Merit-Based Selection Practices & Procedures

Merit-Based SelectionPractices & Procedures Terry Lisson Director Promotion Appeals & Grievance Reviews

NT Public SectorMerit Selection • Pursuant to PSEMA selection is based on the merit principle.

What is Merit? Defined in PSEMA as: The capacity of the person to perform particular duties, having regard to the person’s: • knowledge • skills • qualifications and experience • potential for future development

Across-Government Selection Process Workshop A workshop was recently held with a number of senior HR representatives with the goal of developing an ‘across government’ approach to selection, that concentrates more on substance and less on procedure.

Practice and Procedures • The intention is to move away from selection processes that are unnecessarily rigid, and emphasise that it can be a very flexible process, with the only requirement being that it must be clear that merit is the reason for the selection.

Merit Selection Guide • Employment Instruction No.1– Part 10: “All employees involved in the selection process should refer to agency selection procedures and to the “Merit Selection Guide”. • The Guide “provides the principles and guidelines for the filling of vacancies in the NTPS”.

Merit Selection Guide • Is flexible, non-prescriptive, does not require specific processes to be followed • Does not set out any hard and fast rules for assessing merit or running selection processes

Need for Structure • Although the Merit Selection Guide is flexible, it is apparent that many people want a concrete procedure that is more than: “just use your common sense’, or “you can be as flexible as you want, as long as you apply the merit principle.”

Changes to Selection Processes • Nothing proposed in regard to changing practices conflicts with the Merit Selection Guide, the Employment Instructions, or the guidelines for selection found on the OCPE website.

Selection Report Templates • Most selection templates say something like “The panel determined that the best method of assessment would be to draw on information obtained from written application, interview and referees.” • This is probably the main contributor to the mistaken belief that merit- based assessment must be based on on “application, interview, referee.”

The Pillars of Recruitment • The pillars of recruitment are not “application, interview and referees”. • They are: • knowledge • skills • qualifications and experience • potential for future development

Proposed new Selection Template “Applicants were assessed on their capacity to perform the particular duties of the position having regard to their knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience and potential for future development in the Public Service.”

So how will selections be made? • Some will wonder how to conduct merit-based selections if there is more flexibility in process. • They must remember that it is all about hiring the person with the best capacity to perform in the position (Not the best capacity to perform in the selection process!)

Applications • “Your application is the first crucial step in showing that you possess superior merit to the other applicants, and its function is to bring you to the selection advisory panel's attention.” • http://www.ocpe.nt.gov.au/ntps_careers

Applications • If the function of an application is to attract the attention of the selection panel, then why make applicants whose merit is already well known through their work performance, supply lengthy written applications?

Unnecessarily Requiring Detailed Applications • Recent appeals to PAB resulted from situations in which applicants with many years’ experience working in the agency were still required to submit lengthy applications which were then used to shortlist.

Unnecessarily Requiring Detailed Applications (con) • When asked why the panel didn’t just ask for expressions of interest and then go on to select using theirs and referees long-term knowledge as to the applicant’s capabilities, the response was that they “didn’t know they could that”, and thought it “wouldn’t be allowed”.

Applications • “Merit-based selection is not an application-writing contest.” (PAB decision) • Remember applications are intended only to assist in identifying which applicants warrant further consideration.

DBE Forms • DBE ‘Applicant Information’ Form currently says applications should contain ‘claims addressing the selection criteria’ along with brief working history and “examples of experience and knowledge for each criterion”. • Nothing in the form says application has to be written in any particular form, or that the examples cannot be simply “I have been performing in a position that has all the same essential criterion for x years.”

DBE Selection Forms • As a flow-on from the HR Selection Workshop DBE forms will be changed to better reflect that applications can be in any form – and are intended only to provide evidence to assist panels in deciding that an applicants warrants further consideration

Interviews • The Merit Selection Guide states clearly that “an interview is only one method of assessment that may form part of the selection process”

Don’t interview when you don’t have to • Remember: An interview is just a tool to gather more information – if you need it!

Interview Questions • Interviews should be used to discuss issues specific to particular applicants, not to ask a series of identical questions to then ‘rate’ the applicants on the quality of their answers.

Interview Questions • Careful thought should be given to exactly why a question is being asked, and whether or not you really need to know the answer from the applicant themselves or could instead obtain the information from appropriate referees.

Why interview people whose merit for a particular job is already well-known? • The practice of conducting interviews of long-standing employees often makes little sense and produces results where a person ends up “losing the job on the day”. (Or perhaps “winning the job at interview”.)

