Civil Service advised to be more imaginative in job design and advertising to widen talent pool
David Woods, 28 April 2009
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The Civil Service has been advised to offer more part-time jobs and fully consider the business needs for posts before advertising.
Working Families carried out a study of recruitment practices in the Civil Service and discovered 71% of the jobs it advertised were full-time positions and, although some roles could be for part-time staff, the way they were advertised could put off applicants.
In some departments the study found there was ‘limited knowledge' of job sharing and how this could work in the organisation.
Laura Dewar, author of the subsequent report, We Need to Talk About Hours: Job Advertising in the Civil Service, advised the organisation to take a more imaginative approach to job design and advertising and to offer more part-time or job-share arrangements. She said: "Those departments that are opening up opportunities for quality part-time roles should be rewarded for their efforts and their good practice should be shared."
And Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families, added: "Job design and advertising that focuses on full-time hours limits the opportunities for parents seeking quality part-time of job-share roles. We know many women are already working in roles that do not make the best use of their skills. This is a personal cost to the individual and a waste of talent, which could benefit the economy.
"Even a good employer like the Civil Service can do more to widen the pool of talent from which it recruits."
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