Luton Borough Council

06/09/2022 - Recruiting for Potential

There are some jobs that are really hard to fill. Advert after advert produces candidates, but none with the necessary experience or skills.

Chief Executive, Robin Porter, explains: “At Luton we found that many candidates being turned down had much to offer and just needed training and support to bridge the gap. However, our processes didn’t allow us to appoint them and pay them for work that they didn’t have the skills or experience to undertake, so we ended up turning down good candidates who had real potential.”

This conundrum prompted us to create the Recruit for Potential (R4P) scheme.

Under this initiative, vacancies are advertised at the job evaluated grade, but also a grade below.

If a candidate comes along who meets the criteria then great, they can be appointed to the role, but it’s more likely that there will be a number of candidates who display potential but are not an exact match. The R4P scheme gives us the flexibility to offer the role to these candidates (internal or external) at the grade below the substantive grade and put in place very targeted training and support to upskill them to perform the full duties of the role.

The time frame for this intervention is short, typically six months, after which the candidate is expected to move up to the substantive grade and take on the full responsibilities of the role.

Managers choosing the R4P option commit to supporting their new recruit through an intensive training programme, and it’s fair to say that this factor has limited uptake in some areas. However, as the recruitment market becomes more difficult options are becoming limited and more managers are seeing this as a viable alternative despite the time implications.

Luton piloted the R4P scheme in the Public Protection service and identified four roles that had frequent recruitment and retention issues: Civil Enforcement Officers, Neighbourhood Case Support Worker, Investigation Officers and Neighbourhood Enforcement Officers.

The job descriptions were adapted to show key behavioural traits that R4P candidates were to be measured against and the recruitment team worked with managers to identify two or three questions to tease out potential at the interview stage.

The pilot generated positive feedback from both candidates and managers. Some of the recruits performed so well that they were fast-tracked to the substantive role well within the 6 month period, with one being appointed within two months. It has also paid dividends as some employees who joined via the R4P scheme have already secured higher level roles within the council.

One manager said: “We have generally found that individuals coming through on R4P have shown a greater desire to learn and develop their own skills, but to also apply themselves in the role once fully developed.” Another manager reported that an R4P candidate was “one of my best members of staff”.

Following the success of the pilot scheme, R4P is being promoted to recruiting managers as an alternative way to attract potential employees and there are now roles ranging from Project Managers, Legal Assistants through to Quality Assurance Managers where R4P has been embraced.

This scheme is not suitable for roles which require a qualification or take a long time to adapt to, but there is a wide range of posts which don’t require a qualification and can be learned relatively quickly. For these the scheme is helping to fill gaps that were previously left vacant.

Robin Porter, summarises the effect of this approach on the council “R4P has widened Luton’s recruitment pool, provided a gateway to career opportunity to those who have joined and has been a great way to bring new talent, both young and old, into the workforce.”