Recruitment and Selection For Line Managers & Panel Members

Transcription

1 Annex 4 Recruitment and Selection For Line Managers & Panel Members

2 Contents Introduction 3 Stage 1: Preparing to recruit 4 Stage 2: Designing a new post and developing the job description 5 Stage 3: Advertising the vacancy 8 Stage 4: The Selection Process 10 Stage 5: Recruiting outside the Welsh Government 21 Pay on Appointment 22 Referencing and Screening 22 Concerns and Complaints 22 Annex A: Panel Chair s checklist 23 Annex B: So have you remembered to 26 Annex C: Recruitment Glossary of Terms 29 2

3 Introduction Recruitment is one of the most important investment decisions you can make as a manager. Recruiting people who are right for the organisation means stronger teams, higher performance and lower turnover as motivated employees are less likely to leave. As a recruiting manager, you are expected to ensure: You have the appropriate approval to recruit before starting any recruitment activity and that any recruitment exercise has been agreed by your HR Business Partner and Director General/Head of Division as per your department Approval Framework. If this is for an external appointment, approval will be required by the Permanent Secretary before commencing any recruitment activity. All recruitment activity is done confidentially and fairly, following the Welsh Government Policies, Recruitment Protocol and Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles Recruitment Principles Everyone involved in the recruitment process has to have completed the mandatory Eliesha Recruitment and Selection Interviewing training and the Equality and Diversity and Human Rights Awareness Training as part of Reception Stage 3 Training. If at any point the Chair of a recruitment exercise believes the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles may be breached, the competition must be paused until this has been resolved. Correct vetting procedures must be followed before new appointees start work, even when recruiting internally. This guide has been developed to provide you with an overview of the Welsh Government recruitment and selection process and explain your role in each of the following stages: Stage 1: Preparing to recruit Stage 2: Designing a new post and developing the job description Stage 3: Advertising the vacancy Stage 4: The selection process Stage 5: Recruiting outside the Welsh Government Please use this guide together with the information provided in the Appoint e-learning, Resourcing Policy, mandatory Recruitment & Selection Interviewing training, the External Recruitment Protocol and the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles

4 Further information If you have any questions about the information contained in this guide, please contact your HR Business Partner or alternatively the Corporate Shared Service Centre (CSSC) via the HR Helpdesk. Stage 1: Preparing to recruit Before undertaking any recruitment or selection exercise, you will need to: Have completed the mandatory Recruitment and Selection Interviewing training. Visit the Learning Portal area of the intranet to find out more and register. Familiarise yourself with our Recruitment Policy and Resourcing Strategy which can be found in the Recruitment area of the intranet. Consider how you will ensure your recruitment is fair and consistent to everyone who applies and that nobody is disadvantaged. This is your responsibility as the recruiting line manager. If you require any further information or advice in this area, consult your HR Business Partner and/or the CSSC via the HR Helpdesk. Determine what the eligibility criteria will be for your recruitment by checking the Recruitment Policy. Eligibility criteria are designed to ensure that only those who are ready for the next move, either laterally or on promotion, are able to apply. For any centrally managed recruitment campaigns, the specific eligibility for each campaign will be outlined and communicated to staff. Ensure all aspects of the recruitment exercise are kept strictly confidential. You will need to consider equality and diversity at each stage of the recruitment process to ensure hidden bias is removed and talent is not prevented from joining the organisation or from moving around or moving on. Equality and Diversity is covered as part of the Recruitment and Selection Interviewing. If you are recruiting externally, you will need to use and comply with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles 2015 and the External Recruitment Protocol. Find out more For more information on eligibility criteria, confidentiality and equality and diversity, please refer to the Recruitment Policy which can be found in the Recruitment area of the intranet. Getting approval Before you can start the recruitment process you will need to get approval to fill your vacancy. Check your Director General (DG) Approval Framework so you know who can give approval in your area. This will usually be your DG or Head of Division but the arrangements in every department are different. Before seeking approval, you should have an initial conversation with your HR Business Partner to establish whether there is a vacancy to fill; what type of vacancy it is; and how best to fill the vacancy. For example, the responsibilities of the job could be met in a different way; or an upcoming reorganisation may change the nature and content of the 4

