Ongoing employment – Recruitment and related issues

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Recruitment and selection

This Chapter outlines the main principles and the basic stages of recruitment and selection exercises under the Act.

2.1 Principles of recruitment and selection

The following principles must be borne in mind and applied throughout a recruitment and selection exercise.

The APS Values

An agency's recruitment and selection policies and processes must be consistent with the APS Values, set out in section 10(1) of the Act.

An Agency Head must uphold and promote the APS Values (section 12). Every APS employee must behave in a way that upholds the APS Values (section 13(11)). In addition, Senior Executive Service employees are required to promote the APS Values by personal example and other appropriate means (section 35(2)).

The minimum requirements that an Agency Head must meet in upholding and promoting the APS Values and the minimum requirements that an APS employee must meet in upholding the Values are set out in Chapter 2 of the Directions.

Some key points set out in the APS Values and Directions relating to recruitment and selection are:

merit-based decision making (APS Value (b) and Direction 2.3) (discussed separately below)
reasonable opportunity given for eligible members of the community to apply for APS employment (APS Value (m) and Direction 2.14).
independence of staffing decisions from the political party system, political bias and political influence (APS Value (a) and Direction 2.2)
compliance with all relevant anti-discrimination legislation and recognition, respect and utilisation of diversity including balancing of work, family and caring responsibilities (APS Value (c) and Direction 2.4)
modelling and promoting the highest standard of ethical behaviour (APS Value (d) and Direction 2.6)
promotion of a fair, flexible and rewarding workplace (APS Value (j) and Direction 2.11)
promotion of equity in employment so that employment decisions are made in a transparent, equitable and procedurally fair way, while maintaining appropriate confidentiality (APS Value (l) and Direction 2.13(a))
elimination of employment related disadvantage for specified groups (APS Value (l) and Direction 2.13(b))

In the context of recruitment it is also necessary to consider the APS Code of Conduct provisions that require an APS employee to:

behave honestly and with integrity (section 13(1))
treat everyone with respect and courtesy and without harassment (section 13(3))
disclose, and take reasonable steps to avoid, any real or apparent conflict of interest (section 13(7)).

Additional information on the APS Values can be found in the following APS Commission publications:

Values in the Australian Public Service
APS Values and Code of Conduct in Practice
Guidelines on Workplace Diversity
Indigenous Recruitment in the APS.

The Merit Value

Under the APS Values, an employment decision must be based on merit (section 10(1)(b)). An Agency Head must ensure that recruitment and selection policies and practices in their agency are merit-based. An employee involved in recruitment and selection must act in a way that is consistent with the merit Value.

The procedures to be followed in making merit-based employment decisions for:

engagement and promotion
other assignment of duties

are different and are set out below.

Engagement and promotion

A merit-based decision relating to the engagement or promotion of an ongoing employee must comply with section 10(2) which requires all of the following:

an assessment of the relative suitability of the candidates for the duties using a competitive selection process (section 10(2)(a))
an assessment based on the relationship between the candidates' work-related qualities and the work-related qualities genuinely required for the duties (section 10(2)(b))
the assessment to focus on the relative capacity of the candidates to achieve outcomes related to the duties (section 10(2)(c))
the assessment to be the primary consideration in making the decision (section 10(2)(d)).

In addition, the purpose of the selection process must be determined in advance, information about the process must be readily available to applicants and the selection process must be transparent and applied fairly (Direction 2.3).

Other assignment of duties

A decision to assign duties to a person at a similar or lower classification, or to assign duties temporarily at a higher classification must be based on an assessment of the person's work-related qualities and the work-related qualities required for efficient and effective organisational performance. An Agency Head must put in place measures to ensure that these decisions are based on an assessment of these factors (Direction 2.3).

If the assignment of duties is a temporary assignment at a higher classification, consideration must also be given to the efficiency of the employee, the importance of the duties, the length and cost of the assignment and the opportunity to gain experience (Direction 4.7). An Agency Head is responsible for ensuring measures are in place to ensure that these additional factors are taken into account in decisions to temporarily assign duties at a higher classification (often referred to as 'higher duties').

When assigning other duties to an employee, an Agency Head must also ensure that measures are in place to ensure that employment and workplace arrangements take appropriate account of APS employees who are seeking to balance individual needs and the achievement of organisational goals.

Secondary selection considerations

The usual outcome of a selection exercise for engagement or promotion will be the selection of the person ranked first on the basis of an assessment of the applicants' work-related qualities (the primary assessment). However, there may be circumstances where secondary selection considerations are also applied (section 10(2)(d)) resulting in another suitably ranked applicant being selected.

The use of secondary selection considerations is discussed in detail in Appendix A.

Exceptions to minimum requirements set out in Chapter 4 of the Directions

The minimum requirements upon an Agency Head in relation to the engagement, promotion and temporary assignment of APS employees set out in Chapter 4 of the Directions, do not apply in some limited circumstances such as the engagement of APS employees under section 72 of the Act for the purpose of giving effect to a machinery of government change. A full list of circumstances is in Schedule 1 of the Directions.

Avoidance of patronage and favouritism and political intervention

A person making decisions under the Act or Regulations about an APS employee, or about the engagement of an APS employee, must do so without patronage or favouritism (section 17).

While encouraging individuals to apply for an employment opportunity is not in itself patronage or favouritism, targeting an individual to the exclusion of anyone else's claims in a selection process could be seen as patronage and favouritism. This is prohibited by section 17.

A Minister does not have the power to direct an Agency Head how to exercise staffing powers in relation to a particular individual.

Administrative law principles

In addition to the principles set out in the Act, each staffing decision made under the Act must conform to certain principles of administrative law. These principles are summarised in question 3.11 in Chapter 3.

2.2 Process of recruitment and selection

Figure 1: Stages in recruitment and selection of ongoing employees

Step 1	Identify employment opportunity, category and level. Does opportunity need to be filled?					A p p l i c a t i o n o f A P S V a l u e s

	Yes(1)		No		No further action

Step 2	Decide on selection method or methods

Step 3	Develop supporting documentation

Step 4	Decide what notification is required ie gazettal needed?

	Yes		No		Initiate appropriate action eg movement, assignment, temporary assignment (2)

Step 5	Is opportunity to be open to all eligible members of the community?
Stage 2: Notification and acceptance of applications
		Yes		No

Step 6	Notify in the Gazette - additional advertising optional			Notify in the Gazette with clover symbol()

Step 7	Accept applications
Stage 3: Selection
Step 8	Delegate selects preferred applicant on basis of relative merit
Stage 4: Implementation
Step 9	Implement selection decision ie engagement, promotion, movement or assignment process initiated

The flow chart in Figure 1 illustrates the minimum steps in a selection process required under the Act.

There are four basic stages involving one or more steps to be undertaken in every process. The stages and steps are as follows:

Stage 1. Preparatory work (Steps 1–5)

Stage 2. Notification and acceptance of applications (Steps 6–7)

Stage 3. Selection (Step 8)

select preferred applicant

Stage 4. Implementation (Step 9)

implement selection decision.

The stages are discussed in detail below. Actions taken under these stages must be consistent with the APS Values. Get it Right—a recruitment kit for managers developed by the Commission is a useful resource in proceeding through these stages, particularly the preparatory work of identifying the opportunity and the development of selection documentation.