Overview of recruitment process
Form Selection Committee
Selection committees generally consist of a minimum of two members but not more than four persons, including the chairperson.
Members of a selection committee should be chosen on the basis of their objectivity, professionalism and ability to exercise good judgement in selecting the most suitable person for the job vacancy.
Where possible, there should representation of both genders.
Members of a selection committees should not have a bias in favour of one candidate prior to the start of the selection process. A perception of bias or lack of impartiality can be damaging to the selection process, nd can undermine the successful candidate.
The members of the selection committee should have a reasonable level of:
- the requirements of the job in question; and
- the principles of equal employment opportunity
Selection committee members are responsible for:
- determining an appropriate method of assessing applicants that will be free from bias, transparent and stand up to scrutiny
- conducting the interview/screening process
- ensuring candidates are selected on the basis of merit
- ensuring that selection documentation remains confidential
Review Position Description
Before advertising the job vancancy, members of the selection panel should review the position description for the job. If there is not a position description available, one must be prepared before the selection process can continue.
The purpose of reviewing the position description is so that members of selection committee can:
- Familiarise themselves with the objectives and duties of the job
- Review the selection criteria, if stated in the position description, or formulate selection criteria if not
- Ensure that applicants for the job are well informed about the nature of the job on offer
- Review the condition of employment (pay, hours of work, leave, superannuation, etc)
There should always be a position description for applicants to review. This principle should also extend to voluntary positions.
For more information about position descriptions click here.
Advertise
A job vacancy may be advertised in a variety of ways including:
- Employment section of newspapers
- Notifying a recruitment agency
- Employment websites such as Seek (www.seek.com.au)
- Your organisation's own newsletters
- Your organisation's own website
- Calling a vocational education and training institution
- Putting notice in local shop windows
- Putting notice in own shop/office window
- Community radio announcement
The extent of the advertising is important.
If the selection process is "closed merit" then the position is advertised only to people within the organisation. This would rule out newspaper, radio and employment websites.
Receive Applications
Applications for employment must be treated with considerable diligence and respect. Failure to appropriately handle applications for a job can severely jeopardise someone's employment potential, and thereby cause annoyance, distress, financial hardship and career prospects.
Employment applications should be acknowledged as soon as possible, and filed in appropriate place to ensure none are missed.
The chairperson of the selection committee should review all incoming applications and attempt to determine a short list of candidates. If the number of incoming applications is very large, it may be necessary for the chairperson of the selection committee to obtain assistance from other staff.
In determining a short list, the chairperson of the selection committee should eliminate all candidates who have not provided all the necessary information, especially statements in reply to key selection criteria.
The next elimination should be those candidates whose skills, abilities and experience are insufficient to score well against the key selection criteria.
These eliminations can be carried out reasonably quickly.
The remaining applications will all warrant a closer examination and awarding of points for each key selection criteria. Then a number candidates with the highest points score are selected for the short list depending the available time and energy for interviewing.
Arrange Interviews
Each candidate should be personally notified by telephone. It is unadvisable to notify by email, as an email sent is not necessarily an email received. Notification by letter is better that email but not as good as telephoning.
The notification should contain:
- Start time of interview
- Name of the chairperson of the interview panel
- Contact details of the chairperson of the interview panel
- Job title of the vacant position
- Address of the venue for the interview
- Advice on the format and duration of the interview
- Advice on the number of panellists
Interviews are arranged for convenience of candidates and interviewers. The chairperson of the interview panel should endeavour to find a convenient time and date for the interviewee but this is not always possible. It is generally not feasible to call the interview panel together on more than one day.
Interview duration:
20 mins |
not a serious duration for a career job |
30 mins |
barely enough time, risk of not keeping to schedule, rushed, insufficient time for notetaking, decision making, too hard for interviewers. |
40 mins |
allows for 30 minutes of questions and 10 minutes change round time in which interviewers can write notes, discuss candidates and refresh themselves. |
over 40 mins |
durations between 40 mins and one hour are appropriate for middle management positions. |
Compile Interview Questions
Interview questions must relate to the key selection criteria.
Questions must be open ended and well-worded so as to cause the "interviewee" to describe their relevant work history and/or portray their knowledge.
One question may take the form of a "hypothetical". The purpose of such a question is to test the candidate "what would they do" in a certain situation. The "hypothetical" question adds significant pressure, and it evaluates the level of knowledge, experience and work-readiness of the candidate.
Generally there is only a need to formulate one question per key slection criteria. However, the interviewers should have a supplementary question ready to go if the candidate struggles to understand the question, or simply does not provide enough information. The supplementary question gives the candidate a second bite to devulge more information.
Conduct Interviews
Select Successful Candidate
Check Referees
Formally Notify
