Planning your recruitment

Good planning can help you to set up a successful recruitment process.

Deciding the key selection criteria

Key selection criteria help assess applicants based on past behaviours and experiences.

To start, conduct a job analysis to work out:

• tasks involved in the job
• the capabilities, skills and attributes needed to perform the tasks.¹

The Family violence capability frameworks(opens in a new window) can help you understand the required knowledge, skills and capabilities for the position. This applies to family violence response (including roles working with men who use violence) and prevention roles. They may also be helpful for sexual assault roles. Note: the capability frameworks are currently being redeveloped.

Key selection criteria are based on the job analysis.

Tips for developing key selection criteria

• Try to focus only on what’s essential to the role. For example, ‘Driver’s licence required’ could refer to the ability to travel between worksites, meaning a licence may be useful but not essential.²
• Use clear language and avoid industry jargon.
• Avoid having too many key selection criteria. Five or six are usually enough.³
• Consider removing minimum years of experience or prior experience. This can encourage applicants from more varied backgrounds.⁴

A position description draws on the key selection criteria and job analysis to describe the role.

The advice outlined above draws on the Victorian Public Sector Commission’s Getting recruitment right(opens in a new window) resource and the State Services Authority’s Best practice recruitment and selection guide(opens in a new window).

To find position description templates, visit the Business Victoria website(opens in a new window).

References

1. Victorian Public Sector Commission, Getting recruitment right(opens in a new window), VPSC website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

2. Australian Government, Writing job advertisements(opens in a new window), Job access website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

3. State Services Authority, Best practice recruitment selection methodology and tools(opens in a new window), VPSC website, 2007, p. 25, accessed 13 January 2023.

4. G Lloyd, Three inclusive hiring tips to attract top talent(opens in a new window), HRM website, 2022, accessed 13 January 2023.

5. Australian Human Rights Commission, Attracting and recruiting people with disability to your organisation(opens in a new window), IncludeAbility website, 2021, accessed 13 January 2023.