty research support team if this is relevant to your grant. The company must be registered with Companies House.

All studentship recruitment is managed through your Faculty’s Post-Graduate Team. They will be able to discuss with you any matched funding, fees, and the student administration/recruitment process.

Faculty postgraduate team contact details

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