What is a pool in the Public Service?

When hiring is being done in the public service, the notification poster that is published includes information about what the intended purpose is of the poster. This information is helpful because it lets you know how many positions there are and what you can expect, but only if you understand what it is trying to tell you.

Here is an example of an intention statement.

Anticipatory means that the hiring manager believes there will be positions for this group and level in the foreseeable future. There is no current vacancy. Since hiring can take months or even years to complete it makes sense when there is a reasonable expectation that an employee may leave/retire, or that the demand for services may increase in a certain area requiring more staff. 

Next you need to understand pools. On any given day there will be between 200-500 positions advertised, equating to thousands of positions a year. However many of these are the same type of position, perhaps just with a different title or in a different location. Instead of posting individual jobs, pools of qualified candidates are grouped together so that a hiring manager from a different region or department can simply select from qualified individuals. This saves a lot of time for the manager but as an applicant you may not realize you should be applying to a position.

If you read the example posted, the job is in Calgary or Regina, but they may use this poster to staff similar positions at locations all across Canada!! So if you were thinking the job is out west (or east if you are in BC), I won't apply, there is a good chance this job won't be posted for Ontario or New Brunswick because they will simply use this poster to hire for those locations.

Always carefully read the Intent of Process. If the intent is to establish a pool you want to be included in that pool. 

How are pools managed?

You have to be found qualified to be in a pool. In order to do this you need to be assessed on your experience, education, knowledge, skills/abilities, and personal suitability. 

If your resume screens through the Public Service Resourcing system for education and experience, you will get a notification telling you that:

• Your application has been retained. You will be contacted directly if you are to be assessed further.

This does not mean you are in the pool. The only thing it means is that you have screened through the online application process. In order to be placed in the pool you will need to go through an interview and reference check.

You file can stay in this state for months, so don't panic if you haven't been contacted. See future posts on why hiring takes so long. 

Understanding Group, Classification and Level in the Public Service Hiring

When you become a priority one of the first things that needs to be sorted out is which jobs you will be referred to. This is done by determining what group and level or what classification and level would be appropriate for you. 

The Public Service of Canada uses "group" to organize jobs into job families. As an example, under the Aircraft Operations (AO) group are all the jobs that deal with the operation of aircraft including: inspectors (AO-CAI), test pilots (AO-ETP), and helicopter pilots (AO-HPS).

The codes that come after AO indicate the classification. On the government job search website only the classification and the level are listed. Knowing the group is important because it helps you to understand the broad family of jobs that the position you are looking at falls under, but also different groups have different unions and collective agreements. Here is a reference guide to the different groups that are found within the public service.

Since there are no limits to the occupational groups and levels to which a person with a priority entitlement is allowed to be appointed to,* it is important to familiarize yourself with the various groups, classifications and levels found within the public service.  

Using this link you will find a chart that looks like this:

The column called definition, has a link where you can review each of the classifications that you believe you may be able to apply your priority status to. 

You should notice that there are over 200 classifications of jobs. If you don't know which ones are the best fit for you, a representative from HR will make that decision for you. You are much better to go into a discussion about your priority status well researched and prepared to justify why you should be included in a classification and level.

Level indicates a numeric range, generally from 1-8, although most classifications will rarely have levels that high. As an example CR02 or a CR05. These two jobs are in the same classification but the higher the level, the more complex the job. A CR02 may be responsible solely for data entry, where the CR05 would provide a wide range of clerical duties. 

It isn't just enough to know the classification system. You also need to know how many of those types of jobs are available in your area. Since a priority entitlement is anywhere from one to five years, you do not want to be waiting for a job that will never come. Use the search archives tab (next to the help tab) to search the classification and level you are interested in. 

As an example you may believe that the Financial Management classification (FI) is a good fit, but when you do your research you discover that in the last 5 years 90% of all jobs in that classification were found in Ontario and you are in Vancouver. All of a sudden being an FI02 priority is not very attractive! You may discover that there are many more opportunities at the AS03 level in your region or city. 

Another important aspect to become familiar with is the educational standards for the various groups and classifications. You will have to meet the minimum standard always, and a manager may choose to set a higher standard than the minimum. As an example if the position is entry level, but the person who fills it can only move up to the next level with a degree, graduation with a degree may be required. 

Again using the search archives feature you can determine if manager typically set the standard to the minimum or if in some groups the standard is raised. 

This research is a critical part of being successful as a priority hire in the public service. 

Feel free to ask questions.

*the only exception is a reinstatement priority who cannot be promoted

Understanding Types of Priorities in Public Service Hiring

Priority status is a way of retaining employees (and in some cases spouses) that the Federal Government of Canada uses in its hiring processes. Becoming a priority in the public service always involves loss. These losses include:

• Layoff
• Disability
• Being relocated
• Job loss
• Voluntary leave of absence (eg a parent who takes a prolonged leave to care for their child
• Death of a spouse who was a military member, worked for the RCMP, or public servant whose death was attributable to their service.  

For this reason, no one hopes to find themselves a priority, but every year hundreds of people find themselves becoming a priority.

There are two groups of priorities- statutory and regulatory. Regardless of which group all priorities must meet the essential qualifications in order to be considered. Essential qualifications are exactly what they sound like, factors that must be satisfied to be hired. They include:

•          Education
•       Experience
•       Knowledge
•       Skills/Abilities
•       Personal Suitability

Education and experience (and if written communication is a personal suitability factor) are assessed using the resume submitted. A poorly written resume will dramatically limit the number of positions that a priority is referred to.  

When priorities are referred a hiring manager must look at statutory priorities first an in this order.

