Recruitment

Advertisement of vacancies
For advertisement of vacancies please contact the Departmental Secretariat - this applies to both new positions, extensions etc.
 
Read more about LIFE's general rules.
 
To advertise a position you must be able to be held accountable for the economic aspects. It is therefore not enough that you have an expectation of, or an oral commitment for a grant, there must be an outright grant letter, and a project must have been established. Therefore, it is always an advantage to deliver grant authorization letters, etc. to the accounting officer as soon as possible, with respect to the establishment of projects/accounts.
 
Remember to begin early. It typically takes several weeks from the time we deliver position vacancies to HR to their posting. All positions must have been posted for at least 14 days. If we also are to have time to prepare and process vacancy postings, you should at the latest begin two months prior to the new employee commencing work.
 
In the case of academic staff positions (positions under the Job Structure Act) for which an Assessment Commitee is to be formed and to be approved by the Academic Council (positions at associate professor and professor level), it may take four months to fill the position.
 
The Leader Group has decided that all vacancies must be approved by the Head of Section. This is in order for the Head of Section to be aware of what happens in the section and to coordinate positions within the section.

 

The "huskeseddel" (memo) for the vacancy will not be signed by the Department Administrator before the Head of Section has signed the document or has sent an approval by email or mail.  
 
Contact: Department Secretary
If absent: Department Administrator
 
Recruitments and extensions

 

• Contact the Department Secretary to ensure that all formal requirements are met.
• Have proof of grant authorization/economy - who/which project pays wage costs (see also Special Features under Fixed-Term contracts).
• Start early - completed and signed forms must reach the Department Secretariat no later than the 25th of the month before the new employee starts.
• All appointments/extensions must be approved and signed by the Head of Section and the grant holder (Staff form page 2) before being sent to Department Secretariat. The Department Administrator will not sign the form without the above mentioned signatures.
• Appendices referred to in the staff form regarding education and previous employment should also be attached, along with a scientific assessments, if this is required for recruitment.

Missing signature(s) or information related to the project or appendices will extend processing by the Departmental Secretariat unnecessarily, and we will have difficulty in meeting our deadline to HR - which in turn will result in the employee not receiving wages at the end of the month, but having to wait a minimum of 14 days more.
 
HR has reported that they will not pay interim payments of salaries, unless exceptional circumstances exist, such as sudden illness of the Department Secretariat or in HR as well as the recruitment of foreign researchers.
 
Special considerations for recruitment under the Job Structure Act
The Department Secretary is also the caseworker on all employment matters within the Job Structure Act e.g. appointment of an Assessment Committee. Proposals for an Assessment Committee must be approved by the Head of Department. The Head of Department is also to approve proposals to the Interview Committees. The section itself is responsible for inviting candidates after the Head of Department has approved the persons to be interviewed.

 
Contact: The Department Secretary
If absent, contact the Department Administrator
 
Special considerations regarding temporary/permanent employment
The department has prepared the "Guidelines for temporary/permanent employment". The Department Secretary sends a list of expiring employments to the Leader Group and to the research leaders once a month. 

 
It is the Head of Section's responsibility to be aware of the section staff employed indefinitely on external funding, and for the timely identification of a financing plan to avoid launching a dismissal procedure - this will typically mean 6-9 months. In such cases, the departments guidelines are applied. Permanent and temporary employees are considered equal.
 
As a temporary employee you are at your MUS (PDR staff development appraisal) entitled to receive information from your manager regarding your prospects for an extension. It is your immediate manager's responsibility to clearly inform you, whether they intend to invest in you or not.

 

See also Recruiting international staff
 
Trainees
Once a year it is possible to apply for trainee positions from LIFE's trainee pool. Deadline is usually in early summer for trainees starting September 1 or February 1 the following year. The trainee pool covers the cost of salaries.

The department is approved as a training center for both office trainees and laboratory technician trainees. 

 
For laboratory technician trainees a manual aimed at the person responsible for laboratory technician trainees has been drafted by the local liaison committee (LSU). 

 
Job training
If you wish to have a person in job training or an internship through the Public Employment Service, this must first and foremost be discussed with the Head of Section. If the proposal is approved by the section, the special application process may be launched, whereby (among other things) LSU (local liaison committee) is to be consulted: read more here (schedule/checklist for subsidized recruitment, in Danish only)

 

Be aware that this is a time consuming process which passes through several stages and is no longer cost neutral. Wages equal to unemployment benefits (covered by the municipality) as well as regular pension contributions (covered by the project/section) are to be paid.

 

Sideline occupation
As stated in the employment contract, you are obliged to report any sideline occupation to LIFE. The definition of a sideline occupation is (retrieved from the regulatory framework):
 
"Sideline occupations are professional activities that are not anchored at the Faculty of Life Sciences. This may include the start of a business, passive or active participation in other companies, the provision of consultancy, the supply of education, economic interest in other companies etc. Professional employment is understood to be employment in the employee's work area; this is to be understood in a broad sense, and may go beyond Department/unit boundaries.
 
Activities which are considered duties or leisure interests are not sideline occupations, regardless of whether they are unpaid or paid. If these can be reconciled with service at the Faculty, they are permitted without the need for consent, see the Employers' and Salaried Employees' Act § 15. Execution of public duty also does not qualify as a sideline occupation.
 
Read the entire regulatory framework and find the reporting form at the Staff Portal.