5 job. If the job is full time, it could be job shared, based in another location or met through other working patterns, or there might be an option to fill the vacancy with a surplus member of staff or someone returning from maternity leave. Your HR Business Partner could also advise you if there is a need to keep the current grade level both in the short and long term. Once you have established that there is a vacancy to fill, and the type of vacancy, you should seek approval from your designated authority to fill your vacancy, and authority for how your vacancy will be advertised i.e. lateral only or lateral and/or on promotion. You will also need to get approval if you plan to advertise externally if you are not able to fill the vacancy internally. Your designated authority for external appointments the Permanent Secretary - must approve the filling of a vacancy with the Permanent for the post. You must be fully compliant with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles 2015 and the External Recruitment Protocol for any posts that need to be filled externally. Please ensure you have checked your job description with the relevant Head of Profession if your role aligns with a certain profession. E.g. If you are considering a digital communications vacancy, then you should speak to the Head of the Corporate Digital Team. Stage 2: Designing a new post and developing the job description If a decision is reached to create a new post, you will need to design the post referring to your HR Business Partner if you require further assistance. Designing a role (i.e. what a person will do and how that fits with existing structures and business needs) is distinctly different from writing a job description in order to advertise the post. You should not consider the grade of the post at this stage, but think about the tasks that the jobholder would need to carry out. You may wish to look at the grading guidance to ensure that you maintain a balance of tasks of approximately the same band. Expert advice on this aspect of the process is available from your dedicated HR Business Partner teams. Evaluating the post After designing the post, you should send it to your HR Business Partner to evaluate. HR Business Partners can evaluate posts up to Management Band 1. For posts that you believe to be Executive Band and above, you should send the post to the Organisational Development and Job Evaluation (ODJE) Team, copying it to your HR Business Partner. Once your HR Business Partner team and/or the ODJE team has approved and evaluated the post, you can develop your job description. For further information on this, please refer to the Job Evaluation, Grading & Job Design Policy available on the intranet pages. 5

6 Developing the job description A job description is used within the Civil Service to describe the scope of the work and clarify what applicants will have to do in the role. It should: be clearly written avoid using any department specific terms and acronyms as these will not be readily understood by people in other DG areas provide enough information about the post and its duties for applicants to decide whether it s right for them communicate clearly and concisely what responsibilities and tasks the role entails. Note: Any recruitment and selection must be based on a fair and open competition and on merit (unless there is an exception allowed under Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles). Therefore, ensure none of the requirements contained in the job description indirectly disadvantages a particular group of applicants. For example, the Equality Act requires all recruiters to ensure that if length of time in role is specified, this must be explicitly linked to the job requirements in order to avoid indirect age discrimination. Everyone involved in selecting people for jobs must have completed the Equality and Diversity and Human Rights Awareness training upon attending Stage 3 Reception Training, in addition to the mandatory Interviewing and Selection training course. For posts that require a specific skill set/individual and the individual needs to remain in the post for a specific amount of time, the advert will need to make this clear. For example, if you are recruiting to a Project Manager post and need the successful candidate to remain in post for the full duration of the project, you will need to specify this in the job description. However, if you wish to put this caveat around a post, you will need to provide assurance of the justifiable reasons for doing this before advertising. The assurance will need to state: The background as to why the post is required and any details surrounding where such a post is pivotal to direct reputational issues for the organisation. Details to link the specific skills required for the role and an explanation as to why the individual employed is the only/one of very few individuals who possess the skills required; An explanation as to why it is of critical importance that the role retains the continuity of the same individual conducting the work throughout the duration of the contract; Where the appointment is to be for a fixed term contract, that the repercussions to the organisation where the same individual is not retained throughout the course of the fixed term appointment. You will need to send this assurance by to the HR Helpdesk once you have received confirmation that your vacancy form has been received, and a CRM case number assigned to it. You must also keep a record of this as part of the required audit trail. 6

7 Contracts and/or letters for those individuals appointed on this basis will need to reflect the fact that they have to stay in post for the full duration of the contract period as stated in the advert at the outset. Choosing the Core Competency Behaviours and Job Specifics Core Competency behaviours and job specifics let applicants know about the skills that are required in order to do the job. When selecting your competency behaviours you will need to specify which behaviours you are going to be testing. Lateral If you are seeking to fill the post on a lateral basis, fill a temporary or a short term post, or select candidates from the People Seeking Moves Board, you will need to test 3 job specifics only. You will need to use your discretion in selecting the number to ensure sufficient evidence is provided in order to select the most suitable and competent candidate. Lateral or on promotion & filling temporary vacancies If you are seeking to fill the post by lateral or on promotion or as a temporary vacancy which may have a temporary duties allowance attached, you will need to test both the competency behaviours and the job specifics for all candidates. These do not have to be from each of the three separate clusters - choose those that are most appropriate to the role. You must include 4 competency behaviours from the core competencies and 3 job specifics. Candidates will provide their evidence in the form of a competency statement and will have a word limit of 300 within which to provide evidence against each competency behaviour / job specific criteria. In the interest of fairness and consistency, if there are any words that exceed the 300 words limit, those additional words should be discounted. Permanent staff or those that have been recruited through fair and open competition can move laterally and on promotion as long as the eligibility criteria are met. Professions If you are recruiting into a profession on a lateral or on promotion basis you should test an equal number of Civil Service Competency Framework competency behaviours and competency behaviours from your Professional Framework. This will mean the successful candidate will be able to move laterally or on promotion into other Civil Service generic roles in the future. If you only test the core competency behaviours for your Profession, the successful candidate will not be able to move into other Civil Service generic roles. This is because they will have only demonstrated their competence to perform at the required level within their profession and not in a generic role. You can include additional information about the vacancy, for example desired qualifications or experience as job specific criteria. Your Head of Profession will be able to provide advice on the arrangements in place for recruiting into your Profession and the Professional Framework you should use. Alternatively, you can request the Corporate Shared Service Centre to include Role specific questions in the application form, which asks candidates to confirm if they have specific qualifications, skills or experience. These are only appropriate if they require a Yes/No answer from the candidate. 7