Statutory Priorities

Statutory priorities are so named because their entitlements flow out of the Public Service Employment Act and legal statue.

First: Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members released for medical reasons attributable to service as determined by Veterans Affairs Canada. All CAF members, including regular force, reserve force and special force are eligible. This is the highest level of priority and someone in this category who meets all the selection criteria will be appointed to the position ahead of all others. If a CAF member who is medically released for reasons not attributable to service and can no longer meet universality of service they will have a priority entitlement under the group- regulatory priority.

Second: A public servant who has been informed that their services are no longer required (but have not been laid off). This employee is a statutory priority for their own department and will be a regulatory priority for all other government departments.

Third: Employees who took leave of absence, and their substantive position has been staffed indeterminately behind them. This only happens in the case of an absence of more than a year, and doesn’t always happen. As an example if a mother takes three years to care for her child her supervisor may hire indeterminately behind her after a year (triggering a priority status when the mother wants to return) or they may just use a term to fill the vacancies until she returns.

Fourth: An employee who has been laid off from the public service due to a lack of work, the discontinuance of a function (Compensation Advisors in every department is a good example) or the transfer of work or a function outside the public service.

For the official legalese version please follow this link.

Regulatory Priorities

The priority entitlements that fall under the Public Service Employment Regulation are referred to as “regulatory priorities.” Employees, veterans and surviving spouses with a regulatory priority are appointed after those with a statutory priority. Unlike the statutory priorities there is no order in which they must be appointed.

Surplus employees: Employees from other organizations who have been advised that their services are no longer required, but before any lay-off becomes effective. These people are statutory priorities within their own department.

Example: I am told my services are no longer required at Parks Canada. I am a statutory priority for Parks Canada and a regulatory priority for all other government departments.

Employees who become disabled: If an employee becomes disabled and, as a result of the disability, is no longer able to carry out the duties of their position.

RCMP members: In certain circumstances members who discharged for medical reasons.

CAF veterans: Certain veterans released for medical reasons not attributable to service:  Members of the regular force, the special force, the reserve force on Class B service of 180 days or more or on Class C reserve service are eligible. You must be released from the military (thus a veteran) in order to qualify. You cannot enact this entitlement while still in uniform.

Relocation of spouse or common-law partner: Indeterminate employees who were granted leave for relocation, and whose positions have not been staffed indeterminately.

Reinstatement: Employees who had a priority entitlement and who were appointed or deployed to a position in the public service at a lower level are a regulatory priority for the group and level they held previously. As an example, you were an AS02 but at the new work location you had to take an AS01. You remain a reinstatement priority for the AS02 level.

Surviving spouse or common-law partner: Surviving spouses or common-law partners of whose partner/spouse was employed in the public service, the CAF or the RCMP, and whose death is attributable to the performance of duties. As an example, an RCMP office is killed in the line of duty, their partner can apply to become a priority in the public service if the public service does not currently employ them.

For the official legalese version please follow this link.

Understanding regulatory and statutory priorities will help you as you are referred to positions within the public service. 

Veteran's who do not meet the above categories do not have priority status, but they may have "Veteran's preference". See next week's post to find out the difference between the two. 

Student Summer Jobs

The dead of winter seems an odd time to be thinking about summer jobs but employers are! The Ontario Summer Jobs program just closed its applications for employers to get subsidies last week and the federal government is gearing up for its Federal Summer Work Experience Program. 

This year you should anticipate more student hiring than in the past since it is Canada's 150th birthday and the government plans to throw the country a party. All national parks will be free this year, which will spike the numbers of families and people planning trips to see the majestic beauty of our country. Ottawa will also undoubtedly see more students hired as everything from locks to museums will all see more Canadians visiting the national capital. The Federal Summer Work Experience Program (FSWEP) launches in January and you want to have your resume in early as government departments will look to hire in April. 

To apply to the FSWEP inventory, you must be:

1. enrolled as a full-time secondary or post-secondary student in a recognized institution and currently be recognized as having “full-time student status” by that academic institution;
2. returning to full-time studies for your next academic term; and
3. able to meet the minimum age requirement to work in the province or territory where the job is located.

HELPFUL HINTS

Pick a good location- FSWEP jobs are for all over the country but there are some areas that get high volume of applicants, generally where post-secondary institutions are located. Select smaller centres in order to have your chances of being selected increase. As an example remote or small place like Chafey's Locks are less likely to have as many applications as Ottawa (with two universities and multiple colleges). 

Keywords reign- Understand that the public service resourcing system is an applicant tracking system. It uses keywords to select qualified candidates. Think about what words are used in the industry you are looking to get in to. If you don't know what words to use, read the website of the department you are interested in, it should have words they use commonly.  

Say yes- Answer as many questions as you can with yes. Willing to work part-time? Yes. Willing to work evenings? Yes. Willing to travel in small planes? Yes. A manager wants someone who is going to be able to be flexible, so demonstrate that by saying yes.  Plus if you say no and the manager has requested the person be willing to work evenings, your resume will never be seen. It could be that they only need you  to work Canada Day evening, or one weekend, the reality is you don't know. Saying yes and getting good job experience and a good reference is worth any minor inconvenience. 

Network- While the system will randomly generate a list for a manager, the manager can also request certain files. If there is a department you want to work for, start now, finding a contact. Can't find a contact? Write a blog post about a cool idea or something that department might like and tweet it to them. Add people from that department to those you follow on Twitter. Make sure people know your name. 

FSWEP is incredibly competitive, but with a good resume, key words and choice locations you may find yourself working for the government this summer. 

As always questions are welcome.