NGDP recruitment information pack 2021/22

Local recruitment provides councils with the opportunity to utilise the NGDP to recruit the best of their local talent. This can include, but is not limited to, anyone that lives/works/studies in your area. Councils are supported to market the programme locally and candidates they attract are ringfenced for them. All local candidates progress through the standard recruitment process within the same timeframe as those that have applied to the national campaign ensuring there is no compromise on quality and local candidates experiences mirrors any other applicant as much as possible.

You will advertise your campaign, but the Local Government Association (LGA) will host applications on your behalf using a standard application form (a link to the application portal is provided), you have immediate access to shortlist applications based on your definition of a local candidate and have until 7 January 2022 to shortlist.

You are responsible for shortlisting applications in line with your definition of what you consider to be a “local” candidate. To aid you in defining local candidates, the NGDP team’s definition has been included in this document should you wish to adopt this as your own.

Overview of the process – the LGA hosts your application using the standard application template.

You will:

• receive and return a short information form to allow us to set you up on our applicant tracking system (Jobtrain)
• receive a shareable link to use on your advert/website, which links to an application page hosted by the LGA
• your applicants will immediately receive their situational judgement test to complete when applying
• gain access to view and shortlist applications live and will shortlist based on your criteria for local candidates – the LGA participates in anonymised recruitment at shortlisting stage (you will not see individual EDI data or personal details, only answers to application questions).

Process of local recruitment

• The application form has been finalised and hosted by the LGA.
• You can amend your advert text (hosted on your own website).
• You will gain access to shortlist your candidates using a simple two-step process.

Things to consider

• You must sign up for the NGDP by 1 October 2021.
• The application form cannot be amended due to the large volume of councils we support but the form has been designed with council objectives in mind.
• The LGA uses an anonymous recruitment process so you will not see the names of applicants or their EDI data – however, once shortlisting has concluded you will receive candidate details at interview stage.
• Shortlisting must be completed by the 7 January 2022 at the latest.

Once you have shortlisted, the NGDP then facilitates the assessment of your nominated local candidates in line with national candidates to ensure they meet the same standard.

Successful candidates will become part of the national cohort with access to NGDP learning and development, networks and knowledge events.

Both the NGDP and NGDP support team are available to support you during your local recruitment campaign. Each team is responsible for different areas of the process and the role of the NGDP support team, who will assist in the recruitment side, has been outlined below for ease of reference.

The NGDP team [email protected] are available to offer guidance and support on:

• queries related to the programme including what it is expected from you as a participating council
• marketing, attraction and workshops

The NGDP support team ([email protected]) are available to offer guidance and support on:

• opening applications – the NGDP support team will open your applications and provide you with a link which you publish on your website to direct candidate to apply via the LGA’s portal
• accessing the LGA Jobtrain portal – including how to view candidate status’ and how to shortlist

• you will need to complete the online sign up form on our website.
• you will need to sign the Local Agreement form

If you have not received these documents please contact [email protected] who will provide them for you.

The LGA has adopted anonymous recruitment for all applications. This means that the LGA’s HR team have anonymised all applications within our recruitment system Jobtrain.

The anonymised recruitment process is extended to the local recruiting managers and therefore, at shortlisting stage you will not be able to see the personal details (including EDI responses) of the candidates applying to your campaign. Instead, you will be able to see the unique candidate ID of each candidate and their responses to the application questions.

Councils will be able to view personal details for successful candidates after Stage 3 assessment centres in order to organise interviews.

Anonymous job applications have the potential to remove or reduce some discriminatory hiring barriers facing applicants from minority and other disadvantaged groups. When implemented, anonymous job applications help to shift the sole focus towards the skills and qualifications of that application.

Our commitment to fair representation on the programme is embedded throughout our recruitment and delivery strategy. The NGDP places graduates in councils across the country so, it is imperative that our cohorts are as diverse as the communities they serve. In recent years we underwent an independent equality and diversity review and we continue to improve and evolve our recruitment practice every year.

When shortlisting, you will use the candidate ID instead of names and be able to view their responses to assessment questions and the education field.

You will not see the EDI data during the shortlisting process.

