Welcome to the NHS Scotland Hiring Managers Centre
Your one-stop resource centre for recruiting, attracting, and supporting candidates to join the NHS Scotland workforce. Discover clear guidance, practical tools, and regional insights to support every step of the recruitment process across Scotland.
This national centre has been created by the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS) within Public Services Delivery Scotland, formerly NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in collaboration with the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland HR Directors, regional recruitment leads, and colleagues across the service. With special thanks to NHS 24 for their invaluable support in developing this resource.
What's Inside This Resource?
Our goal is simple: to bring together all the recruitment guidance, policies, templates, training and support materials to help hiring managers recruit fairly, efficiently and consistently across NHS Scotland that widens access and provides opportunities for a broad range of people. Here you’ll find:
- Useful Resource Quick Links
- Who is This Resource For?
- Hiring Managers Resources
- Why Use it?
- Context and Background
- Why This Matters
- Enhancing Applicant Engagement
- News and Updates
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If you have any questions about the information provided, or if you think additional content would be helpful, please contact the Centre for Workforce Supply at nes.cwsmarketing@nhs.scot.
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Useful Resource Quick Links
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| JobTrain Guidance and Videos | Access user guides, video tutorials and support resources to help you navigate the NHS Scotland recruitment system. |
| Recruitment Paperwork and Templates | Find the key forms, approvals, checklists and templates required throughout the recruitment process. |
| Job Description Templates | Access harmonised and approved job description templates to support vacancy creation and job evaluation requirements. |
| Job Packs | Download job pack templates and supporting guidance to help create clear and consistent recruitment information for candidates. |
| Advert Templates and Examples | View example adverts, template wording and practical guidance to support effective vacancy promotion. |
| Inclusive Language Guidance | Access guidance on inclusive and accessible language to help attract diverse candidates and reduce unintended bias in recruitment materials. |
| Values Based Recruitment (VBR) Resources | Access NHS Scotland Values Based Recruitment guidance, tools and resources to support fair and values-led recruitment decisions. |
Who is This Resource For?
By centralising information at both national and local levels, we aim to make recruitment more efficient and consistent across NHS Scotland. This resource supports hiring managers and anyone involved in recruitment by simplifying processes and improving access to essential guidance, including:
- Hiring Managers
- Recruiting Officers
- HR Teams
- Workforce Leads
- Service Managers
This Support Centre is part of a combined approach to both support empowering hiring managers accessing the tools and resources available with ease, and providing an improved experience for applicants and potential candidates. Candidate guidance and support can be accessed by hiring managers within this Support Centre to share with candidates, in addition to national candidate guidance being developed on the NHS Scotland Careers website.
Hiring Managers Resources
Explore a range of practical tools and resources to help and support navigating the steps of the recruitment process, whilst engaging effectively with candidates and job offer holders.
Below you'll find a curated collection of guidance, tools, and regional insights designed to support with every stage of the recruitment process across NHS Scotland.
Discover practical guides, digital assets, and templates designed to simplify recruitment and widen access to NHS careers.
Why Use it?
This Support Centre brings together all recruitment guidance in one clear, consistent and nationally aligned hub, making it easier for managers to quickly find the information they need. By centralising both national standards and local Board‑specific processes, the Centre removes confusion, reduces duplication, and improves visibility of the differences that matter. This unified approach supports hiring managers to navigate recruitment with confidence, ensures a fair and efficient experience for applicants, and strengthens consistency across NHS Scotland.
Aligned with the Anchors ambition for NHS Scotland, this initiative is designed to widen access to NHS careers by providing clear, practical guidance for both internal teams and external applicants.
Context and Background
The Anchors Workforce Strategic Group (AWSG) is the national governance group responsible for driving forward the Anchors Workforce Workplan. This work stemmed from the AWSG, and its role is to coordinate system‑wide activity that helps NHS Scotland act as an Anchor Institution—using its recruitment, employment, and development practices to reduce inequalities and widen access to good work.
This short animation explains NHS Scotland’s role as an anchor institution, showing how it can use its workforce, spending and assets to make a wider positive impact on local communities, help reduce inequalities, and support community wealth building beyond its core role of delivering care.
Why This Matters
Applicant Experience Work
The Hiring Manager Support Centre is one part of a wider set of AWSG-led improvements aimed at making NHS Scotland recruitment fairer, more accessible, and more consistent. AWSG signs off the recommendations, ensures system buy‑in, and oversees their transition into delivery, supported by groups such as HR Directors, Jobtrain Governance, and the NHS Scotland Health Boards.
Hiring Managers and Applicants
The Hiring Manager Support Centre gives hiring managers a single, trusted place to find clear guidance, tools and support for every stage of recruitment - helping them recruit more confidently, consistently and efficiently. For applicants, this means a fairer, more joined‑up experience, clearer communication, and a more accessible route into NHS Scotland, no matter where they apply.
Driving Accessibility Improvements in Recruitment
The Anchors Workforce Workstream has consistently highlighted accessibility challenges, particularly with Jobtrain and the NHS Scotland recruitment process, as a key barrier to widening participation in the NHS workforce.
In response, targeted actions are underway that aim to address these issues, including:
- Looking at how current and future business systems can make the application process more user-friendly and inclusive.
- Reviewing and simplifying recruitment steps to remove unnecessary complexity.
- Developing clear guidance and support resources for candidates and hiring managers to ensure equitable access.
These efforts form part of a broader commitment to creating a fair, accessible recruitment experience that supports diversity and inclusion across NHS Scotland.
While this activity is underway, hiring managers can focus on making the recruitment process as clear and supportive as possible - using simple, inclusive language, reducing unnecessary steps, and offering reassurance and guidance to help all candidates navigate the process with confidence.
Enhancing Applicant Engagement
As part of the Anchors programme, an Applicant Experience Survey was conducted to support key initiatives, resulting in a set of workforce recommendations in the Anchors Applicant Experience Report.
The Scottish Government commissioned Public Services Delivery Scotland’s Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS) to develop this website, supporting hiring managers to enhance the recruitment experience for candidates.
Developed in collaboration with NHS Board leads, this recommendation brings together a range of practical tools to support and enhance the recruitment journey. This includes a toolkit of resources hosted on this website, where hiring managers can access clear guidance, digital assets, templates and suggested wording to help engage applicants effectively and promote wider access to NHS careers.
News and Updates
What’s new for Hiring Managers across NHS Scotland
Stay up to date with the latest guidance, tools and developments designed to support you through every stage of recruitment. This section brings together national updates, newly published resources and examples of good practice from across NHS Scotland — all in one place.
New and updated recruitment guidance
Find regularly published and refreshed national guidance to help hiring managers navigate recruitment more confidently and consistently. This includes updates to processes, templates and compliance requirements that support the Once for Scotland approach.
Progress made on the Anchors Workforce Workplan
Explore news and updates on progress made of the recommendations set out in the Anchors Workforce Workplan. These are designed to help you navigate the recruitment process, with the latest updates and guidance developed from the recommendations and workstreams.