The Council’s Recruitment Procedure
The Job Description:
Before any job is advertised, the relevant officers in the recruiting department are required to review the job description. This is a document which details what the person getting the job will be expected to do. This is always sent out with the application form. For some jobs, it is called a task list and not a job description.
The Person Specification:
Once the job description has been looked at and, if necessary, updated, the relevant officers in the recruiting department are required to draw up a person specification detailing those qualities required in the person best suited to do the work.
These qualities are strictly job related and cover such areas as level of skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications, etc. They are classed as:
‘Essential’ - i.e. what you must have to do the job and without which you could not be appointed, and
‘Desirable’ - i.e. those qualities that would be an ‘added bonus’ and help the post holder carry out the full range of duties of the job more readily.
The Advertisement:
The next stage is to draw up the advertisement to reflect the requirements of the job and the person needed to do it.
Checking It Through:
Once the job description has been agreed, and the person specification and recruitment advertisement drawn up, it is not uncommon for them to be passed through to specialist personnel officers to check that they have been properly prepared, ask only for job related requirements and meet the council’s Employment Equality Policy in general and, more specifically, the council’s recruitment policies.
After this the person specification cannot be changed during the recruitment process for that vacancy. Also the short-list decisions, tests and the final decision are often monitored to ensure the council’s policies have been followed.
Arranging Interviews:
When the completed application forms are returned to the council, they are passed to the recruiting department for the relevant officers to produce a shortlist, i.e. the list of people who will be called in for interview. Only those people who meet all the essential criteria listed on the person specification, and which are measurable from the application form, will be called in. On occasions, if there are a lot of people who meet these essential criteria, only those who meet some of the desirable qualities as well will be called for interview.
When looking to see ‘who meets what’, officers are trained only to use information from the application form and not to make assumptions about anyone – even if they already work for the council.
Test and Submissions:
It is not uncommon to receive a large response to our advertisements such that, even after looking at those who meet the desirable criteria, there would still be more people left than we could possibly interview. When this happens, you may be called in for a job-related test or asked to prepare something and send it to us which will be used to determine who will be called in for an interview.
Sometimes a test will be set as part of the interview process to find out about your skills, knowledge and experience in a particular area and which can be better measured by the test than by asking questions at interview.
Whatever form the test takes, it will always be job-related and will be just one of the many factors taken into account when making the final decision.
During the Interview:
Interviews at the council are always carried out by at least two people. They will ask only job-related questions, i.e. those designed to find out how well you could do the job. The same job-related questions will be asked of all people being interviewed for that job. In addition, it is likely that you will be asked specific questions which relate to areas which are unique to you, e.g. previous work history.
You will also be given a chance to ask questions about the job, the section and department, the terms and conditions or any other relevant points.
Each member of the interview panel will take notes of your answers on a standard form and these will be used to recall your answers when the panel members decide whom to appoint after all the interviews are finished. At the end of your interview you will be told when to expect a decision, which will be in writing.
After the Interview:
When the panel members have decided whom to offer the job to, all their notes, the application forms, any references we have received and the list of standard questions they have asked will be sent to the Personnel Section of the recruiting department.
No offer of appointment will be made until the officers in this section have been satisfied that the best person for the job, in accordance with the pre-determined person specification, is the one who is being recommended for appointment.
Disabled Applicants:
As part of the wide range of employment initiatives we have undertaken under our positive action programmes for disabled people, disabled applicants who, through their application form, can demonstrate they meet the essential characteristics of the ‘ideal job holder’, will be guaranteed an interview, even where there is some doubt that the essential requirements are met.
Getting It Right:
Of course we cannot always get it right and mistakes can occur. However, we hope the above shows that by building in opportunities to carry out independent checks at any stage of the recruitment process, we take every possible care to ensure that such mistakes are rare.
In addition, only officers who have undertaken our intensive Recruitment and Selection Training course are allowed to play any part in the process.
If, despite all our care, you feel you have been unfairly treated during the recruitment process, please write to the Recruitment & Resourcing Adviser in the Chief Executive’s Office and tell us what you are unhappy about. We will then arrange for an investigation and someone to write back to you.
We cannot, again, necessarily change anything that has happened, but your queries will be taken seriously and if we can do anything to help you, or to help other future applicants as a result, we will do so.
Selection Arrangements:
Leicester City Council will endeavour to take account of and address any particular factors which may hinder a candidate’s ability to compete successfully and fairly for a job, for example, details of dates or times someone is unavailable, a requirement for braille or large print test material, signer, wheelchair accessible venue, etc.