8 Useful hints To ensure you get as wide a possible field of applicants, you should consider the following when writing the job specific criteria: Changing essential requirements to desirable. Changing experience of to awareness of. Changing experience of to ability to. Requesting transferable skills rather than experience in a job specific field e.g. experience of networking rather than experience of networking with training providers. In all cases, the job specific criteria must match the key tasks and must be appropriate for the grade of the post you are recruiting to. However, please ensure that you do not make the job specifics too restrictive or narrow, as it could prevent prospective candidates who are more than capable of undertaking the role from applying. Find out more Visit the Designing a new post area of the intranet to access our Grading and Job Design policy, Grading guidance and job design template. Stage 3: Advertising the vacancy In the first instance, you will need to see whether there are existing resources available within your own DG area. Your HR Business Partner will advise you on how the vacancy should be advertised in your area. The advert should invite expressions of interest on a lateral basis only. Candidates will need to provide evidence of how they meet the job specifics. Ideally, the candidates should provide you with no more than 1-2 A4 pages. If there is no-one available through this route, please continue to follow the advice in this guide. Check the People Seeking Moves Board Staff interested in applying for a lateral move can post their details on the People Seeking Moves Board (PSMB). The PSMB has been developed to help you fill vacant posts more easily and quickly. You must check the PSMB before advertising your post. If you find someone who you think may be suitable then you can request their details by submitting the People Seeking Moves Board e-form, available on the People Seeking Moves Board page on the intranet. Ensure you make a note of their ID number, as you will need this information to complete the e-form. If you find someone suitable via the PSMB, you will need to agree a starting date with the individual and their current line manager, and inform the Corporate Shared Service Centre. 8

9 Deciding which recruitment process to follow There are alternative options for filling a post which you will now need to consider if you want to: recruit an apprentice; someone under the legislative programme; a member of the Senior Civil Service; someone on a secondment or loan; a temporary team support employee; a Personal Assistant, Executive Assistant or Senior Executive Assistant or a contractor/consultant. If you want to fill one of these posts then you will need to follow different processes for advertising your vacancy as detailed on the Filling a post intranet page and not the remaining steps outlined in Stage 3 of this guide. Otherwise, the recruitment process should follow the guidance outlined in this document. Creating a new vacancy on Appoint If you fail to fill your vacancy via the PSMB you will need to create a new vacancy advert on Appoint. To do this you will need: Confirmation that you have approval to fill your vacancy as outlined in your DG Approvals Framework or from the Permanent Secretary if an external appointment (you will need to attach this to the vacancy form in Appoint) Your contact details The post reference number (your Business Unit will provide you with this information) The job description (in both English and Welsh if it s likely you will need to advertise externally, or if the post is assessed as Welsh essential) The job title, grade and location of the post. This should be kept simple and jargon free to help job applicants understand the role they are applying for. The number of vacancies as well as the type of role, hours, location, and grade. Your management code Whether the post has been evaluated An external publication form, if you intend to advertise externally When the post will start Welsh Language Skills assessment Details of any allowances attached to the post Details of your panel members and confirmation that they have undertaken the necessary training. Confirmation of the sift and interview dates. Details of how your vacancy is to be advertised e.g. lateral only, lateral first and then promotion etc. You will have received confirmation of this when you received your approval to recruit. You will also be asked to confirm that you have checked the People Seeking Moves Board and to provide the names of any candidates you have interviewed. Providing this information in the vacancy form could help to speed up the process of progressing your vacancy to the advertising stage. On completing the vacancy form the Solutions Team will check if there are any people in Solutions: Delivery who could be suitable for the post you are recruiting to. 9

