Knowsley makes recruitment e-asy

Knowsley's taken another giant leap into cyberspace in its bid to become the country's leading e-council.

The authority is now one of the only councils in the country to offer a fully interactive recruitment service, where applicants can download application packs, including personalised job description, person specification, information about the Council and the department; request an
application pack and form, apply online or download an application form.

It's an extension of Knowsley JOBWATCH, the Council's fortnightly recruitment circular. Many people, not just Knowsley staff, have been using the on-line version to access job vacancies for some time now, in fact, this
part of Knowsley's web site has proved the most popular in recent years. To develop this process and move towards achieving e-council targets Knowsley's now developed this service even further.

Gaynor Coldrick, Head of Human Resources, explained: We are one of only a handful of local authorities who allow job applicants to apply in this way.

While some have the facility to print application forms off, they do not have the full application pack details online or the ability to submit application forms online. From the start it was obvious that we were
embarking on an adventurous project.

The fully interactive recruitment process was piloted for six months and users voluntarily fed back comments about the system to iron out any problems, the facility has proven popular and has been highly successful.

Janet Orchard, Director of Corporate & Customer Services commented: A jobs mailer facility has recently been added to the system which enables people to register an interest on the site for certain types of job and then
receive frequent updates regarding job vacancies that match their specific
requirements.

The traditional paper based recruitment process will still continue alongside online recruitment, however in future there may be a reduction in advertisements in various publications due to increased publicity via the Internet.

Councillor Margaret Flaherty, Cabinet Member for Human Resources said: This is an important move towards becoming an e-council. We are now one of the leading local authorities in this field. This process should make the
recruitment process easier for applicants, particularly those who are disadvantaged when it comes to applying using traditional methods and more cost effective for the Council providing Best Value for our customers.

Councillor Flaherty added: This is another excellent facility for Knowsley, and shows our continuing commitment to providing innovative and high quality services to all of our customers.