RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION - City of Vincent

CITY OF VINCENT POLICY MANUALCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - HUMAN RESOURCESRECRUITMENT AND SELECTIONPOLICY NO: 5.2.1The referee should be asked to provide factual information or to give examplesof observations made or opinions given about the applicant. These requestsshould be made in a way that does not reflect doubt on the referee nor stopsthe free flow of discussions.The interviewer should not give opinions or in any way ask questions whichmay lead the referee to reach a conclusion as to what the interviewer thinks.The interviewer should ask the referee about the applicant’s weaknesses aswell as their strengths and equal opportunity principles must be exercised at allstages of the selection process.Referees/ReferencesNotes on the referees’ comments would normally be taken during the courseof the discussions. In relation to this information, it should be noted that underthe Freedom of Information legislation, applicants have in the past beengranted access to referee reports and care should be taken when preparing suchnotes. If the information obtained is highly sensitive, Local Governmentsshould be cautious about creating formal Local Government documentation, orif this is done, what information the documentation contains.One member of the selection panel should contact at least two persons whohave been nominated by the applicant.• Contact with referees should be made verbally, as soon as possible afterthe interview. Reference checking is most effective by direct conversation– telephone contact is the most practical and economical.• Questions to be asked should be determined by the selection panel prior tocontact with the referee.• Questions asked should only relate to the selection criteria.• Notes of referee’s comments should be made for consideration by thewhole selection panel.Treat reference checks with caution:• The present or previous employer may have different requirements,standards or expectations from the applicant than that required of thecurrent vacant position.• The present employer may want to get rid of the applicant and thereforegive a glowing report.• The present employer may not want to lose the applicant and thereforegive a less than glowing report. Some of these biases can be controlled bycontacting a number of referees, if available.Persons who have not been nominated as referees should not be contacted forcomments on applicants without the agreement of the applicant.Page 21 of 38