RECRUITMENT STRATEGY. Looking after our people. Recruiting our people. Leading our people. Diversity in our people

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1 RECRUITMENT STRATEGY Recruiting our people Leading our people Looking after our people Diversity in our people

2 Our commitment to you Andy Marsh Chief Constable Avon & Somerset Constabulary Choosing a career in policing offers a meaningful and valued job, protecting people and helping to change their lives for the better. We want to see people from all walks of life and all corners of the force area apply, bringing new blood and fresh experiences to policing in Avon and Somerset. Strategy core principles: Our recruitment process and practice will focus on measuring the skills, aptitude, and behaviours that are required for the job that is being applied for. We will review and revise our recruitment process and practice on a regular basis. We will seek to attract, welcome and retain people from diverse backgrounds to build a workforce that represents the communities we serve. It s important that our workforce reflects the communities we serve to build trust.

3 Why is recruitment important? The quality of our interaction with the public is critically defined by their contact with our people. It is therefore our people, supported by our systems and processes, that support performance and positive organisational outcomes, including delivery of our Service Promise. Recruitment and selection can play a pivotally important role in shaping an organisation s effectiveness and performance if work organisations are able to acquire workers who already possess relevant knowledge, skills and aptitudes and are also able to make an accurate prediction regarding their future abilities. Rees & French, Leading, Managing and Developing People, 3rd edition CIPD 2010 In simple terms we need to get the process right in: defining the role attracting applications managing the application and selection process making the appointment

4 How will we do it? We will build on our strengths, and we will review and take action where we can do better. We will seek out best practice, professional guidance and follow some core practical guidance. For each role we will evaluate and ensure that the job description catches the key elements of the outcomes we expect of the person doing the role, the activities required to perform the role and the skills and experience required to do the role. This is known internally as the Grafton process. All jobs will be recruited on the basis of this job description. Requests to fill job adverts will be consistently assessed via VRM and, once approved, advertised openly. Exceptional cases will be documented through the same governance process. We will review and test our job adverts and application process to monitor who is attracted to apply for our jobs and whether there are particular jobs or groups we need to focus on to diversify our workforce. We will focus on outreach and personalise our recruitment process through each stage. We want individuals to feel valued. We will have a dedicated Workforce Representative team to support this work.*we will vary our approach and evaluate different methods to make potential applicants aware of our vacancies including, for example, through use of social media.

5 How will we do it? We will: advertise Police Officer promotion opportunities externally as well as internally in line with the College of Policing Leadership Review, and to support diverse police leadership. The processes will be measured against the Police Professional Framework. push for transparency in our organisation and process, ensuring vacancies are visible for all staff and officers (internal vacancies) and the public and other constabularies (external vacancies). We will review whether internal only adverts are appropriate when we are not seeking to redeploy people at risk of redundancy. invite candidates to tell us early in the process if they need reasonable adjustments and discuss their needs with them. anonymise applications received (known as blind sifting ). pre-commit to interview questions which are directly relevant to the job applied for and performance relevant to that job. use a job related assessment task where possible as well as an interview process to assess candidates. ensure assessors are guided to focus on collecting information through the process, not decision making. include people in recruiting decisions who have not been involved in assessing candidates. stick to what the scores tell us in those decision making processes.

6 How will we do it? We will: seek to keep all other conditions consistent when assessments may be spread across days. educate our assessors regarding unconscious bias, but in doing so will seek emphasise the desired behaviour of the assessors rather than the problem. use validation processes across the assessment in high volume recruitment. ask for feedback from both successful and unsuccessful candidates. evaluate assessment practices and make regular equality impact assessments on recruitment outcomes. share outcomes of the evaluations with the organisation eg. through Force COG, recruitment training, and through the intranet. *The Representative Workforce team have a three fold approach: Showcase the many different job opportunities across the force through a brochure, regular tweets on vacancies, career events in schools, colleges and universities Talent Scouting for people we believe should be working for the force the team will enlist all members of staff as advocates for working in the police and provide them with cards to give out encouraging people to join us Mentoring scheme once talent has been identified a mentoring process will support individuals through the application process and give them opportunities of work experience. This will encompass all police officer ranks and police staff positions including members of COG and the PCC s office. The team will also identify teenagers for work placements and to become cadets; and to support those who may become cadet leaders, specials and in time perhaps a staff member.

7 Who will we engage with? We will engage with stakeholders who help us achieve our core principles: Our recruitment process and practice will focus on measuring the skills, aptitude, and behaviours that are required for the job that is being applied for. We will review and revise our recruitment process and practice on a regular basis. We will seek to attract, welcome and retain people from diverse backgrounds to build a workforce that represents the communities we serve. Internal business leads people who understand the jobs we are designing and can help identify key skills, aptitudes and behaviours required Representative workforce the team actively engaging in activity to diversify our workforce Staff Associations, Police Federation and UNISON who represent the voice of our internal staff and officers College of Policing can offer best practice and guidance in policing. HR professionals & other recruitment professionals such as organisational psychologists can offer best practice and professional guidance in recruitment External partners recruitment companies and other experts in their field Avon and Somerset public we will review our recruitment processes and jobs in light of what the community is saying is important to them Internal business leads people who understand the jobs we are designing and can help identify key skills, aptitudes and behaviours required SouthWest One to deliver our recruitment services

8 Where will we be in 2017? We will see: Raised awareness and understanding of the employment opportunities we offer, the attractions of a career in the police service and what we are looking for in terms of the skills and experience of those applying. Increased applications and employment of police officers and staff from diverse backgrounds. Internal and external applicants for police promotion opportunities. Increased transferee police officers at current rank and at promoted rank. Applicants will have: Equal access to job opportunities Positive Action support for under represented groups through the recruitment process. Information regarding the recruitment process and what assessment methods will be used. We will continue to work with internal and external stakeholders to: ensure fairness and consistency in our processes become more representative of the communities we serve recruit people with the right skills, experience and ability to perform the jobs we need them to do. It s really important to engage with and listen to our partners in the community so we can be an attractive employer of choice for everyone. Chief Inspector Norman Pascal, Representative Workforce

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