10 If there are no suitable candidates from Solutions or the PSMB, then the Corporate Shared Service Centre will advertise your post on Appoint. You will receive a confirmation outlining when the post will be advertised, setting out the closing date and providing links to any guidance documents you ll need to complete the process. All posts need to be advertised on Appoint in order to comply with the requirement to report on equality and diversity data and to produce accurate reporting of any recruitment activity being undertaken. Off-line applications will not be accepted unless there is a requirement for a reasonable adjustment and this has been discussed and agreed in advance with the Expert Services Resourcing Team. Overseas Recruitment If you are recruiting to a post which is based overseas, please check with your HR Business Partner for any additional employment legislation that you may need to comply with. Stage 4: The selection process Once you have written the job description and selected the competency behaviours / job specific criteria needed to do the job effectively, you need to hold a planning meeting with the Panel before commencing recruitment activity, of which you will determine your collective approach and you will determine what the minimum criteria will be. At this planning meeting, the Chair is required to approve the essential criteria, job description, panel membership, process to be followed, timetable, remuneration (e.g. any allowances attached to the post or starting salary above the minimum of the pay band) and the advertising strategy. It is here that you will need to look to include any additional information relating to other selection tests, to test competency or job specifics e.g. presentation. Once the selection method has been agreed and published when the advert is live, the selection method can t then be changed. Many vacancies attract only a few candidates while others attract far more. Any selection process must clearly specify the criteria to be used in selecting candidates and follow the agreed scoring criteria. This is vital to ensure that the selection process is fair and open. Taking time to establish and think through the minimum criteria at this stage will help you manage applications by specifying what is an acceptable level of evidence for the role when you come to sift applications. Candidates will provide their evidence in the form of a competency statement and will have a word limit of 300 within which to provide evidence against each competency behaviour / job specific criteria. In the interest of fairness and consistency, if there are any words that exceed the 300 words limit, those additional words should be discounted. Two Ticks Guaranteed Interview Scheme The Welsh Government is a Two Ticks employer. This means we are committed to offering an interview to any individual who meets the minimum requirements for a post if they have a declared disability covered by the Equality Act When this occurs, the disabled candidate will be invited to attend an interview in addition to those candidates originally shortlisted at sift. 10

11 Where a candidate applies under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) they only need to meet the minimum criteria for each stage in order to progress to interview. This means that for all recruitment activity, if they meet the minimum criteria, they will be invited to interview. If you have any queries or require further advice, please refer to the Recruitment Policy. For the purposes of recruitment exercises, the minimum requirements for the post will need to be determined by the Panel prior to commencing the recruitment exercise. The Corporate Shared Service Centre will alert the panel if any candidates who have been sifted out of the competition have applied under the GIS and need to be invited to interview, if they meet the minimum criteria. The CSSC will also alert the panel to any specific needs identified by any candidate. Possible arrangements that could be introduced could be the involvement of a sign language interpreter, palantypist or the presence of an assistance dog. It is the panel members responsibility for ensuring any required reasonable adjustments are made. Welsh Language Considerations The panel will need to consider, and have planned for in advance, Welsh language requirements from two perspectives: If Welsh is the preferred language of the candidate, how will this is facilitated in in the interview if the panel members are not Welsh speakers. The Welsh language skills requirements (if any) of the post, and how this will be assessed e.g. application form, interview, presentation and / or written test. Consideration will be given to all candidates who request to have the majority of their interview conducted through the medium of Welsh. Further information can be found in the Interview Language Guidance found on the Filling a Post intranet page. The Scoring Guide For a candidate to be invited to interview, they must have met the minimum qualifying criteria. This means that you will need to have determined this prior to commencing recruitment activity. It is recommended that you use the scoring guide in conjunction with the Civil Service Competency Framework and the Grade Characteristics Guidance. Recruiting line managers need to ensure that candidates meet the minimum requirements for the grade. Scoring Matrix Assessing and scoring evidence is the most important part of the recruitment process but it can be challenging. When scoring a candidate s application form or interview performance there will always be a need for panel members to use their judgement in interpreting and classifying the evidence provided. The scoring matrix below has been designed to provide an objective framework for panel members to use when scoring candidates in an attempt to ensure that all scoring is as 11

12 consistent and accurate as it can be. The matrix has been designed to acknowledge that scoring is a complicated process due to the number of factors that need to be taken into consideration before a score can be allocated. These include; Presentation of evidence has the candidate actually provided any evidence beyond general assertions/statements? Level of evidence does the sophistication of the example/evidence match the grade of the post being advertised? Relevance does the evidence address the competency behaviour/ job specific being tested? A 5 point scale has been devised to ensure that enough variance is permitted within the scoring matrix to cover all eventualities and to allow greater differentiation between poor, competent and strong evidence. When scoring candidates you will need to consider all the factors listed above, compare the evidence with each point of the scoring scale and decide on a score based on the balance of evidence. When scoring, remember that you are not alone and that other panel members are involved in the process to moderate individual scores and to agree final scoring for candidates. Final scores for candidates at both sift and interview stages are joint decisions and are not be made by panel members unilaterally. Scoring at the Welsh Government will predominantly be 1-5, however a 0 rating is available to panel members for use only on occasion when no evidence has been provided by a candidate at sift or at interview. Please note that half marks are not permitted. 12