Complaints Procedure:
Leicester City Council operates a complaints procedure which provides independent redress to candidates who wish to complain about any aspect of any recruitment exercise.
Before any job is advertised, the relevant officers in the recruiting department are required to review the job description. This is a document which details what the person getting the job will be expected to do. This is always sent out with the application form. For some jobs, it is called a task list and not a job description.
The Person Specification:
Once the job description has been looked at and, if necessary, updated, the relevant officers in the recruiting department are required to draw up a person specification detailing those qualities required in the person best suited to do the work.
These qualities are strictly job related and cover such areas as level of skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications, etc. They are classed as:
The Advertisement:
The next stage is to draw up the advertisement to reflect the requirements of the job and the person needed to do it.
Checking It Through:
Once the job description has been agreed, and the person specification and recruitment advertisement drawn up, it is not uncommon for them to be passed through to specialist personnel officers to check that they have been properly prepared, ask only for job related requirements and meet the council’s Employment Equality Policy in general and, more specifically, the council’s recruitment policies.
After this the person specification cannot be changed during the recruitment process for that vacancy. Also the short-list decisions, tests and the final decision are often monitored to ensure the council’s policies have been followed.
Arranging Interviews:
When the completed application forms are returned to the council, they are passed to the recruiting department for the relevant officers to produce a shortlist, i.e. the list of people who will be called in for interview. Only those people who meet all the essential criteria listed on the person specification, and which are measurable from the application form, will be called in. On occasions, if there are a lot of people who meet these essential criteria, only those who meet some of the desirable qualities as well will be called for interview.
When looking to see ‘who meets what’, officers are trained only to use information from the application form and not to make assumptions about anyone – even if they already work for the council.
Test and Submissions:
It is not uncommon to receive a large response to our advertisements such that, even after looking at those who meet the desirable criteria, there would still be more people left than we could possibly interview. When this happens, you may be called in for a job-related test or asked to prepare something and send it to us which will be used to determine who will be called in for an interview.
Sometimes a test will be set as part of the interview process to find out about your skills, knowledge and experience in a particular area and which can be better measured by the test than by asking questions at interview.
Whatever form the test takes, it will always be job-related and will be just one of the many factors taken into account when making the final decision.
During the Interview:
Interviews at the council are always carried out by at least two people. They will ask only job-related questions, i.e. those designed to find out how well you could do the job. The same job-related questions will be asked of all people being interviewed for that job. In addition, it is likely that you will be asked specific questions which relate to areas which are unique to you, e.g. previous work history.
You will also be given a chance to ask questions about the job, the section and department, the terms and conditions or any other relevant points.
Each member of the interview panel will take notes of your answers on a standard form and these will be used to recall your answers when the panel members decide whom to appoint after all the interviews are finished. At the end of your interview you will be told when to expect a decision, which will be in writing.
After the Interview:
When the panel members have decided whom to offer the job to, all their notes, the application forms, any references we have received and the list of standard questions they have asked will be sent to the Personnel Section of the recruiting department.
No offer of appointment will be made until the officers in this section have been satisfied that the best person for the job, in accordance with the pre-determined person specification, is the one who is being recommended for appointment.
Disabled Applicants:
As part of the wide range of employment initiatives we have undertaken under our positive action programmes for disabled people, disabled applicants who, through their application form, can demonstrate they meet the essential characteristics of the ‘ideal job holder’, will be guaranteed an interview, even where there is some doubt that the essential requirements are met.
Getting It Right:
Of course we cannot always get it right and mistakes can occur. However, we hope the above shows that by building in opportunities to carry out independent checks at any stage of the recruitment process, we take every possible care to ensure that such mistakes are rare.
In addition, only officers who have undertaken our intensive Recruitment and Selection Training course are allowed to play any part in the process.
If, despite all our care, you feel you have been unfairly treated during the recruitment process, please write to the Recruitment & Resourcing Adviser in the Chief Executive’s Office and tell us what you are unhappy about. We will then arrange for an investigation and someone to write back to you.
We cannot, again, necessarily change anything that has happened, but your queries will be taken seriously and if we can do anything to help you, or to help other future applicants as a result, we will do so.
Selection Arrangements:
Leicester City Council will endeavour to take account of and address any particular factors which may hinder a candidate’s ability to compete successfully and fairly for a job, for example, details of dates or times someone is unavailable, a requirement for braille or large print test material, signer, wheelchair accessible venue, etc.
Complaints Procedure:
Leicester City Council operates a complaints procedure which provides independent redress to candidates who wish to complain about any aspect of any recruitment exercise.