Organisation and contact details:

Promoting Wellbeing Team
John Mitchel Place
Newry
BT34 2BU

Tel: 028 3083 4281
E-mail: martina.flynn@southerntrust.hscni.net

Project title:

The A-Team – Recruitment & Selection

Introduction:

The A-Team is an advocacy group based in the Laurels Day Care Centre, Newry. The Laurels is a day centre which offers services to those people in the 19-65 age range with a mild/moderate learning disability. The A-Team was established in 2002 and soon became actively involved in a number of projects within the Centre. An opportunity soon arose for members of the group to become involved in the recruitment of staff and the Community Development Unit was invited to be part of this process.

Aim:

The aim of the process was to involve clients from The Laurels in the recruitment of staff for the Centre.

Objectives:

Objectives included training a number of attendees in recruitment & selection, providing information on equal opportunities legislation, providing opportunities for participation in interviews and evaluation of the process.

Methods of engagement:

The interview process took place on two levels. One panel was comprised of staff from the Trust and the other was made up of clients from the Laurels. The client panel was supported by a member of the Community Development Unit. An intense period of training was undertaken with the clients prior to the interviews taking place. Standard recruitment and selection material was adapted to suit the needs of the client interview panel.

Results / outcomes:

The interview process outlined above worked very well. Scores from both panels were compared – both the staff panel and user panel had very similar scores for the higher ranking candidates. Both panels had the same candidate as their preferred choice of employee. As supporter to the user panel, it was very interesting to note the attitude of the interviewees to the panel. While some took is as seriously as any other panel, others very obviously did not take the process seriously. This was noted by the user panel and their scores ultimately reflected this.

Evaluation process:

Overall, this was a very successful process and the user involvement element was key to this. The clients involved thoroughly enjoyed being involved and were very proud of the fact that they had helped to recruit a staff member for the Centre. The training was tailored to suit their needs and was paced accordingly.

Comments:

A user panel has been used on several occasions to recruit staff for the Centre. The future sustainability of this work will depend on the availability of staff to support the process.