Transcript Slide 1

Merit-Based Selection
Practices & Procedures
Terry Lisson
Director Promotion Appeals &
Grievance Reviews
NT Public Sector
Merit 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 meritbased 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 longterm 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-today 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 bestplaced 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, timeconsuming, 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