Better, Faster: streamlining recruitment in the APS cites the APS State of the Service Employee Survey 2005/2006 saying:

more than one in four employees agreed that recruitment processes are difficult for candidates outside the APS to understand

more than one third perceived that the recruitment processes of their agency do not allow for recruitment to be completed in a timely manner.

about one in three employees perceived that the recruitment processes of their current agency do not enable their agency to attract the best candidates

over one third believed that their agency’s recruitment processes are too demanding of candidates

Recruitment in the APS is guided by certain minimum standards. One of these standards is that APS agencies will run an open, competitive selection process based on merit. This is based on an assessment of a person’s ability to do the job; avoiding patronage, favouritism and unjustified discrimination.

I can understand why the State of the Service Employee Survey received the results it did.  In some agencies, the APS recruitment process can be overly long due to the emphasis on the merit process. Another reason for the long process is that line managers have responsibility in drafting the role description and selection criteria and conducting the recruitment process . Line managers are already busy and do not have a lot of time to actually focus on recruitment and generally they are not experts in role design, marketing and recruitment.

Recruitment is not just about advertising, going through applications and interviewing. The essential components of  recruitment are strategy, attraction, candidate relationship management, technology, services and process. In today's employment market where talent is becoming scarce and organisations are competing for people who are already employed, candidate care is critical.

HR areas in APS agencies need to stop focusing on the process of recruitment and use technology to do this. They should be focusing their energy in supporting, educating and training line managers on recruitment strategy, attraction and candidate management.

There has been quite a few publications which have been developed to assist APS agencies in streamlining recruitment processes. Some of these are:

• Get it Right—a recruitment kit for managers;
• MAC 7 Report - Reducing Red Tape in the APS;
• Better, Faster: streamlining recruitment in the APS; and
  
• ANAO Audit Report No.31  2007–08 - Management of Recruitment in the Australian Public Service.

I read an interesting article from Dr John Sullivan, Top 10 Indications That You Are a Dinosaur (Old-School) Recruiter! After reading this I think the APS has a long way to go to get past "Old School" recruitment.

When will the revolution start I wonder?

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