Haveyou ever wondered how the top jobs in local councils are filled? What head-hunters do or what trial by sherrymeans? My personal experience is thatthe process of filling senior management posts is complex and drawn out overseveral days. Is this the best way toget the right person for the top jobs or an elaborate beauty parade?Head-hunters, beautyparades and trial by sherry are the characteristics of modern senior managementrecruitment in local government. Thestandard process for recruiting staff in local government is fairlystraightforward. The post is advertisedin the professional press, candidates are selected for interview on the basisof their application form and the successful candidate is identified on thebasis of their performance in the interview. The process is a lot more complex and drawn out when it comes torecruiting senior managers. In most cases therecruitment process is contracted out to an executive recruitment agency. Their fee is based on their ability todeliver a strong shortlist from which the council can choose. The agency will ring people up and say “Haveyou seen this post? Would you beinterested in getting the details, if not do you know someone who might be?” This is called head-hunting. The first time you are head-hunted it isdifficult not to feel flattered. However, you quickly come to realise that a lot of people are gettingthese calls and it does not indicate your name is being mentioned in high placesfor great things. The first surprise is that head-huntersmost often ask you to submit a CV rather than a local authority applicationform. From these CVs they draw up a longlist of people to be invited to an “informal interview”. This interview will be held in the up-marketcity centre offices of the recruitment agency – a world away from the averagelocal authority office accommodation. The informal interview isin fact a structured interview where you are asked the type of questions youwould expect to be asked in a management interview. “Tell us a bit more about your current postand responsibilities. How would you /your team describe your management style, what are your strengths and areas fordevelopment, what do you think are the key drivers for change in localgovernment?” Don’t be surprised if the interviewersare two white males, the head-hunter with an HR background, the other “aspecialist adviser” someone who knows something about the area of work you haveapplied for. The specialist adviser ismost often a current or recently retired senior local government officer; adirector or chief exec. They willrecommend to the leader of the council/cabinet members who should be short-listedand invited for what is most often a two-day assessment process Head-hunters are thereforeinfluential people. They decide who tolong-list and who to put forward for the short-list. Their activities fall outside the local authority’srecruitment and selection process. Threebig recruitment agencies have the largest share of the business so you arelikely to keep coming across the same individuals if you are interested in asenior management post. It has become the norm tohave a two-day final assessment phase. This can involve psychometric tests, in-tray exercises, role play, anevening event and a bumpy trip around the patch in a draughty minibus. I quite enjoy the battery of tests andexercises, however, some people describe this as like sitting exams. Since everyone short-listed has a degree orequivalent and most have a management qualification I am not sure how thesetests help select an applicant. Mostcandidates think that this part of the process is not going to determine whogets the job. However, candidates dothink evening social events with elected members and partner agencies have thepotential to rule you out of the running. These social events can be a formal sit-down meal at which thecandidates change seats after each course so as to have the opportunity to talkto everyone or a buffet in which the challenge is to balance a plate of foodand a drink whilst appearing intelligent. Such events are sometimes referred to as trial by sherry. The secret is not to eat or drink and smile alot. Sometimes there is anopportunity to have a one-to-one with the chief exec or members of the seniormanagement team. This is usuallyincluded to give you an opportunity to find out more about what it’s like towork here. Never forget anything you saycould be fed back to your disadvantage. Some people seem to delight in putting you off by telling you at thislate stage how bad the budget position is or how poor the relationship isbetween officers and members. However,this could be just that they favour the internal candidate. At some stage there will bea formal interview with the leader, cabinet members and opposition spokespersonand there will be the requirement to do a short presentation. This is where the decision is made by aninterview panel of anything between 6-12 people. A 10-minute presentation is followed by aninterview that lasts no more than an hour. The presentation is a challenge; you are required to demonstrateclarity, brevity and passion. Contentdoesn’t seem to be as important as you might expect because there isn’t time todevelop complex arguments and the audience is of mixed experience andknowledge. The interview questions canrange from the “How would you solve our financial crisis?” to the politicallysensitive “What’s your view on out-sourcing support services?” to anindividual’s pet subject “Do you think officers should respond to councillorse-mails promptly?” Successful candidates seemto be those who come over as confident and agreeable. Since all the candidates can demonstrate theyhave the experience, skills and knowledge to do the job, the senior managementrecruitment process is often described as a beauty parade.The final decision being based on whether youlook and sound like the type of person the panel could work with.Blair McPherson author of UnLearning management published byRussell House. Follow Blair @blairmcpherson1
