Download non-advertised appointment criteria

DRAFT
6/25/2017
NON-ADVERTISED APPOINTMENT CRITERIA
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Can you comment and give a few examples of how non-advertised
appointment processes may be used to support the organization’s attainment
of its employment equity objectives?
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The use of a non-advertised appointment process should be consistent with the
staffing strategies outlined in the organization’s Human Resources Plan or
Employment Equity Plan. It should also be noted that a non-advertised process
may involve the consideration of one or more members of a designated
employment equity group.
A reason to consider one person for an appointment would be if that person has
already demonstrated they are the “right fit” for the position being staffed i.e.
there is an employment equity under-representation for the group and level of the
position being staffed and the individual is already identified in the organization’s
succession plan. It is also possible that the individual may have demonstrated
their qualifications in the course of an acting or term appointment. Remember
that employment equity can be listed as a current or future organizational need in
the Statement of Merit Criteria.
Another example is to appoint and “bridge” a student graduate who is a member
of an employment equity group and who has worked with the Public Service
through one of the student employment programs.
It is also possible to consider several employment equity group members in
instances such as where a partially assessed inventory has been established but
each type of job opening to be staffed was not advertised.
2. Apart from employment equity, what are a few other examples of situations
where a non-advertised process might be used to make an internal
appointment?
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Examples could include the following:
A promotion of an employee within an Approved Professional Training or
Apprenticeship Program.
An appointment of an employee following reclassification of their position in
accordance with PSHRMAC and PSC policies/guidelines.
An appointment to a position where the HR Plan identifies a skill shortage for
indeterminate employees (e.g. PG-2’s). Management has exhausted the results
and appointed all employees who were successful on a recent advertised process.
A term PG-2 employee is hired and meets all the merit criteria. Later another
indeterminate vacancy becomes available and consideration is given to proposing
the term employee for indeterminate appointment via a non-advertised process. At
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the same time the organization has more upcoming PG-2 vacancies for which
another advertised process will be initiated.
Acting appointment situations where only one subordinate employee in the unit is
qualified for the appointment.
An urgent unforeseen requirement to staff a position requiring a unique set of
Merit Criteria e.g. there is an indeterminate vacancy due to the departure of a
highly specialized employee and only one employee in the area of selection is
identified as meeting the specialized requirements.
3. What are a few types of situations where an internal non-advertised
appointment process might involve the consideration of more than one
employee?
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Examples could include a situation where more than one employee is
identified in the organization’s succession plan for a key position.
In the absence of a succession plan, there are other situations where the
feeder group(s) and employees in the organization are well known to
management. For example, in backfilling a position to cover the period of
a one-year leave of absence the best staffing option may be to rotate a few
employees through acting appointments of slightly more than four months
each.
Another example is a situation where a recently advertised appointment
process has identified a group of qualified employees. If another similar
position became available but a new unforeseen merit criterion had to be
added, it may make sense to start with the assessment results from the
advertised process and complete the assessment /selection for the new
position. This could be considered as a non-advertised process with its
own notification step following the selection for the appointment.
4. What are some types of situations where a non-advertised appointment
process might be considered for making an appointment from outside the
Public Service?
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Again, it might be considered for employment equity reasons
consistent with the staffing strategies outlined in the organization’s
Human Resources or Employment Equity Plan.
Emergency Term Appointments. This could apply in urgent situations
when national security, health or safety considerations preclude
staffing by an advertised process. This would include the need to
quickly respond to operational service impairments caused by
deployment of the CF and requirements for increased civilian
employees to support such operations; civilians to fill in behind
deployed military members whose usual occupation is garrison-based;
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and replacements for civilian employees who, as reservists, may be
called out to serve.
The position requires a shortage skill identified in the organization’s
Human Resources Plan and the recruitment strategy indicates that
external non-advertised appointment processes will be used to
augment and complement advertised recruitment. The shortage
skill(s) rationale should be supported by data and analysis including
consideration of the labour market.
Circumstances consistent with the PSC’s former criteria for
conducting an appointment under “Student Bridging.”
A requirement to “call back” a former employee to perform the same
or similar work.
A requirement is to hire a part-time worker (to work less than a third
of the normal number of hours of work) and a non-advertised process
is the best staffing option.
Situations consistent with the PSC’s former criteria for Without
Competition Appointments from outside the Public Service (Named
Referrals). For example, a position requires highly specialized skills
and a high-calibre individual could be “lost” if the appointment is not
made quickly (e.g. the appointment of an outstanding scholar, a
participant in a fellowship program or a subject-matter expert).
A project or program co-funded by the federal government and
another sector (e.g. industry or another level of government) may be
jeopardized if the position is not filled immediately and an external
advertised process is not the best staffing method. A position is in a
geographically remote area and it has had very low applicant interest
when advertised processes were conducted over the past years.
5. In considering a non-advertised appointment process one of the
requirements is to ensure that such a process is consistent with the
appointment values of fairness, access and transparency. What do these
values mean?
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The value of “fairness” means that the choice of process will be made
objectively, free from political and personal favouritism. The value of
“access” means that the organization will continue to provide reasonable
opportunities to apply and be considered for Public Service employment and
it will continue to strive for a public service that is representative of
Canada’s diversity. The value of “transparency” means that information
about the appointment process will be communicated in an open and timely
manner.
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6. A formal human resources plan is not prepared at my level of the
organization. To what plan should I refer to when considering whether to
staff by a non-advertised process?
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Consider the human resources plan at the next higher organizational level.
Also consider any human resources plans and strategies that may deal with
issues affecting the functional group e.g. apprenticeship studies in DND or
the profile of the occupational groups in the Department or in the Public
Service.