DBE Forms • Will be changed to no longer automatically contemplate being selected for interview, but rather being selected for further consideration.(Current form says things like “Prior to interviews being conducted, please inform DBE Recruitment of applicants who have not been selected for interview”, when what is meant is ‘who have not been selected for further consideration’)

Examples of Changes - DET • DET has now introduced selection guidelines that specifically state that interviews should only be conducted to obtain information which cannot be otherwise obtained and verified through referees, and that both the reason for the decision to interview, and the focus of questions asked of a particular applicant, must be stated.

How will people react? • Concern has been expressed by some that varying assessment methods for applicants, including not interviewing some has “real potential to create discontent amongst applicants who may believe they have been treated unfairly or that a panel is biased.” • These concerns can be easily dealt with by providing honest feedback

How will people react? • The concerns about non-interview of some applicants will evaporate once people begin to believe that it will not be interview performance that wins them a job, but rather their actual merit as demonstrated though their work history.

Performance Based Assessment • The best source for assessment of applicants should be their known and demonstrated work performance. • Any employee should be able to rely on the fact that their day-to-day performance on the job will count towards their achieving promotion

The Importance of Referees • If the main source for assessing the merit of applicants is to be their demonstrated work performance, then referee reports become very important in the selection process • The best way to assess work performance is through the knowledge of supervisors and managers

Message from the Commissioner • If an employee has been promoted to a position where they are supervising and managing staff then it becomes part of their job to give fair, complete, honest and accurate information about work performance, as part of any NTPS selection process involving their staff.

Future Direction - PDPs • As the NTPS puts in place Performance Development Plans those regular written reports will become a source – perhaps the best one – of information to inform selection processes. • This does not mean the PDPs will be used ‘against’ people – it simply means that the best available information about an employees’ demonstrated work history is being used to assess merit.

Who are Referees? • Referees are not just someone nominated by an applicant to say good things about them • Referees must be the persons best-placed to give current, relevant feedback on an applicant’s merit – e.g.present supervisors and managers, clients, perhaps colleagues of the applicant, or staff the applicant has managed

Speaking to Referees If you want information about both general and specific job performance, and capacity to perform in the job in question then ask!

Things you can ask Referees • How would you summarise the applicant’s performance in general? • What degree of supervision do they require? • Have there been poor performance issues and what was the outcome? • What are the applicant’s strengths and weakness in relation to this job? • Would you hire this person if you had a similar job in your workplace?

Referees as a Source • In order to protect against an ‘unreliable’ referee it is usually best practice to canvass several available sources, particularly in situations where there may be personal conflict between the referee and the applicant, or where little is known about the applicant’s demonstrated work performance

Using Referee Reports to compare Applicants • Referee reports limited to an individual applicant’s merit are often not particularly helpful in distinguishing between suitable candidates.

Using Referee Reports to compare Applicants (con) • If a referee is in a position which supervises a number of applicants for a position, then it is not only permissible, but sensible, to ask them for comparative information about the capacity of each of the applicants to perform in the position.

Selection Reports • Current process for writing up individual selection reports is cumbersome, time-consuming, not useful or meaningful to applicants, and a major contributing factor to the unacceptable delays in finalising selection processes.

Selection Reports • Many times a Promotion Appeal is made simply because the appellant is not given an adequate explanation of why the promotee is of superior merit. • The best Individual Selection report should be one that answers all the questions the unsuccessful applicant might have

New approach to Selection Reports • One of the easiest things for the HR Workshop group to agree to was scrapping the current practice of the practice of writing up Individual Selection Reports by way of a paragraph against each criterion, with no comparative information about the successful applicant

New approach to Selection Reports • Reports will be done in a ‘Narrative’ style, setting out the reasons why the successful applicant was found to have more merit, in terms of knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience, and potential for future development, and incorporating referee comments in the body of the report.

What is Coming? • A ‘good practice’ Information Sheet – setting out some specific information about what is permitted in selection processes • A ‘generic’ Selection Template emphasising merit rather than set process – designed for use, perhaps with minor adaptations, by all agencies • Sample ‘narrative style’ selection and individual reports

What is Coming (con.) • Examples of questions that can (and should) be asked of referees • Specific information, for both selection panels and potential referees, about the issues surrounding referee reports • Training and education on selection processes

What is Coming (con) • A letter from the CPE to CEOs explaining that these ‘new’, good practice procedures have been developed in collaboration with Agencies and, while entirely optional, are supported and encouraged by OCPE

Questions? • Please feel free to contact: Terry Lisson 8999 4128 Promotion Appeals & Grievance Review

Merit-Based Selection Practices & Procedures