13 Poor/ Unsatisfactory Evidence Competent Evidence Good/ Strong Evidence Strong evidence To be issued when evidence far exceeds expectations in terms of relevance to the area being tested and when compared to the requirements of the grade. Evidence is well presented and structured; and Evidence is directly and wholly relevant to the area being tested; and Evidence is judged to far exceed the minimum requirement for the grade and may actually correspond to the requirements of a higher grade. Good evidence To be issued when evidence exceeds expectations in terms of relevance to the area being tested and when compared to the requirements of the grade. Evidence is well presented and structured; and Evidence is well aligned to the area being tested; and Evidence is judged to exceed the minimum requirements of the grade. Competent evidence To be issued when the evidence offered is sufficient in terms of relevance to the area being tested and when compared to the requirements of the grade. Sufficient evidence is presented and follows a basic structure and Evidence is sufficiently aligned with the area being tested; and Evidence is judged to meet the minimum requirements of the grade. Unsatisfactory evidence To be issued when the evidence offered is insufficient in terms of relevance to the area being tested and/or when compared to the requirements of the grade. Some evidence is presented but assertions and statements are insufficiently supported; or Evidence offered is only partly relevant to the area being tested; and/or Evidence offered is/may be relevant to the area being tested but is judged to be insufficient when compared to the requirements of the post in terms of sophistication/complexity. Poor evidence. To be issued when the evidence offered is way short of expectations in terms of relevance to the area being tested and/or when compared to the requirements of the grade. Little/no evidence is presented to support assertions or general statements; or Evidence does not correspond in any way to the area being tested; and/or Evidence is/may be relevant to the area being tested but is judged to be far below the required level for the post in terms of sophistication/complexity No evidence attempted. To be issued when evidence is missing from an Evidence Document or when candidates fail to attempt to answer a question at interview. 13

14 Managing/short-listing the applicants Once you have received all of the applications, each panel member will need to sift the candidates individually, then come together to confirm overall agreed panel scores and decide who to invite for interview based on merit order. This includes the requirement that if more than one candidate scores the same, you will need to treat them consistently, or to provide written justification as to why you have sifted one in and another out based on the same scores. Use the selection criteria identified previously to rate the candidates. Your selection criteria may include sifting applications to ensure applicants meet the required qualifications/experience specified or scoring competency statements using an agreed scoring key. You can only use the selection criteria as it has been published in the advert. As well as recognising these criteria from the applications, at this stage you may also need to think about any gaps or inconsistencies from the applications, which might need further probing at interview stage. The job advert will make it clear to candidates how they need to apply for the job. If candidates are applying for a TS role or an apprenticeship, the application will be by providing evidence on the application form. For all other job applications, they will be required to make an application by uploading a competency evidence statement. If the post has been advertised externally, or at Senior Civil Service level, this will also include a CV by way of background information on the applicant. All panels must have a gender balance. For posts being recruited to on a lateral, promotion or lateral and promotion basis, there will be three panel members: the line manager, an independent person from outside the DG area being recruited to and a second independent person to help ensure the selection is informed by a more rounded appreciation of what is needed to perform at that level across the Welsh Government. This second independent person may be outside of the immediate team being recruited into but within the department or may be from another department depending upon the nature of the role. The composition of the panel needs to be such that when filling a vacancy on lateral and promotion, the 2 panel members are at least at the substantive grade to which the post is being recruited to. If the post is being advertised on promotion, the Chair needs to be at least one grade higher than the grade that is being recruited into. On occasions, to comply with selection methods for recruitment within a profession, the panel may comprise more than 3 members and the recruiting line manager will determine the mix of specialist and generalist panel members depending on the post. If you are recruiting externally, the Panel Chair must be a HR representative. Please refer to the Recruitment Policy for further information. Each panel is responsible and accountable for their respective recruitment exercise and needs to ensure the process is fair and panel members make comprehensive notes based on evidence only. Please note if you require the knowledge or experience of a member of staff who is a secondee, they can act as part of the panel provided that they have completed the mandatory Recruitment and Selection Interview training and are at the required substantive grade. The other panel members must be permanent members of staff at the required substantive grade, consisting of an independent panel member who will still be required, together with maintaining a gender balance. However, in all cases Secondees may not act as a Chair person. 14

