Glossary

Acting appointment- When an internal candidate at a lower group and level, temporarily works at a higher group and level for a pre-determined length of time. Currently serving military members, veterans, and those applying externally cannot act, since they don't hold a public service position. 

Appointment- The act of hiring someone into the public service. Appointments are either determinate or indeterminate. 

Appointment process- usually refers to the process of hiring someone into the public service. It differs from the selection process in that the appointment process takes place after a candidate has been found qualified through a selection process and will involve things like security clearances which can take months.

Area of Selection- determines who can apply to a position. It is often based on location. On external positions this can be within a certain radius of a location, as an example 300 km from a certain location. On internal positions this can be limited to a department, an Directorate or even as narrow as a work unit. 

Assessment/Assessment tool- All factors on the Statement of Merit Criteria must be assessed. This can be done through reading the resume and cover letter (for written communication), interviewing (oral communication and other factors), through PSC tests or locally developed tests and through reference checks. All of these are considered part of the assessment tools. 

Asset qualifications- often used in pools that will be accessed by multiple managers. This is a list of qualifications that they might also require for their unique position. Since managers can pull resumes based on asset qualifications you always want to include asset qualifications in a resume. 

Assignment- the internal movement of an employee from one job to another temporarily. This is at the same group and level and for the same departments. For this reason this employment category only applies to internal categories. 

Breadth and depth- the notion that you have to have a certain amount and quality of experience for a given position. 

Casual employment- A 90 day employment term. A person can work 90 working days under this type of employment. Once the 90 days have expired the person can no longer be employed as a casual in any government department.

Concrete example- Asked for in resumes in the public service. It requires the statement to give specific details about how they meet a SOM criteria. As an example if the SOMC asks for experience with spreadsheets. A concrete example would be "on a daily basis use spreadsheets to track and manage a budget of $334, 000 to ensure the directorate is on track to spend it's budget."

Deployment- A lateral transfer from one position to another. 

Determinant- also called term employment. This type of employment is when you are hired for a specific period of time such as six months or a year. Generally a term will never be more than 3 years, because then it would turn over into a indeterminate position by Treasury Board regulations on hiring. 

Employment equity- a program that ensures that those traditionally marginalized in the labour market have equitable access to positions based on the geographic region. As an example employment equity in Toronto looks very different than employment equity in Petawawa. 

Essential Qualifications- qualifications that must be fulfilled in order to be hired into a position. They include education, experience, skills/abilities, licences, knowledge, personal suitability and competencies.

Indeterminate- A "permanent" job, but phrased in a realistic term. Nothing is ever guaranteed so you will be hired into the position for an undetermined period of time.

Operational requirements- These are criteria that are required for the position to work effectively. They include things like the ability to travel, work overtime, shift work, and some interesting things like fly-in propeller planes and live in remote camps. You must be able to meet these requirements in order to be hired. 

Official Language Proficiency- In order to be hired you must meet the language requirements. In Canada, we have two official languages and you must be able to work in the language required. If the position is bilingual it will list the level that you must be proficient to. Ironically this works the opposite of school systems- A is barely passable and C is really good! Follow this link for the full list of how the language evaluation system works. 


Personal suitability- These are factors in the hiring process that will be asked of your references. They include whether you are dependable, take initiative, demonstrate flexibility or creativity. The list will be unique to the job, but often you aren't asked interview questions about this category because you will be biased about your own suitability. 

Post- to put a position up on the public service resourcing website. 

Poster- the advertisement on the public service resourcing website.

Preference- Canadian Armed Forces Veterans have preference for positions that are advertised open to the public. To be eligible for the preference veterans must have been honourably released and served for a minimum of 3 years in the Canadian Armed Forces (Regular, Reserves, COATS or Rangers). Veterans will go through all stages of the selection and appointment process along side all eligible candidates. If they are found qualified based on all factors, they must be hired ahead of other candidates. 

Priority- someone who has a legislative entitlement to a job in the public service. 

Priority Clearance- This is a process that human resources professions have to go through in order to post a position either internally or externally. They must first examine the Priority Information Management System to see if there are any priorities. If there aren't they can get a priority clearance number to proceed to post their position. If there are priorities, they must stop and evaluate those people before they can proceed. 

Priority Information Management System (PIMS)- A computer system that keeps track of those who have a priority entitlement to a public service position.

Public Service Commission (PSC)- The mandate of the public service commission is "to promote and safeguard a non-partisan, merit-based and representative public service that serves all Canadians". They design assessment tools that are standardized, conduct large scale section processes on behalf of multiple government departments, manage the language testing and results of public servants, and manage the priority hiring system. 

Recent and significant- these conditions may be listed in a poster and will tell you that your experience must be recent and significant. Each manager gets to determine what that means, for some recent might mean within the last two years and significant might mean five years of progressive work experience. A different manager may see recent as within five years and significant being two years of experience. Always read the poster. When this phrase is used it is wise to use a chronological resume so the reviewer can see when and for how long you did something. 

Reliability Clearance- the most common type of security clearance. You will need to pass a basic criminal records and financial review. Even if you have a criminal record you may still be granted a reliability clearance if the offence was unrelated to the job and usually in the distant past. Financial reviews help to ensure that you would not be susceptible to stealing or to being paid for information, your finances being in shambles is just as problematic as a conviction. 

Screened in- you are screened in when you pass the initial application process. This doesn't mean you will stay this way since a computer vets all the resumes and then people take up the vetting process.  

Screened out- you are found at some point (initial screening, resume review, interview, testing or reference check) to fail one of the criteria to be placed into the position. 

Secondment-When a public service employee takes a position at another government department at their same group and level. Similar to an assignment but with an department or agency. Secondments do not require priority clearance.

Selection process- The formal process of hiring an employee. The selection process includes creating a statement of merit criteria, an interview guide, selecting assessment methods (such a testing), determining the official language of a position, and creating the reference check materials. 

Selection process number- The unique number that is used for tracking a position. You can "read" these numbers if you know how. 

Example: 2016-CSD-EA-AB-23174 

2016 is the year it is posted. CSD is the short form of the department- Employment and Social Development Canada. EA indicates external appointment, IA would indicate an internal appointment. AB is the province the position is located in or has the lead on running a pool. For internal process the short form of the city is often used as an example NCR for the Ottawa area. The last digits are the unique identifier of the process.  

Situational exercise- A type of assessment tool. This would be an assessment tool designed to test your ability and potentially your knowledge. You will be given information and then asked to either deliver a presentation, hold a discussion, role play, etc. A situational exercise for a health and safety position might be to have the candidate conduct a mock safety inspection, providing the interviewer with observations and recommendations. 

Statement of Merit Criteria (SOMC)- A listing of all the elements that are required to be hired into a specific position. These criteria include education, experience, knowledge, skills/abilities, competencies, personal suitability and working conditions.

Substantive Position- Every position in the public service has a position number that is associated with it so that no mistakes are made as an example hiring two people when only one position exists. The substantive position refers to the position number that an employee has been hired into. When an employee goes on leave without pay you cannot hire another person indeterminately into that position number until certain time frames are met. 

Term- A tenure within the public service which should not exceed three years. It is used for short term projects where there is no anticipation that the position will continue on indefinitely. Also called "determinate".

Treasury Board- The employer of all public servants and the organization which sets HR policy nationally for all Departments to follow.