Who Can Apply
When recruiting for federal Public Service jobs, the hiring department
makes a determination regarding the geographical limit of
the area where the potential applicants must reside
and/or be employed to be considered for a given
position.
In deciding how wide or limited the area of
selection will be, various factors are taken into
account. These include the nature of the position to
be filled, the qualifications required for the position,
the duration of the work, and the need to reach a
suitable pool of qualified persons, including
members of the employment equity groups, to
provide a representative sample reflecting the
community this position would serve.
Respecting the right of citizens to have fair access
to career opportunities must be balanced with a
fiscal responsibility to taxpayers and the efficient
use of resources.
Normally, as the area of selection expands in size,
so does the potential for increased applications for
the advertised position and also the cost of the
recruitment process. The costs involved in considering
applications are incurred at each stage of the process, such as
screening, examinations and interviews. The more applications there
are, the more resources must be committed to each stage of
the assessment process, the more expensive it is,
and the longer it takes to find the most meritorious
person.
For many positions, there is often a sufficient pool
of fully qualified persons in a local area within a
certain distance of the office where the job is
located. However, at times it is necessary to expand
the area of selection to ensure that a sufficient
number of qualified applicants may be found, such
as for positions with very specialized skills, or
where there is a shortage of the required
qualifications.
In some cases jobs, in highly specialized
professions, are advertised as open to all citizens in
Canada. In addition, we also conduct national
recruitment processes for a large number of jobs and
organize large national campaigns. For example,
the Post-Secondary Recruitment is open to
citizens across Canada and even internationally.
Effective April 1, 2006 a national area of selection will be used
in recruitment for all officer-level positions in the National Capital
Region (NCR) that are open to the public. Broadening access to officer-level
positions in the NCR is an important first step that will allow us
to evaluate and plan for increasing access across other regions as
well as other types of jobs over the next two to three years.
The Public Service Employment Act (PSEA)
(subsection 34.(1)) specifically provides for the
establishment of the criteria that define the area of
selection. The PSC has also carefully examined
whether using geographic limitations would be in
conflict with the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. It has been determined that as long as
the areas of selection do not correspond to
provincial or territorial boundaries, subsection
34.(1) of the PSEA does not contravene the
mobility or equality provisions under the Charter.
|
