DPR 2004-2005
Public Service Commission of Canada

Program Activity 2 - Recruitment and Assessment Services

Program Activity Description

The Recruitment and Assessment Services Branch develops and maintains the resourcing systems that link Canadians and public servants seeking employment opportunities in the federal public service with hiring departments and agencies; provides assessment and counselling services and products for use in recruitment, selection and development throughout the federal public service; and delivers resourcing services, programs and products to departments and agencies and to Canadians and public servants, through client service units located across Canada.

Program Activity 2 – Recruitment and Assessment Services - supports priority 2: A modernized service vision is implemented in which delivery options are best suited to the needs of the public Service .

The Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA) is expected to come into full force in December 2005. Until that time, the PSC continues to deliver services under the current PSEA while preparing for implementation of the new Act. In order to ensure that this program activity is on track, the following expected results and performance indicators were established. Performance information against these indicators is provided below, as well as PSC achievements under its key programs and services and related 2004-2005 RPP commitments.

Recruitment Services (jobs posted, applications processed, candidates screened, and referrals made)

RPP Commitment : Manage and provide essential recruitment services throughout the transition to a new PSC organizational structure.

Status towards fulfilling commitment
General recruitment
The PSC’s scope of responsibility encompasses a population of 170,908, representing 47% of the larger public service. Recruitment services and some assessment activities are provided through our 16 district and regional offices across Canada.

In fiscal year 2004-2005, there was a total of 34,844 new hires across the country. Of these, 3,400 were for indeterminate positions; 8,447 were for specified-period (term) positions; 13,288 were casual appointments; and 9,709 were for student employment.

Recruitment programs and initiatives
The PSC currently administers five corporate recruitment programs, which can be divided into two categories. Student recruitment programs include the Federal Student Work Experience Program, the Co-operative Education and Internship Program, and the Research Affiliate Program. University graduate programs include the Post-Secondary Recruitment Program and the Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program.

The Federal Student Work Experience Program continued to be in high demand by departments and agencies. During 2004-2005, 6,556 students were hired through the Program, compared to 6,460 in 2003-2004.

Despite ongoing efforts to encourage its use by departments and agencies, the Post-Secondary Recruitment Program remains under-utilized. During 2004-2005, 7,224 graduates applied to 14 streams of career opportunities. Over 7,000 candidates were referred but only 446 were hired. The number of applicants was lower than last year because of greater use of on-line screening and because foreign service officers were not recruited this year.

New partnerships with departments and agencies led to recruitment initiatives tailored to specific communities. For example, the Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program, introduced in January 2005, is aimed at enhancing the policy analysis and development capacity of the public service, by targeting exceptional individuals who might not have considered the public service as a career option. During fiscal year 2004-2005, the Program received 903 applications from Canadians across Canada and abroad. We will report on the number of appointments in next year’s DPR.

Recruitment of bilingual candidates
For fiscal year 2004-2005, the PSC informed internal and external stakeholders of the availability of tools such as the DVD explaining second language requirements in the public service, and the demographic analysis of bilingual Canadians.

Links to information on all aspects of second language requirements and support tools were grouped on a single Web site ( http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/centres/ol/index_e.htm ), to serve as a “one-stop shop” where visitors can learn more about specific topics such as evaluation, training, policies and legislation. In 2004-2005, 151 presentations were made to various audiences, including:

• post-secondary institutions offering immersion or second language training programs;
• interest groups such as associations representing official language minority communities;
• the general public interested in knowing more about recruitment for bilingual jobs in the public service;
• public service employees on or about to undertake language training; and
• human resources specialists and hiring managers in the federal government.

Assessment Services (assessment tools, instruments and products)

RPP Commitment : Manage and provide essential assessment services throughout the transition to a new PSC.

Status towards fulfilling commitment
During 2004-2005, the Personnel Psychology Centre (PPC) conducted more than 112,000 assessments for departments and agencies. The 12.9% decrease in volume from 2003-2004 was accounted for by a significant decline in testing related to Post-Secondary Recruitment, which this year did not include recruitment of foreign service officers.

The overall figure includes the administration of more than 60,000 tests for second language evaluation, comprising 20,610 reading tests, 23,347 writing tests, and 20,291 oral interaction tests, all slightly higher volumes than the previous year. Despite the higher volume, a backlog in French oral interaction testing was eliminated during 2004-2005.

Significant efforts were invested in modernizing the PSC’s Second Language Evaluation procedures and instruments, in response to concerns raised during the year that the success rates on the French Oral Interaction (OI) Test were decreasing, and the perception that the Test had become more difficult. Information to candidates was standardized and increased, and greater flexibility was introduced into the warm-up phase.