15 It is important and good practice, that the sift criteria, together with identifying the minimum criteria to be met, is established prior to receiving the applications so that the criteria set are matched to the individual needs of the job and not as a subjective reaction when the applications are received. You need to determine up front whether a Welsh speaking panel is required for this. Details of all trained Welsh speaking interviewers are available through the Organisational Roles area of the Business Directory. If your post has been advertised on Appoint you will need to record your sift scores on Appoint. The outcomes of all recruitment activity are issued by the Corporate Shared Service Centre. It is important to notify the CSSC promptly of the results so that candidates can be notified of the outcome of their application. All candidates should be provided with constructive written feedback if unsuccessful. See the Appoint e-learning for guidance on how to add sift comments and inform the CSSC of the outcomes. All panel members should be aware that, applicants can under the Data Protection Act 1998, make a subject access request to see their sift/interview notes. It is therefore important that records and their content be kept confidential, accurate and that full notes are available to support decisions which are based firmly on evidence. For further information on Record Keeping please refer to the Recruitment Policy. If you are undertaking recruitment activity which involves advertising vacancies on Appoint, all paperwork relating to the recruitment activity is passed to the Corporate Shared Service Centre for retention when the outcomes are issued. However, for all other recruitment activity, it is recommended that you maintain the records for a minimum of 24 months. The paperwork created during a recruitment exercise is your audit trail evidencing that fair, open recruitment and appointment(s) based on merit has been carried out. As such, in the event of an appeal or a grievance being raised, you will be responsible for providing the paper audit trail. For posts advertised externally, please refer to the External Schemes Required Audit Trail document for further guidance. Interviewing candidates The selection stage involves interviewing candidates to determine the most competent for the job and making an offer of appointment. The Recruitment Policy sets out the composition of the Panel together with the arrangements you will need to introduce if an additional assessment method is being undertaken in conjunction with an interview. For example, a written exercise for a Communications role, or a Welsh language assessment for a Translation post. Any additional assessment method that may used during the selection process needs to be stated in the advert up front. Your Responsibilities Please remember that as part of undertaking the recruitment activity you, as the recruiting line manager, have dual responsibilities. Firstly, a corporate responsibility to ensure you recruit to the grade appropriate to the post when testing the core competency behaviours and secondly, as the line manager to the post, by testing the job specific criteria. The recruiting line manager will decide if a presentation to the interview panel is required as part of the overall assessment for the role. This requirement should only be included where a presentation will enable the panel to assess the specific skills needed for the role e.g. communication or to demonstrate knowledge of a subject area. If a presentation is 15

16 appropriate to the job, it will be scored as part of the panel s assessment of the competency behaviours or job specifics for the role. If the decision is made to test an area in this manner, it should be scored in the same way as testing any other element at interview. Planning and preparation A good interview starts with excellent preparation. Preparing thoroughly in advance means that the interview is able to run smoothly to time and is able to get all of the information required to achieve the interview's purpose of appointing the most suitable and competent candidate. At Annex A. you will find a Panel Chair s checklist to assist you with your preparation, before, during and after conducting the interview. At Annex B you will find advice on conducting an interview, with some useful tips on structuring your questioning, key skills needed to interview, and maintaining control of the interview. Planning the interview The Panel needs to plan in advance the questions you will ask to assess if the candidate has the key competency behaviours, skills, experience, knowledge and qualifications (where appropriate) to undertake the role. Please note where a particular experience or a number of years experience is needed, the requirements need to comply with current age discrimination legislation under the Equality Act If it is appropriate, implement appropriate assessments deciding how you will measure an individual s ability in particular areas of the job such as an assessment or presentation. The selection criteria are based on the job description and on the competency behaviours and/or the job specific criteria. The Welsh Government has a defined marking scheme as set out in Stage 4, which is to be used for sifting and interviewing in order to ensure consistency. Visit the Forms section of the Filling a post area of the intranet to access Panel Chair and Panel Members Interview Notes Templates which will help you to record details of the interview. The mandatory Recruitment & Selection Training will give you advice on using the templates. It is strongly recommended that prior to chairing any interviews you gain experience of interviewing by sitting on other panels in order to gain confidence, knowledge and experience. Interview duration Typically the interview for each candidate should last approximately 30 to 45 minutes. If you are, for example, recruiting into a Profession and need to test other elements through, for example, a written exercise, you will need to ensure you allow sufficient time. During 16

