Recruitment campaigns Cumberland Council
PLEASE NOTE:
There is an ongoing recruitment freeze in place, as agreed by SLT. Only roles which meet the following agreed criteria can be progressed:
- There is a legal and statuatory requirement for the role.
- There is a Regulatory requirement for the role.
- There is a Health and Safety requirement, including possible risk to life, for the role.
- There is time limited funding attached to the role and failure to progress would result in loss of funding.
- There are savings targets dependant on the role being appointed to deliver and failure to progress would result in risk to savings delivery.
- The role is vital to supporting the council deliver its Transformation agenda.
Please find the internal communications message, along with FAQs here: Recruitment Freeze Communications and FAQs
If you have any further questions, please speak to your Service Manager or Assistant Director in the first instance.
We're also now using Values-Based Recruitment when recruiting for people management positions.
When interviewing for a post that has the responsibility of staff - from Chief Executive to Supervisor - no matter what the job grade is - you need to ask candidates questions from our Values-Based Recruitment guidance and gauge their alignment to our values.
You can find guidance around this telling you what you need to do in the 'Interview' section below. It also contains the interview questions you need to ask and our interview scoring forms.
All manager's must ensure the post specification for the vacancy is accurate and graded correctly. A central post specification library exists that contains the most up to date post specification versions that have been graded in line with the Cumberland Council job evaluation scheme.
Post specifications approved for use in recruitment campaigns can be found on this sharepoint site
- Legacy Cumbria County Council managers should access this site to locate the post specification for their vacancy and if needed, review it for accuracy. Further guidance on the initial steps needed to either create or review a post specification can be found on the sharepoint site
- Legacy District managers who do not currently have access to this site, so should contact their HR/OD representative for input and support when seeking recruitment authorisation and completing this form
Only very minor changes should be made to a post spec without the need for consultation and post moderation. If other changes are needed that may impact the grading of the role, please contact the Pay and Rewards Team.
For vacancies that commence in the new authorities, the following vacancy authorisation forms should be used:
Authorisation Level and Approach
Authorisation to recruit is required from any confirmed Extended Leadership Team (ELT) officer in Cumberland Council from 1 April 2023.
For vacancies that report directly into senior managers, or above, Chief Executive authorisation is required.
For vacancies in Adult Social Services, authority to recruit has been delegated for Senior Managers (Adults Operations) and Service Managers (Care Services) for posts that are within the current establishment or budget would still need to be authorised as described above; by an ELT member or Chief Executive as appropriate.
Authorisation to recruit is valid for 4 months.
The Central HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Team will process the vacancy so it is advertised on the appropriate authority job site.
To advertise your vacancy, you will need to submit:
- Authorised Vacancy Authorisation Form
- Recruitment Advert wording (support is available- see below)
You should not submit your advert request to the HR Admin team until the post specification has been finalised and uploaded to the Job Families SharePoint site.
- For legacy Council Managers; Once the relevant Authorisation form has been completed and authorised, create a recruitment ticket via the HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Portal and attached your authorised form and advert. Once you have submitted the request you will be given a ticket reference number. You can access the portal at any time to view the progress of your request.
- Legacy District Recruiting Managers should contact their HR representive for support in completing this process.
1. Legacy District HR/ Recruitment Contacts- please e-mail your requests directly to Mohan.injeti@cumbria.gov.uk (HR Service Centre Team Leader), these requests will then be allocated to one of the HR/OD Administration Team, who will then be your contact throughout the recruitment process.
The relevant Post Specification and generic Role Profile (taken from the central post specification library), along with any supporting information about the role will be published in the advert on the appropriate council website for applicants to view and refer to when completing their application.
Support with your Advert
A compelling and well written advert, coupled with the use of the most appropriate advertising channels can make a significant impact when attracting good quality candidates for your role.
Our central resourcing team can support recruiting managers with this process, where needed. If this is something you require, please contact Resourcing@cumbria.gov.uk .
After the application closing date, a shortlisting pack, including all application forms, will automatically be sent via email to the main recruitment contact for the campaign. For legacy County Council employees, this will be the recruiting manager, for legacy district employees, this pack will be sent to their HR Representative initially who will be in touch with the recruiting manager to support the shortlisting stage.
All panel members should be involved in the shortlisting process and a shortlisting form should be completed for each candidate.
Feedback to unsuccessful candidates
All shortlisting forms and outcomes should be sent submitted to the HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Team.
- For legacy county council managers, this should be done by attaching the competed shortlisting forms to your open ticket on the HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Portal
- For legacy district managers, this should be done via your HR representative who will liaise with the HR Administration Team
HR/OD Administrators will then notify the unsuccessful applicants and answer any applicant queries.
