Employment Committee

27/08 /2015

Is the final decision on the recommendations in this report to be made at this meeting?

Yes

 

Director Recruitment Process

 

Final Decision-Maker

Employment Committee

Lead Director or Head of Service

Alison Broom, Chief Executive

Lead Officer and Report Author

Dena Smart, Shared Head of Human Resources

Classification

Public

Wards affected

Borough-wide

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to the final decision-maker:

1.    That the Employment Committee agree the appointment of a sub-committee as the interview panel for any Director appointments

2.    That the Employment Committee agree the appointment of recruitment consultants to assist with the recruitment and selection process for any Director appointments

3.    If recommendation two is agreed that the selection of the recruitment consultants is delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Chair of the Appointment Sub Committee.

 

 

This report relates to the following corporate priorities:

·         Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all - none

·         Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough - none

 

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Employment Committee

27 August 2015



Director Recruitment Process

 

 

1.         PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

1.1      The report considers the options for the process of the recruitment and selection of the Director position to ensure that the best quality of applicant is available for selection by the Employment Committee to implement the new senior management structure agreed by the Policy and Resources Committee.

 

1.2      The report recommends that the Employment Committee agree to establish an Appointments sub – committee for the final interview process with five members rather than the full committee.

 

2.         INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

2.1      The Council Constitution sets out the role of the Employment Committee as:

 

To consider the applications received for the posts of Chief Executive and Directors and to compile a short list for interview and subsequently to interview and make appointments

 

2.2      The recommended best practice in selection is to run an assessment centre with a range of tests and exercises to ensure the candidates considered by the Employment Committee are able to fulfil the requirements of the role.

 

2.3      It is recommended that the Employment Committee agree a sub-committee to undertake the final interview process as a panel with the full committee of twelve members would be unlikely to draw the best from candidates. As the Employment Committee has a sub-committee of five members to undertake the Chief Executive and Director appraisals, and as such is acting in the role of ‘line manager’ this is the recommended format for the Appointment Panel.

 

2.4      In previous Director appointments the council has used the services of a recruitment company to manage the process and to ensure that the maximum number of suitable candidates apply for the post. The recruitment company has designed the advert and search campaign, organised technical interviews, psychometric testing, designed the assessment centre, assisted with long and short lists and supported the appointment panel with final interviews. The assessment centre is usually designed to give the opportunity for a wider group of members and other stakeholders to meet the candidates.

 

 

3.         AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

3.1      Appoint external recruitment consultants

 

There is a wide range of external agencies that could support the council to source suitable candidates for the recruitment and selection of the Director and conduct the process.

 

There are three main advantages to the use of an external agency:

 

o   Access to a wide database of suitable, experienced candidates who would be contacted by the agency to stimulate a good field of applicants. This is a particular advantage in areas where there may be a shortage of people and the agency are able to target people direct who may not be actively job seeking;

o   Access to the creative designers for the production of high quality advertisements and microsites thereby ensuring a wide reach to people who are currently job searching

o   Access to a wide range of expertise and assessment tools and techniques;

o   An objective judgement regarding the strength of candidates compared to the availability in the current market.

 

The key disadvantage to the use of external recruitment consultants is the financial cost which is likely to be in the region of fifteen thousand pounds (this does not include advertising cost which will be incurred whichever management process is followed) and the opportunity cost of the additional time required if the internal HR team conducted rather than managed the process. However the financial cost should be balanced against the possibility of failing to recruit a good candidate and the consequent costs of re-advertising; the cost of adverts alone may amount to ten thousand pounds.

 

3.2      Undertake the recruitment using internal resources

 

The in house HR team have significant experience of recruitment and selection with some accreditation and therefore access to the type of psychometric tools that would be used for this level of selection.

 

The key difference relates to the database of suitable people which is not held by the in house team and this would mean that there was no ‘search’ component to the process; stimulation of suitable candidates would rely on response to advertisements.

 

The main advantage of using the in-house team is that there would be no additional costs for the selection process, though there would be some need to pay for the development of the advertising copy and micro-site.

 

 

 

4.         PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

4.1      Option one is the preferred option.

 

The appointment of the best people is key to the success of the council and for this to be likely we must secure the services of a recruitment organisation with the experience of senior search, recruitment and selection. Although there is an additional cost to the external resource this is a small percentage of the cost of a director or the cost of re-advertising.

 

The use of an external agency will also offer an objective view to the Employment Committee, this will be particularly important if there are any internal candidates for the advertised Director role.

 

 

5.        CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

5.1     Consultation is with the Employment Committee.

 

 

6.        NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

6.1      If the recommended decision is agreed the next steps will be to undertake a process in accordance with the council’s procurement rules to identify the recruitment company.

 

7.        CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

All priorities are indirectly impacted by this senior recruitment

CEO

Risk Management

The risks are associated with not undertaking the process in a way that does not deliver the best candidate for the role.

CEO

Financial

Within existing budgets

S151

Staffing

No specific staffing issues

Shared head of HR

Legal

None identified at this time

 

Equality Impact Needs Assessment

None identified at this time

 

Environmental/Sustainable Development

None identified at this time

 

Community Safety

None identified at this time

 

Human Rights Act

None identified at this time

 

Procurement

Procurement rules will be followed as a result of decisions made on the report.

S151

Monitoring Officer

Asset Management

None identified at this time

 

 

8.         REPORT APPENDICES

 

No appendices

 

9.         BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

No background papers