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Social Change Training Manual
10. PERSONNEL ISSUES
Presenter: Anna Bounds
STAFF RECRUITMENT : A Training Outline
Aim:
This section of the training papers summarises many of the key issues which need to be taken into account in carrying out recruitment. It emphasises the importance of careful recruitment to ensure that it is cost effective, time effective and places the right person in the position.
Objectives:
- Participants will be able to identify the elements of a recruitment process
- Participants will be able to write an advertisement, duty statement and selection criteria,
- Participants will be able to prepare for interviews and to take the role of Presiding Officer or Chairperson.
Warmup:
- Turn to the person next to you and tell them how many interviews you have experienced in your working career.
- Identify two positive points/two negative points about any job interview you have experienced.
- List on the whiteboard
Questions for Discussion:
- What methods do we use to achieve successful recruitment?
- Advertising - Newspapers:
- Web Membership
- Word of mouth
- Poaching
- Redeployment
Is formal recruitment necessary?
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1. THE PROCESS OF RECRUITMENT
Advertising:
Where? When? for What?
At a minimum, advertisements should include:
- Title of Position
- Location
- Name of organisation/logo
- Purpose of position
- Key responsibilities
- Selection criteria - qualifications, skills, abilities, attributes
- Contact person - number
- Application requirements
- Closing date
- Salary and benefits (optional) - DISCUSS
- Making Connections: How do we achieve an effective advertisement?
By preparing a relevant duty statement.
A Duty Statement should include:
- Role or purpose of position,
- Main duties/responsibilities,
- Attributes required/person specification/selection criteria,
We also need to ask ourselves:
- Are responsibilities in keeping with salary? (Refer to awards, enterprise agreements to ensure consistency across the organisation).
Are the expectations of the organisation realistic?
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2. CASE STUDY
Position: Campaign Manager
Role: To co-ordinate a cost effective national campaign strategy.
Responsibilities:
- Ensure that all state campaigners are aware of the strategy and their respective roles
- Promote the strategy to the membership
- Ensure that campaigning is kept within budget allocation
Ask yourself what this really mean vis-a-vis duties?
- What sort of person does the organisation want?
- Qualifications
- Experience
- Skills/abilities
- Attributes
In each of the four categories given above you should identify those skills that are either essential or desirable
- Is ranking of criteria relevant?
- When might the ranking differ?
- Should the composition of the team have an impact on the selection process?
Short Listing:
What is shortlisting?
Answer: The process of assessing applicants against the criteria. Shortlisting can be done on your own or in a group.
If done individually, the results can be collated by one person
If done as a group, the results can be discussed and a group decision reach.
- Applicant meets all essential criteria (A)
- Applicant meets most of the criteria (B)
- Applicant does not meet the criteria (C)
Planning the Interview:
Using the selection criteria - let's brainstorm a list of possible questions -
Discuss whether the interview process should include all or some of the following elements:
- relaxing questions
- challenging questions
- a confrontational approach
- open/closed
- exercises in analysis/report writing/proofing/typing
Is the selection panel looking for particular elements in any of the answers?
Notes should be kept about each candidate and at the end of the interview, candidates should be evaluated against the criteria.
Conducting the Interview:
- The interview environment should be comfortable without interruptions.
- Candidates should be introduced to the panel.
- The interview should open with a question which puts the applicant at ease.
- Questions should be open and relate clearly to the selection criteria.
In closing, the following details should be confirmed:
- Preferred starting date
- Referees
- Salary details
- Date when decision will be made
Follow up:
That unsuccessful applicants should be contacted promptly and who will do this task
Someone with appropriate skills should be allocated to give internal applicants careful feedback and debriefing
The letter of offer to the successful applicant should be carefully worded.
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3. SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES IN RECRUITMENT AND INTERVIEWING
Both prior to and after interviews it is worth going through the list of one word checks which are given below to ascertain whether individuals and the panel collectively have covered all the key issues. These can include.
- Nervousness - increased by people on selection committee
- Nepotism
- Ascription of values
- Human bias/validity of intuition in process
- Interviewing for your own job?
- Relevance and clarity of questions
- Role of conservation/movement involvement as part of selection criteria
- Clarifying intuition
- Debriefing unsuccessfuls
- Shortlisting - choosing people to interview
- Roles and responsibilities of panel
- Lack of feedback (area needs improvement for the image of the movement
- Make time for it ( Internal applicants need special care)
- Duty Statements/Position Descriptions
- Description of the organisation - culture question
- Role of the position - broad statement
- Duties - what can be delegated could be indicated.
- Selection Criteria
- Value of transferable skills
- Eligibility lists
- Shortlist Grid
- Temporary Appointments/Casuals
- What the person is responsible for;
- What the person is overseeing
- Culture - "in club"
- Induction - clarity/training
- Volunteers
- Dismissal
- Pre-selection
- Role of Committee
- Follow up to recruitment exercise
- Specialist knowledge
- Advertising networks - cost/equity
- Job application - lists as a resource
- Performance appraisal- mediation
- conflict resolution
- personality
- Merit
- Weightings
- Matching People to the job
- Value of the package
- Tenure -vs- Contract - VNPA
- Project Officers - Generic skills could be developed
Anna Bounds
Phone: 02 69332210
Email: Abounds@csu.edu.au
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