Interviews can be held in person or via MS Teams.
Recruiting Managers should email the invite to interview letters and Teams Invitations with guidance to on-line interviews (where applicable) to the applicants using the templates below:
It is recommended these are sent via email for speed and ideally the candidate is given at least 5 day's notice.
Please include any special instructions in the Invite to Interview letter, including details of date, time, address, presentation, test assessment centre.
Interviewing for People Management Positions
When interviewing for a post that has the responsibility of staff - from Chief Executive to Supervisor - no matter what the job grade is - you need to ask candidates questions from our Values-Based Recruitment guidance and gauge their alignment to our values.
· Interviewing for a Grade 18 post or above- 50% of your interview needs to be values-based and candidates must align to our values to be deemed appointable.
· Interviewing for a Grade 17 post or below- 25% of your interview needs to be values-based (or a minimum of 3 questions) and where candidates don't align to our values you should consider whether they're suitable for appointment.
Values Based Recruitment Guidance
Panel members must agree the interview questions beforehand and all candidates should be asked the same questions.
Interview notes should be taken for each candidate and an assessment and should be made by each member of the Panel normally before the Panel discuss the candidate's performance at interview.
- Interview Scoring Form - Grade 18 Manager or above
- Interview Scoring Form - Grade 17 Manager or below
Our Interview scoring matrix can be found below:
For Values-Based Questions
Score | Justification | Notes |
1 | No answer/poor performance | Answer was not relevant to the question, inadequate or lacks any positive traits. |
2 | Insufficient answer | Response had some relevance to the question but demonstrated more negative traits than positive indicators. |
3 | Adequate answer | Response was relevant to the question and demonstrated an equal mix of positive and negative traits. |
4 | Good answer | Response was relevant to the question and demonstrated mostly positive traits with some negative indicators. |
5 | Excellent Answer | Response was relevant to the question and demonstrated all positive traits |
For Technical or General Questions
Score | Justification | Notes |
1 | No answer/poor performance | Answer was not relevant to the question, inadequate or lacks any content |
2 | Insufficient answer | Response had some relevance but was rather superficial and did not show any depth of understanding |
3 | Adequate answer | Response was relevant to the question and demonstrated some understanding |
4 | Good answer | Response demonstrated good understanding and knowledge |
5 | Excellent Answer | A full and detailed answer which demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the subject |
Interviewing for Non People Management Positions
When interviewing for a post that does not have the responsibility of staff - no matter what the job grade is - you don't need to follow our values-based recruitment approach.
Panel members must agree the interview questions beforehand and all candidates should be asked the same questions.
Interview notes should be taken for each candidate and an assessment and should be made by each member of the Panel normally before the Panel discuss the candidate's performance at interview.
Our Interview scoring matrix can be found below:
Score | Justification | Notes |
1 | No answer/poor performance | Answer was not relevant to the question, inadequate or lacks any content |
2 | Insufficient answer | Response had some relevance but was rather superficial and did not show any depth of understanding |
3 | Adequate answer | Response was relevant to the question and demonstrated some understanding |
4 | Good answer | Response demonstrated good understanding and knowledge |
5 | Excellent Answer | A full and detailed answer which demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the subject |
All Interviews
Any interview notes taken must be sent to the Recruitment Administration Team via the People Management portal. These notes will be retained for a period of 2 years in line with information retention guidelines.
Any photocopies taken of the successful candidate's personal documents, such as qualifications or right to work in the UK, should be attached to the Recruitment Ticket.
Legacy District Managers who don't currently have access to the Service Centre portal should provide this information to their HR Representative.
Where there are no suitable candidates and you would like to discuss your next steps or alternative options, contact resourcing@cumbria.gov.uk
The recruiting manager should verbally offer the preferred candidate the position and outline it is subject to pre-employment clearances. An official start date should not be arranged until the HR Admin team have notified that manager that all pre-employment checks are complete.
If the preferred candidate verbally accepts, the recruiting manager, or other panel members should call the unsuccessful candidates to let them know the outcome. Candidate's may ask for feedback on their interview performance at this time and panel members should provide this and thank the candidate for their interest.
If the applicant verbally accepts the recruiting manager must complete the appropriate appointment or transfer form below and attach it to the existing ticket using the HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Portal.
As with the other steps of the process, legacy district managers should forward the appropriate form to their HR contact to progress.
The HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Team will send a formal offer letter along with any details of any relevant pre-employment checks required for the vacancy.
The HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Team will issue the requests for references. The ticket will be updated as pre-employment checks are completed. You can view this at any time using the HR, Payroll and Recruitment Administration Portal.