Our approach to recruitment
There are lots of ways to progress – getting involved in different projects or taking different courses.
Rachel Heggs, Resourcing Consultant
Our approach to recruitment
Rachel Heggs, Resourcing Consultant
There are lots of ways to progress – getting involved in different projects or taking different courses.
Some guidance on our process
Thank you for your interest in joining Leicester City Council. We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly-talented workforce as we continue to build a council that is fitting and representative of our great city.
In particular, we have a duty to ensure that you and everyone else who applies to us is not discriminated against in any way. We aim to be open, fair and objective throughout the recruitment journey. That’s why we’ve designed our recruitment process to put you at your ease, make you feel welcome and bring the best out of you. We do all we can to make our recruitment process as fair as possible.
Please take the time to read this guidance page before completing your application form.
Recruiting in line with our values
We work hard to recruit talented people not only with the appropriate skills, but with the right values to support effective team working in delivering excellent service to the residents of the city. As part of our recruitment processes which assesses abilities and skills, we also incorporate a values-based approach to ensure that their individual values and behaviours align with those of the council.
You’ll see evidence of this in our marketing materials, careers site and job specifications, as well as the screening and selection process and how we structure interviews. It also plays an important role in our induction and welcoming process. If you decide to come to work for us, our values will help you understand your role within the wider organisation, and how the work you do ties in with everyone else’s work.
Before you start your application
Carefully review the advert and job specification to ensure the role suits your skills, knowledge, and experiences. This will include:
Purpose of the role
Key job activities
Key job outcomes
Key contacts
Requirements measured at application form
Requirements measured by test
Requirements measured at Interview
Requirements measured by documentary evidence
Do your research
Before submitting your application it's important that you feel that Leicester City Council is the right employer for you. Have a look around our careers website and also visit our Leicester City Council website.
You may also like to check out our social media presence to get a better idea of who we are and what we do.
Prepare your application
Once you’ve found a job that suits your skills and experiences, and you feel it is the right role for you, you’re ready to make an application. Get ready to sell your experience and knowledge, and demonstrate why you are the best candidate for the role. So take some time to prepare and gather the information you will need for your application including your employment history and work experience, your academic achievements and any relevant training and qualifications and your contact information.
In addition, should you wish to upload your CV to support your application form, please ensure this is tailored to the job requirements to give you the best possible chance of being shortlisted. The whole process should take around 15-20 minutes.
Complete your application
Here is your chance to make a good first impression by selling your experience and knowledge to demonstrate why you are the best candidate for the role. Please be aware that we’re not asking for examples against every essential criterion within the job specification at this stage of the process. Our application form will only ask for examples of your experience, knowledge, and mandatory qualifications (if applicable) where these are measured by the application form and can be found on the job specification.
You will be required to provide evidence against each of these criteria’s by giving examples to show that you meet these requirements. Don’t assume we have any knowledge of the situation or context so avoid using acronyms and give full factual examples. Our text boxes are limited to the number of characters; therefore, you may wish to upload a separate document i.e. a word document with your examples of how you meet the requirements. You can do this by uploading an attachment at the bottom of the application form.
We'll review your application
The recruiting manager will review your application against the person specification of the role you’ve applied for. Based on the information that you’ve supplied to us; they’ll decide if we’re going to take you through to the next stage of the recruitment process. They’ll let you know if you’ve been shortlisted for the next stage, so make sure you keep an eye on your emails.
We'll invite you to an assessment
If we believe that you might have what we’re looking for, we'll invite you to undertake an assessment. This may be online, or in person at our offices either prior or on the same day as an interview. This is a great opportunity for you to demonstrate your skills relevant to the job role. If the role involves management, we'll ask you to undertake an occupational personality questionnaire, this is so we can determine whether you have the leadership qualities we are looking for.
And a face-to-face interview
Depending on the outcome of your assessment, you may be invited to meet with us at one of our offices. This is your chance to impress us with examples of where your experience makes you right for the job. To make sure you’re prepared as best as possible, we’ll always be clear on what to expect during the interview process in our communication to you - so no need to worry! We want to see the real you, so let your personality shine through. It’s also an opportunity for you to find out more about us, so come prepared with some great questions.
We'll let you know the outcome
Once all interviews are complete, we’ll be back in touch to let you know the outcome of your application. Obviously, we’ll let you know if you’ve got the job as soon as possible. If you’ve been successful, we’ll call you to talk through the details of the offer and answer any questions you may have. We’ll make a formal offer and confirm it in writing.
If you don’t quite have the required competencies or experience for the role you’ve applied for, we’ll let you know and if you’d like more details, we’ll be happy to explain why. If you’re not successful or the role isn’t quite right for you, don’t be disheartened, we’re always keen to keep in touch with talented people, so please sign up for our job alerts by email service.
Our commitment to fairness
Our recruitment process is anonymised, meaning any protected characteristics are withheld from both the recruiting manager, shortlisting panel and recruitment team until the shortlisting process has taken place. Please ensure any attached documents such as supporting statements or CV’s do not include your personal details or are saved as your name to support our blind shortlisting process.
All recruiting managers are also trained on unconscious bias. This ensures optimum fairness in our recruitment process throughout.