ATP Public Sector

Special Interest Group

Holds Inaugural Meeting

Elects Officers/ Launches Webpage

Their invitation "to make public sector recruitment cool!" was light-hearted, but the intent of the sponsors of ATP's newest special interest group (SIG) is a serious initiative. 

"The new ATP Public Sector SIG is dedicated to facing the challenges of public sector recruitment in today's economy by promoting best practices and the development of accountable, cost-effective, modern testing and assessment methods," says the new group's leader, David Bearfield, Director of the European Personnel Office (EPSO).

The group met for the first time in Scottsdale, Arizona during ATP's Innovations Conference. In addition to electing Bearfield as 2014 Chair, the group elected Martha Helena Lopez, Director, Strategic Planning and Staffing at the United Nations as Vice Chair, and Paula Chadwick, Assistant to the Director, EPSO as Secretary. A Public Sector SIG webpage was launched following the meeting

The group adopted a Mission Statement and Terms of Reference as follows:
ATP Public Sector Special Interest Group (SIG)
Mission Statement

The public sector faces two key challenges – managing in times of austerity and the impending retirement of the baby boom generation with the significant depletion of expertise and experience that this implies. Both issues present a challenge in defining and acquiring the talent that 21st. Century public sector organisations at the multinational, national and local levels need to operate effectively and to deliver against their responsibilities to the societies and citizens they serve.
The purpose of the group is to help public sector recruiters to meet the challenges they face by promoting best practice, and enabling them to work together to ensure high standards in the use of selection methodologies. In addition, its aim is to advocate the development of efficient, effective, modern, accountable, cost-effective, attractive and fair selection and recruitment
procedures across the public sector, in particular through the use of modern testing and assessment methods.
Terms of Reference


• To build a community within the umbrella of ATP across organisations globally responsible
for and/or involved in public sector recruitment and selection
• To engage that community to identify current and best practices, and promote the sharing of
best practices from within and outside that community through access to ATP member
organisations
• To support that community through events support by the ATP that bring that community
together, and by harvesting best practices for communication through ATP publications and
communications
• To encourage this community to become active members of the wider ATP community
through membership and attendance at ATP events
In particular, the group will address the following issues of importance to public sector recruiters
globally:
• The development and implementation of new selection and recruitment strategies that meet
the specific needs of benchmarking the public sector and international organisations;
• The achievement of high standards in selection procedures, through rigorous methodologies
to ensure fairness and probity;
• The use of modern technology to increase efficiency and effectiveness, drive down costs
per hire, improve the candidate experience and promote a modern image for public bodies;
• Test development;
• Competency-based selection methods and the establishment of competency framework via
job analysis;
• How to implement CBT and on-line testing, and constitute and manage item databanks;
• How to ensure fairness in testing and to avoid adverse impact in gender, ethnic equality,
special accommodations etc.
• The existence of new IT systems to ensure management of the application and selection
processes;
• Employer branding and candidate attraction strategies;
• Other areas of common interest relating to the selection process and testing.