In every department, there is a thread for staff to post in when they are going to be away from the forum. This means that the department may struggle for that given amount of time, especially if this member of staff had an important role within the department.
Something that happens occasionally is that a member of staff gets fired, this can also leave the department in the same position until a new member of staff is hired to replace them.
So where my idea comes into place is that every department could have something called a "Reserve Staff List". On this list will be 1 or 2 members that the department manager feels would be capable of being full time staff but aren't because there are already enough staff.
This would mean whenever a member of staff is going to be away from the forum for whatever reason, the manager can PM the Reserve List asking if they would be able to fill that persons shoes for the set time. Just like if someone was to be fired, the manager could ask the Reserve List if they would like to be hired as full time staff. This would save managers from having to open applications, and of-course save them time as they would be able to hire a new member of staff almost instantly.
Should anyone on the Reserve List decide that they no longer want to be a reserve, they can simply notify the manager who can then find another reserve.
Thoughts and opinions?