JGP News

Richard Tyrie is co-founder of online talent management provider JGP, which works with over 100 local authorities and advises the Improvement and Development Agency for local government (I&DeA). He believes that radical measures such as entire digital recruitment strategies are vital if local government is to adequately maintain and upskill its 2.3 million workforce and support the continued modernisation of local services that was kick started by the government a decade ago.

He said: “Everyone appreciates the reach of the online world but when the Internet Advertising Bureau recently recorded a 38 per cent growth in revenues for 2007, much of it from online recruitment, it really was a landmark. It showed that the momentum towards online recruitment is irreversible. Whatever the type of employer you are, attracting and mmaintaining the best workforce will increasingly be about building a mix of online channels and engineering business processes to harness those channels’ power and ability to appeal to the individual. The demographic shift with far fewer younger people entering the UK workforce makes such radical changes a necessity too.”

“As a result, local government employers are going to have to transform their approach in three main areas: branding, systems and processes. First, local authorities must transform the way they are perceived as potential employers – they will have to develop ways to build an authentic brand experience with different age groups. These days, local councils have to compete with high street brands or the retailer down the road that offers a good training scheme. They have to show they’re better and more rewarding to work for.”

“Second, local government will also have to turn recruiting systems on their head. They will have to replace the somewhat old-fashioned ‘application form’ mindset with greater openness about what it means to be and work in local government, using workplace blogs to show the inside, or staging interactive chats and forums with potential recruits. The best employers have used online tools and self-completion forms to make the application process itself much more fun and informative. This need to ‘reach out’ to candidates applies equally to older recruits: 50-somethings may want a fresh challenge and arguably are more adept at identifying opportunities online than younger age groups. Councils must build digital channels that cater for them too.

“The third aspect is re-engineering processes for recruit personnel. Forward-thinking authorities, particularly some of the London boroughs, are using tools like online forms, talent pools and social media sites as recruiting channels. These channels are in a sense, the ‘front end’, the public face of digital recruitment, but of course they will increasingly be configured to deliver unrivalled recruitment databases for local government employers – with information shared by different councils and vital posts filled efficiently. There’s a long way to go, but the best councils are sharing information better, doing away with paper-based processes or repeat job advertisements, and many have streamlined processes for local authorities to target and recruit the best available talent. This process efficiency but also the ability to influence and shape the local communities they serve, has to be the goal for public sector recruitment. ”

Improvement and Development Agency commentary:

Nigel Carruthers (National Programme Manager) of the Improvement and Development Agency for local government (I&DeA) – who are part of the LGA Group – is overseeing local government’s digital strategy to reinvent itself as an attractive employer. Local government - the biggest segment of the UK workforce with 2.3 million people - faces an unprecedented squeeze on workforce numbers. This is down to the fast declining Generation Y numbers and the massive but soon-to-retire ‘baby boomer’ generation.

He said: “Local government faces the fight of its life to maintain its workforce and thereby develop its services for local people. The baby boomers have been the mainstay of local services for many years but will be retiring or downshifting over the next few years, so we have to harness and transfer their knowledge. At the same time, we must attract the 18-25 generation that may not have a ‘career for life’ mindset of their parents – but does an interest in working in the communities or voluntary work, that local government is uniquely able to fulfill.

“We’re addressing this challenge by further developing the LGTalent portal which provides a national-level ‘window’ into our sector. The portal’s sections like LG Careers and LG Skills enable candidates to research or apply for jobs but by aggregating that incoming information, it creates the first centralised talent pool for local government employers to attract and nurture quality candidates in a co-ordinated way. The portal is one of the foundations by which local authorities will deliver more sophisticated online recruiting and social media interaction with candidates – while creating a nation-wide talent pool resource. This portal-as-a-process is going to transform our interaction with the brightest recruits – of any age – on a national basis.”