The Public Sector Recruitment Standard requires agencies to comply with minimum standards of merit, equity and probity, and one of the probity requirements is to keep records of decisions that are capable to review.
Here are some considerations for framing the report.
- While there is no prescribed format, a written recruitment report provides a defensible paper trail that can withstand internal reviews, formal appeals and audits. It also forms the basis for applicant feedback.
- There needs to be a balance between detail and efficiency. Over the years, reports have become increasingly extensive as they seek to document every step of the process and they also have to pass through multiple levels of human resources and senior executives for formal sign off. This can lead to a considerable delay between the close of the recruitment process itself and the approval of the report, often resulting in the most suitable applicants taking jobs elsewhere.
- A recruitment report is needed for every recruitment process, regardless of the number of applicants – one applicant from a referral or many applicants from general advertising.
- Some of the things that determine the length and level of detail in a report include the number of applicants; number and type of assessments; number of reference checks; and whether the recruitment is for a single vacancy, multiple vacancies or a pool.
- Every recruitment report needs to provide enough information for a reviewer (whether that is the human resources team, the delegated authority for approval or an external person) to see how decisions were made and that they were free from nepotism and bias.
- The tools in this Hiring Managers’ Toolkit can be used as the basis of the recruitment report. The position has been described, suitability requirements determined, hiring schedule established, hiring team set up, job advertisement run, assessment methods selected, recruitment process identified and assessment matrix completed. Attach these to the report and in the report itself include summary information and reference these documents.
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