Competency-Based Recruitment and Selection

Course overview

Hiring the wrong person is expensive: lost productivity, damaged teams and the cost of starting again. In the public sector, unfair or opaque recruitment also attracts complaints, litigation and accusations of favouritism. This competency-based recruitment course gives HR practitioners and hiring managers a structured, fair and defensible way to select people who will succeed in the role.

Participants learn to analyse jobs, build competency frameworks and write role profiles that describe the behaviours, skills and knowledge needed. They then design selection processes: shortlisting criteria, structured competency-based interview questions, scoring guides, work samples, assessment centre exercises and reference checks. The course covers interviewing skills, reducing bias, meeting equal opportunity and constitutional requirements such as regional and gender balance, record keeping and handling complaints. Participants practise interviewing and assessment in realistic role plays and leave with templates they can use immediately.

Participants leave able to run recruitment processes that are fair, consistent and much better at predicting performance.

What you will be able to do

• Analyse jobs and define the competencies they require
• Write role profiles and person specifications
• Design shortlisting criteria and selection processes
• Prepare and conduct structured competency-based interviews
• Use assessments and work samples to test competencies
• Reduce bias and meet fairness and diversity requirements
• Document decisions and handle recruitment complaints

Who should attend

For HR practitioners, hiring managers and members of recruitment panels in public and private organisations.

• HR officers and managers
• Recruitment specialists
• Line managers who hire staff
• Public service board members
• Recruitment panel members
• Talent acquisition partners

Course outline

Fees are per participant in US dollars and cover tuition, course materials and your certificate. Travel and accommodation are not included.