17 this time you also need to remember that the interview is a two way process, for you to gather the evidence required to decide if the candidate has the ability and/or potential to be successful in the role you are recruiting for. A well planned and structured interview will enable you to do the following: Test the candidate's suitability for the requirements of the role. Guarantee fair treatment at the interview for all candidates by treating them in a demonstrably equal manner. Give all candidates an opportunity to express their views and present their evidence. Score candidates based on the requirements of the job. Recommend which candidate should be offered the position and produce an order of merit based on scores achieved. For the candidate to decide if the role and the Welsh Government is right for them. We recommend that when preparing for the interview you discuss note taking with your Panel colleagues and ensure a strategy is agreed. The most effective method is to make very brief jottings to help you maintain the flow of questions whilst your panel colleagues take more detailed notes of your questions and the candidate's answers. Remember, that all notes you make must be legible and available for scrutiny. Keep a record of the interview by using Panel Chair and Panel Members Interview Notes Templates provided on the intranet. Job specific interviewing Job Specific Interviews should only be held where you are assessing: staff within Solutions for an alternative role staff on the People Seeking Moves Board candidates who have applied for a vacancy which is lateral only The Job Specific interview is an opportunity for the recruiting line manager to assess the applicant s suitability against the job specific criteria for the role including any professional requirements. The Job Specific Interview is therefore about ensuring that a candidate can meet the particular requirements of the individual role. As with all interviews, it must be a fair and open process with a decision based firmly on merit. The interview questions must reflect the job specific skills and key tasks required for the post. Competence questions should not be included. However, when interviewing for a temporary post, if you have staff at a lower grade applying, you will need to decide how far you require them to already have the essential competency behaviours required of the role and how far these can be developed on the job. 17

18 Competency Behaviours & Job Specific Interviewing If you are recruiting on a lateral or promotion basis, promotion only basis or externally, the interview questions will need to test the competency behaviours for the level of the role, in addition to the job specifics that you previously defined for the job role. Questions should be used to give the candidate every opportunity to demonstrate competence in the areas being tested. In assessing candidates, panels will give the same weight to the competency behaviours being tested for the post as to the job specifics being tested. Please note you are able to ask a question that covers 2 competency behaviours, provided it comes from within the same competency behaviour areas and is appropriate. During the interview You will need to check with each candidate whether anything has happened during the last 24 hours which could affect the candidate s performance. If something has happened, you should provide them with an opportunity to reschedule their interview. If the candidate declines or is content to proceed with the interview, then once you have started, it cannot be postponed for another occasion. You should document on your interview notes if a candidate has declined an opportunity to reschedule. Candidates are not permitted to bring interview notes or preparatory material into the interview. If candidates have been asked to do a presentation, they can bring prompt cards for use during the presentation itself, but these should only be minimal and should not be heavily relied upon during the course of the exercise. If a candidate arrives with notes or preparatory material, you will need to ask them to put them away or to hand them over to the Chair during the course of the interview. Closing the Interview Before closing, check that you have covered everything from your preparatory work. In a panel interview, you may check whether your colleagues have any outstanding issues. If necessary, summarise. Give the interviewee a clear picture of what will happen next. All appointees to the Civil Service must be able to comply with the Civil Service Code requirements of honesty, integrity, objectivity and impartiality. Where a candidate has previously engaged in political activity, the selection panel must satisfy itself that the candidate understands the requirement to operate objectively and impartially if appointed and must record how this has been done. It is for the panel to decide the most appropriate and proportionate way to achieve this, taking into account the nature and seniority of the post. 18

19 Providing effective feedback The purpose of the feedback is to tell candidates how they have performed in relation to the criteria being assessed. You will need to provide feedback at both the sift stage and interview to those who are unsuccessful. The feedback is meant to help candidates understand why they were not selected therefore it is important that all participants receive meaningful feedback, as part of the recruitment process. After the interview has concluded, to ensure the agreed candidate summary is done to a consistently high standard it should: Be objective and balanced. Be concise and provide meaningful feedback that will be useful. Think about how helpful you would find the feedback that you have written if you were to receive it. Be in the form of a paragraph of prose (not bullet points) which will form the feedback that will be sent to the candidates. Please take care of spelling and grammar. Be concise but meaningful 4-6 sentences is a good benchmark. It would be helpful to begin with the phrase, In response to xxx question, the evidence for XXX competency behaviour (name candidate known by) or a similar phrase which makes it immediately clear to which question / competency behaviour the comment refers. Please take care to avoid: Simply writing a list of development suggestions such as training courses to attend or ways to improve their performance. Being too direct or abrasive, put yourself in the candidate s shoes and think how you would feel to receive the feedback. Giving feedback which is long winded or complex. The feedback needs to be accessible and meaningful to the recipient. Inferring attributes. Try to use language which is neutral and inoffensive language which could be construed as discriminatory on the basis of race, sex, religious belief, sexual preference, disability or age is unacceptable. Selecting and appointing after the interview Score each candidate Compare the candidate s answers to your pre-agreed minimum criteria, following the agreed scoring. When conducting a panel interview, the panel will need to compare and discuss individual ratings and agree an overall mark. The panel must establish which candidates are appointable and place them in order of merit. The most meritorious candidate will be the one who best evidences the criteria being assessed. Remember you need to either appoint or not based on merit order, there are no reserve tickets in Welsh Government internal recruitment exercises and no trial periods. If the highest scoring competent candidate decides not to take up the post, the panel can consider offering the job to the second highest scoring competent candidate. In the extremely rare event that two candidates score the same highest score on the merit list, you will need to provide a 19

