If there's one thing local government has always excelled at, it's finding practical people who can get things done. But as I look across our councils in the West Midlands, we are starting to see that getting things done is no longer enough, we need a different type of manager and senior leaders who are more adaptable, welcome ambiguity and can create new things, not merely borrow and refine.
As a sector we need to reinvest services at pace. AI is a prime example of where we don't want teams to learn a few new shortcuts on personal effectiveness using co-pilot – we want them to turn up the dial in every service we deliver, using many of the extensive AI tools out there to program and design solutions. We're wrestling with complex, interlocking challenges such as how to decarbonise our places, how to redesign social care and how to harness AI without leaving people behind.
Yet our attraction and recruitment practices, across the sector, often still reflect a simpler world with a status quo built on steady incremental progression and not ‘turning the dial up a notch or three'. We rely on traditional competency frameworks, safe lists of must-have experience, and interviews that probe and score past experiences. But as The Institute of Local Government Studies' revised 21st Century Public Servant work shows, the most impactful public servants are no longer just service deliverers. They're system architects, storytellers, boundary-spanners and resource-weavers. They think differently and we need to recruit differently to find them – they are out there, just not often coveting roles in local government.
Here in the West Midlands, our Regional Workforce Strategy spells out the scale of this challenge: a workforce of over 62,000 permanent employees with rising skills shortages in social care, digital, and environmental roles. Even when we do recruit successfully we're often fishing in the same shrinking talent pool as each other, competing rather than collaborating.
So how do we respond? How do we really test for the capability to navigate complexity, rather than just the confidence to talk about it? ‘How we turn that dial' is one question that is being considered by the National Workforce Development Group, with a sub-group on promotion of local government careers which I co-chair. There is certainly a divergence of views on how we increase promotion of the sector, while in parallel addressing some of the challenges that sit behind. Just placing more adverts isn't the answer
Here are a few reflections from my own experience and the work we're doing at West Midlands Employers (WME) to help councils do this better.
Improving recruitment processes
As a sector we don't just want to attract more candidates. It would be easy to increase applicant numbers, primarily of unsuitable candidates. We want to increase the number of appointable candidates we are seeing, with a skill set we need for the future. We need to design realistic simulations that replicate the messy, multi-stakeholder dilemmas candidates will face. At WME, we're supporting councils to create scenario-based assessments that look at how people process information, adapt to new evidence, and bring others with them.
In addition, we're working closely with senior leadership teams to think differently about strategic workforce planning, not just responding to vacancies, but shaping the workforce they'll need for the future. What will the real work look like in five or 10 years? What skills will it demand? How are we planning succession, building in future capability and designing recruitment processes to reflect that? From firefighting vacancies to shaping future capability, the question isn't ‘should we plan?' The question is ‘how can we afford not to?'
Strategic workforce planning is no longer optional. It's a leadership imperative to understand what we've got, what we need, what's missing, and where we're heading. It means pushing beyond the immediate, imagining different possibilities, preparing for the unknown, and actively shaping what's next.
A one-sector approach
We need to reconcile whether we're genuinely recruiting as a sector, and what that looks like, while balancing this with councils' status as independent employers. Our processes differ, our data collection differs and for a candidate this can feel like they aren't being recruited by a ‘sector'.
We need to find ways to standardise and build sectoral consistency into recruitment to make sure our front door is wide and clear. Our WMJobs.co.uk site gives us a region-wide front door, but we know we can do more. Last year 17 organisations in our region launched the same Applicant Tracking System, opening the door for collaboration and we're getting closer to consistency.
Hire for learning agility
The most powerful predictor of success in complexity isn't whether someone has done the exact same job before, it's whether they can learn quickly and reflect honestly. Tools like work trials, talent pools, group exercises, and evidence-based interviews help surface this.
In our regional Squiggly Careers pilots, we've seen how reframing progression as a learning journey unlocks potential in unexpected places.
Rethink what ‘experience' looks like
The best system-thinkers don't always have a standard CV. They might have worked in health, social enterprise, or community activism. But our rigid person specs often filter them out before they can show what they bring.
The Regional Workforce Strategy calls for more inclusive pathways, whether through apprenticeships, cross-sector recruitment, or bringing people with lived experience into public service. This needs us to reframe how we see recruitment for younger generations; they won't be recruited the same way we were – and that can often feel uncomfortable for managers.
Collaborate across the region
One of the most exciting things we've seen through WMTemps, and our shared resourcing initiatives is what happens when councils work together instead of competing. A single, region-wide approach to talent pipelines and employer branding not only saves money but gives us a stronger, collective story. Our WMJobs Fair earlier this year brought in more than 2,000 candidates keen to build careers with purpose, proof that people are out there and looking for human connection in the recruitment process if we're ready to show them what's possible.
We're now planning our WMJobs Expo which will be held in Birmingham on 2 October, designed to both raise awareness of careers in the sector and support candidates develop practical employability skills through interactive workshops.
Inspire and engage the next generation
Meeting young people where they are is fundamental for tomorrow's complex challenges. We've transformed our approach by creating ready-made educational resources that reach students in their classrooms through our Exploring Careers in Local Councils guide – complete with interactive lessons, case studies, and teacher materials distributed free across the West Midlands. Rather than waiting for young talent to find us, we're actively engaging where they learn through live broadcasts highlighting public sector professionals, collaborative pilots with the West Midlands Combined Authority that raise sector awareness, and partnerships that bring us directly into schools and youth events.
This proactive strategy recognises that attracting the analytical, creative minds we need for complex public sector challenges requires early engagement, authentic storytelling, and meeting the next generation in spaces where they're already exploring their futures.
Tell the truth about the work
Finally, complexity requires honesty. Too often, our job adverts still read like generic corporate brochures (and AI isn't helping with this). Let's be upfront: this is work that's ambiguous, sometimes frustrating, but life changing. The right people will find that challenge energising, not off-putting.
Rebecca Davis is chief executive of West Midlands Employers
