ARCHIVED - Advertising in the Appointment Process

November 2007

Advertising is key to recruitment in an increasingly competitive labour market and an important step in the appointment process. It brings employment opportunities to the attention of people who might be eligible, provides them necessary information to make an informed decision and creates a suitable candidate pool.

Toward an advertised appointment process

A successful appointment process requires planning. A human resources plan aligned to business needs provides a solid foundation to establish the advertisement and communicates the process to potential candidates.

Advertising for collective appointment processes

Integrated business and human resources planning can also serve to identify opportunities for collaboration with other organizations with similar human resources needs. By using a collective effort, managers can save time and resources by establishing a pool of qualified candidates from which appointments can be made.

To maximize flexibility, managers can make advertised appointments from a pool if the advertisement includes information clearly indicating how, by whom and for what occupational groups and/or level(s) the results of the collective appointment process may be used. For example, an advertisement for a collective appointment process could state that:

• The results of this appointment process may be used to fill similar positions at the EX-1 level across the federal public service.

Managers and human resources advisors are encouraged to:

• Provide additional details beyond the required information to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisement and ensure a suitable candidate pool;
• Use different media such as the Internet, telephone, newspapers, magazines or special journals and career fairs to reach potential sources of qualified persons, in addition to the current requirement to publish external advertisements on Infotel and www.jobs.gc.ca and internal advertisements on http://publiservice.gc.ca;
• Use electronic tools such as the Public Service Resourcing System to facilitate the creation of customized job advertisements, conduct pre-screening and searches and communicate with applicants; and
• Consult the PSC's Volume Management Guide for further information.