Ottawa, March 29, 2007 - Maria Barrados, President of the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Canada, today announced that effective April 2, 2007, the PSC will extend the use of a national area of selection (NAOS) to include officer-level positions open to the public in all regions across Canada. Officer-level positions include scientific and professional, administrative and technical functions.
The expansion of NAOS will provide the Canadian public with more access to federal public service job opportunities even if the positions are located in a different city or province than their place of residence.
"By using a national area of selection for more federal public service jobs, the PSC is playing an active role in providing greater access to talented Canadians from across the country,” said Ms. Barrados. “In fact, prior to April 2006, only 19% of jobs were open to the public. However, with this latest expansion of the national area of selection, this is expected to increase to 55%.”
The use of NAOS is expected to increase the number of applications received for each hiring process. The PSC's Public Service Resourcing System, a national on-line application and screening tool, is available to assist human resources specialists and hiring managers in their staffing processes.
The PSC has taken a phased approach to implementing the area of selection policy. In April 2006, national area of selection was applied to hiring processes for officer-level positions in the National Capital Region. The preliminary results of the ongoing impact assessment supported the planned April 2 expansion of NAOS. The PSC will conduct additional impact assessments prior to expanding the use of national area of selection for all other occupational groups and levels for jobs open to the public across Canada.
The PSC is an independent agency reporting to Parliament, mandated to safeguard the integrity of the public service staffing system and the political neutrality of the public service. In addition, the PSC recruits qualified Canadians from across the country.
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For more information:
Tom Kelly
Media Relations, Public Service Commission
(613) 947-7269
media@psc-cfp.gc.ca
http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/centres/naos-znds/index_e.htm
