Medway Council is celebrating the completion of a ground-breaking recruitment programme which has culminated in five new jobs for the region.
With the effects of the recession generating a need for more skilled workers in the housing sector, Medway Council needed to recruit a number of housing officers to meet increased demand.
Successfully filling these roles in a competitive market led the Council to embark on an innovative and thorough recruitment process with the aim of finding the right candidates with the right skills to fit with the department’s working environment and culture.
Working in partnership with Training Synergy (A division of the Synergy Group), Medway Council used its Kickstart programme to not only market and advertise the job vacancies in the local area, but to screen and put potential candidates through assessments and training to find the right employees for the roles.
The initial marketing campaign generated over 700 responses, with 100 candidates being invited to an assessment day in the local area. A final 50 attendees were given a selection of tasks from numeracy and literacy tests, to group exercises and informal 1:1 interviews – allowing the Council to view potential employees in a variety of individual scenarios and working as part of a team.
Each module was scored and a final 10 candidates were selected to participate in a five-day training programme to asses how they would perform in the role and give the Council a further opportunity to get to know the group of potential employees.
The calibre of the final group was so high that the Council took the decision to offer five roles. The successful applicants then went on to complete a two-week training programme run by Training Synergy who have a substantial knowledge of the housing recruitment sector.
The Kickstart programme gives shortlisted candidates role specific training towards their chosen career path even during the interview process. The aim is to create the opportunity for candidates without Public Sector experience to apply their transferable skills and life experience to roles that would otherwise have been closed to them.
Vanessa Wilson, head of housing solutions at Medway Council, comments: “Traditional methods of recruitment would not have brought the calibre of candidate we have found for a trainee vacancy. Many of the attendees were long-term unemployed, so to give these people an opportunity to get back into work is a big bonus and supports our regeneration programmes, which we are 100 per cent committed to. Programmes like Kickstart support the creation of local job opportunities, especially when they are well executed and confidently handled.”
Siva Singh, the Training Synergy team leader for the Medway Kickstart project said: “Medway Council has been very supportive of the Kickstart programme from the start and found the assessment day and training elements of the programme particularly useful.
“We have been working with the chosen candidates for six months now and feel confident that they will have a long and prosperous career with Medway Council.