Ahh good old managers with unrealistic expectations.

In my previous role we often recruited staff who required visa sponsorship and I often had to deal with managers wanting to know why the person couldn't simply start next week! Well for starters the visa process could take anywhere between 1 month and 4 depending where the employee was coming from...Brazil at the time was my least favourite country for recruiting from!

In that role it was easy to push back as more often than not our response was "do feel free to call UKVI and tell them their process is too slow for you..."

That aside, where I am now (also standalone so I understand where you're coming from), I've tried to cut as many corners without actually doing so. For example rather than using the referencing company to do the references I gather these instead and just use them to do the right to work check - they are horribly slow at getting references but surprisingly quick at the RTW checks.

I also stress to the candidates that we cannot confirm their start date unless they get all the information back and completed in time and also get them to send their medical form straight to OH themselves - this means OH get the form quicker and our report to us a lot sooner.

I've also managed to build some good relationships with our agencies so I use them to do some of the chasing for me when needed. I make sure they know when I've sent the offer and follow up with them a couple of days later if I don't hear from the candidate directly.

I've found that giving managers an update regularly as to where we are with each candidate helps as well. Even if its something as simple as "they've signed their offer, I'm getting references" Sometimes all they want is an update, past experience has taught me that some of the managers with very unrealistic expectations stop stomping their feet when they get updates regularly and start understanding about how long the process does actually take and why!

Not sure if any of that is of any help to you, but hopefully it's helped in some way or another :-)

In reply to Gemma:

Hi Gemma
very helpful as I see that we have a similar approach in regards to updating managers. They do like their little shows of foot stomping though. I am trying to engage more with our chosen agencies, some more successfully than others. If I could get them to cease calling a conditional offer letter a contract that would be a starting point " Fred says he's signed your contract and sent it back but you haven't given him a start date". Hmmmm I wonder why? :-)

I do process mapping so have flow charts for stuff like the recruitment, so you can sit down with the manager concerned and say this is what will happen (Managing expectations). I try and not deal with agencies unless there is absolutely no other option.

In reply to Paul:

Hi Paul, I have all of the recruitment process mapped out in a flow chart too and have many conversations with relevant managers also

We do employment subject to satisfactory references, so we don't wait for them to come back before they start (appreciate that may not be possible if you have roles that require working with children or vulnerable adults, where references are needed before they start). In most cases references aren't any use at all anyway (i don't actually recall receiving a bad reference in 20+ years of working in HR), but if they were poor, we would just end their employment if they had already started

We do insist on seeing right to work documentation first thing on their first day - if they don't have it, they get sent home. We don't do medical checks for most roles.

So for ours, whilst we try to get a week before offer and start date, we have done it faster. We do have some roles that require a DSB check and for those we will be clear that they can't start until we have received that.

What - you haven't got your magic wand and crystal ball? :))

In reply to Teresa:

@ Teresa
Ah, the four key tools for the HR manager
- magic wand+crystal ball to anticipate everything that might possibly happen,
- bucket+ shovel for when the magic wand and crystal ball are in the workshop for maintenance due to serious overuse.......

In reply to Ray:

...and what has been shovelled into the bucket works a treat spread around the roses! :)