20 written rationale as to why to appoint one particular candidate over the other. You will need to ensure that you update the scores and feedback onto the Appoint system and check that all paperwork and records are enclosed on your file. Eligibility Checks Candidates have to confirm their eligibility before applying for vacancies. As the recruiting line manager, before you are able to offer the post to the highest scoring candidate, you will need to undertake the eligibility checks with their current line manager. This written confirmation will need to be sent to the CSSC via the HR Helpdesk before the appointee can be offered the role by the Corporate Shared Service Centre. This is a vital responsibility that line managers must undertake before the offer of appointment can be made by the CSSC. Any cases where a candidate has knowingly made a false declaration as to their eligibility may result in investigatory action being undertaken. Please refer to the Recruitment Policy for further information with regards to eligibility checks. Stage 5: Recruiting outside the Welsh Government If you have been unable to fill the vacancy via internal means, then provided you have obtained permission to recruit externally, the next step would be to advertise outside the Welsh Government. The following options explain how you could do this: Surplus There is a central agreement between departments, Cabinet Office and Trade Unions which seek to redeploy people from the Civil Service wide surplus pool. The vacancy must be advertised via Civil Service Vacancies (CS Vacs) at this stage for ten working days. Only those who are registered as surplus will be able to apply for the vacancy. In some cases where this stage is unlikely to provide applicants with the required skills (e.g. very specialist posts) an exemption to run this stage concurrently with wider external advertising may be permitted. However, please note that Civil Service Resourcing has to agree this exemption upon receipt of a business case. Please contact the CSSC via the HR Helpdesk for further information on this process. Wider Civil Service Vacancies can be advertised to all civil servants, regardless of grade or department within a region, and if the department wishes, across regions. It is best practice to leave the vacancy at this stage for another ten working days but there is no mandate to say how long the vacancy should stay advertised. It is entirely up to the vacancy holder (i.e. the manager who has the vacancy) and the Welsh Government. You may seek further advice on this from the CSSC via the HR Helpdesk. Externally Advertised If you choose to externally advertise the post, it is vitally important that you have the relevant approvals and comply with the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles 2015 that govern the recruitment activity into the Civil Service. Please ensure you are familiar with the guidance provided in both the mandatory training and the Recruitment 20

21 Policy in relation to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and the Monitoring and Compliance activity undertaken by the Welsh Government. It is a legal requirement that all recruitment must be undertaken in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and all appointments made on the basis of fair and open competition and on merit. As part of this, the Chair must complete the template External Board Report provided on the Recruitment pages as per compliance with the Principles. If you are in any doubt in relation to this, please ensure you contact the CSSC via the HR Helpdesk or seek further advice from your business partner before commencing on any recruitment activity. It is possible to advertise the job on the Welsh Government external website and it can be advertised in addition, but not instead of, other means e.g. job websites, specialist journals etc. If you do choose to advertise via other means, please follow the approvals process on the recruitment intranet pages. All press or publication adverts must be approved by the Director of HR. The Recruitment Team will co-ordinate this approval, and liaise with you if there are any issues and to confirm publication costs and advertising dates. NOTE: You should not contact any publications directly. All space bookings etc must be handled by the Recruitment Team in the Corporate Shared Service Centre ( CSSC ). For all external advertisements, Translation Services will need to be used to translate your advert and proof read the final text. You will need to ensure you allow sufficient time for this to be undertaken when planning the timetable for your recruitment exercise. The guidance found in stage 4 should still be followed when selecting, shortlisting and interviewing candidates externally. Pay on appointment All appointments will be made at the starting point of the salary scale unless previous agreement was sought and approved to recruit at a higher point on the salary scale and this was included in the advert. Under the Civil Service Commission s Recruitment Principles 2015, a department must not make an appointment under materially changed terms and conditions from those advertised, this includes the nature of the role and its duties. If a department needs to consider paying more than 20% above the advertised salary, they must obtain the approval of the Commission before making such an offer so that the Commission can assess whether this materially changes the terms of the post, to the extent that, had it been advertised at the higher salary originally, a wider and more meritorious field of candidates might have applied. Referencing and screening Once you have selected your candidate, pre-employment and security checks may be undertaken if recruiting externally, permanently to the organisation or into an area where further security checks are required. These checks may include following up references., As some of these checks may take some time, the candidate should not give notice to their existing department or employer until all checks have been confirmed. You should not agree a start date with the candidate until the Corporate Shared Service Centre notifies you to do so. 21