The PPC developed tailor-made instruments for a number of federal clients, including Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency, and the Canadian Coast Guard.

The number of requests for information and assessment expertise related to departmental development programs remained high during the reporting year. The volume of general consultation inquiries rose by 6.7. Inquiries related to accommodation for persons with disabilities accounted for 26.3% of assessment consultations, substantially more than the previous year. As a result, the PSC made investments in alternative formats for a number of assessment instruments.

During the past two years, the PPC has explored the viability and potential advantages of e-testing. Focus group results suggest that roughly 50% of candidates continue to prefer paper and pencil testing over the e-testing format. Furthermore, many departments do not have the facilities necessary for e-testing. If properly implemented, e-testing could offer savings and flexibility in service delivery. A gradual and strategic implementation will be explored in 2005-2006.

During 2004-2005, the PPC’s authority to recover costs for its services, and its mandate to serve certain clients, were reviewed. As a result of this review, the PPC will provide assessment and counselling instruments, and related services, only to organizations falling under the jurisdiction of the PSEA. In addition, the PSC prepared a Treasury Board submission seeking authority to respend revenue through a change to its vote wording and authority to vote net. This authority was obtained in early 2005-2006.

Client Services (electronic resourcing systems, assessment systems and operational policies

RPP Commitment : Assist departments in considering options for the delivery of resourcing services that respond efficiently and effectively to their staffing needs.

Status towards fulfilling commitment
Funds received in the context of the Recruitment Action Plan are essential to enable the federal government to modernize recruitment and compete with major Canadian recruiters to attract qualified candidates efficiently and effectively.

In 2004-2005, examples of improvements to recruitment systems to support modernization efforts included enhancements made to the Post-Secondary Recruitment campaign to provide for more flexibility for departments in the posting of job opportunities, and the creation of the Science and Technology inventory to respond to departments’ resourcing needs for entry-level positions in biological sciences, chemistry, physical sciences, and technical support. Also in 2004-2005, the Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program and the Research Affiliate Program were created to meet the specific needs of the client departments; both of these programs have garnered many accolades from both hiring managers and program participants.

In addition, the electronic test registration system was changed to ensure that only those candidates who had submitted their application and who met all the screening requirements of the position were allowed to register for the respective tests.

This provided efficiencies to the PSC and to departments regarding test administration and test correction, as well as shortening the referral time of applications to departments.

To help departments develop their capacity in preparation for full delegation of staffing authority in December 2005, the Services Branch encouraged its clients to work together and in partnership with the PSC to take advantage of opportunities such as partially or fully assessed candidate pools to streamline and expedite the staffing and recruitment processes. Collaborative initiatives are under way for administrative support levels in regions and for some functional communities, such as economists and scientists, in the National Capital Region.

National Area of Selection (NAOS)
Under the Public Service Resourcing Modernization project, a short-term strategy is under way that will help enable the gradual implementation of national area of selection (that is, providing access to federal job opportunities to qualified Canadians across Canada). We are examining ways to increase the use of a national area of selection, focussing first on all officer-level positions open to the public in the National Capital Region, to coincide, as much as possible, with the coming into force of the new PSEA. In doing so, we will take into account the staffing flexibilities delegated managers will have under the new legislation. We will also take into account the availability of technological improvements, such as electronic screening tools, to manage the anticipated large volumes of applications. The value of these tools has been tested and proven by means of pilot projects conducted in several of our regional offices.

E-Resourcing
In 2002, the PSC developed and tested a prototype technology, the Public Service Recruitment System (PSRS), that gave on-line access to Canadians and allowed large numbers of applications to be screened electronically. The prototype successfully met its objectives. During 2004-2005, two PSC regions used the PSRS for 62% of their external hiring processes (29% of processes nationally). Using the tool to electronically screen on experience factors has resulted in a 77% reduction in the number of applications requiring manual screening. Using the PSRS as the interim solution will enable the phased-in implementation of national area of selection. This recruitment tool will be made available to departments, and will help them manage their delegated recruitment authorities.

A parallel effort began to develop a longer-term, single instance, service-wide e-resourcing solution that will include recruitment and staffing. This system will facilitate the management of the total resourcing process with optimal volume capacity.

Funding of $3.5M was approved for the project definition phase of the development of this long-term approach in 2004-2005. Due to changes in priorities, resulting delays created an under-expenditure of over two $2 million dollars of which one $1 million was re-profiled for use in 2005-2006. Work to secure long-term approval for a government-wide e-resourcing solution will be undertaken in 2005-2006.