After applications have been shortlisted and outcomes for Stage 3 assessments have been delivered, the NGDP team will inform you of your shortlisted candidates by their full names and provide you with their contact details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the team [email protected]

Step 1 – setting you up

After you have completed and returned the contact form, a member of the NGDP support team will reach out to you to confirm the following with you:

• Your contact details and the names of any other people shortlisting you would like to have access to applications.
• Your definition of local – it is important that applicants understand your definition of a local candidate before applying. This should be made clear on your advert to ensure applicants know they are suitable to apply for your local campaign before following the link to apply. The LGA will also make the definition clear on the landing page of the application portal so candidates can determine if they meet your criteria.

In return and by 13 October, you will receive a link that will direct individuals to the application page for your local campaign. You can share this link on your website and in any communications you share to promote your campaign.

You will also receive a login for Jobtrain which is the LGA’s applicant tracking system. This log in allows you access to view all applications in real time and begin shortlisting.

Step 2 - Shortlisting

The shortlisting is your responsibility and you are able to shortlist against your own definition of what you consider to be a local candidate and the quality of response provided in response to the application questions. Candidates who meet the essential criteria should be shortlisted (education, right to work and meets your definition of local).

You are able to:

• Shortlist whilst the applications are live (to stagger and complete in smaller chunks)
• Shortlist in bulk after your applications have closed

The shortlisting process is a simple, two-step process and our NGDP support team are available to support you with the system should you need this.

Please refer to the timeline (Appendix C) to ensure you plan suitably as there is a set date you must complete your shortlisting by.

The advert/promoting your campaign

It is your responsibility to promote the campaign using your own website. The only difference will be that instead of candidates applying using your recruitment site, they will click a link within your advert that directs them to an application page on the LGA’s portal.

The NGDP support team provide this link for you.

When the candidate clicks the link on your advert or website, they will come to an information page before they can submit an application. This cannot be amended but is for the LGA to ensure that candidates understand the local process and how their data will be used.

Definition of a local candidate & eligibility criteria

As the recruiting authority, you are responsible for setting your own eligibility criteria for local candidates.

However, to help you the NGDP Team have established their definition of a local candidate that you may wish to use.

The NGDP determine that in order to be a local candidate, the applicant has to meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Went to school in, and/or still have close family/carers living in the borough (school must have been attended for 4+ years in that borough).
• Have lived or worked in the borough for 4+ years NOT for the purpose of university.
• Have lived in the borough for 4+ years AFTER attending university.

The content of the application form (Appendix B) will be the same for all local recruitment job posts and therefore asks open questions on the criteria listed above, so that you as the council can be flexible on your definition of a local candidate. For example, you may only want to accept applications from candidates who have lived in the borough for 5+ years.

Candidates who are shortlisted by you as meeting your definition of a local candidates must also meet the essential criteria set for the NGDP.

To apply, candidates must have a 2.2 undergraduate degree in any subject by summer 2022 and be required to provide documentary evidence of their entitlement to work in the UK (in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006).

The NGDP is unable to apply to sponsor a visa for candidates who do not have the right to work in the UK.

Please refer to Appendix C for information on shortlisting.

Now that you have shortlisted your desired candidates they will begin their journey through the recruitment and assessment process alongside our national candidates.

The NGDP support team will ensure that any unsuitable candidates receive an outcome advising that they have been unsuccessful for your local campaign and they will be signposted to the national campaign.

The NGDP support team will now look at the candidates you have selected as successfully meeting your criteria alongside the essential criteria (2.2 or higher grade and right to work) and scoring boundaries for the online test at Stage 1 of the process. There will be two possible outcomes for those your selected:

• The candidate has not met the criteria and pass boundary and will be unsuccessful at Stage 1.
• The candidate has met the criteria and met or exceeded the pass boundary and will be successful at Stage 1.

In some instances, we have candidates who are a few marks off the pass boundary. Where this occurs, you will be approached for your decision on whether you would like to take them through to the next stage. This is an opportunity that is only extended to local campaigns and is in the gift of the council to decide whether to take them through. This choice will be given to councils at each stage of the assessment process.

Things to consider:

The NGDP will deliver all outcomes as standard for each stage. If you would like to send a personalised message to either unsuccessful or successful candidates we will support you in doing so via the NGDP support team ([email protected])  

To remind you, the NGDP has three assessment stages before interviews.

The first stage, as outlined above, is one online test – the situational judgement test.

The second stage is a video interview.

The third stage is the assessment centres. Candidates are required to undertake a presentation exercise, written exercise and group exercise. 

Stage 4 – the Interview

As your candidates will interview exclusively with your council you are able to host your interviews as early as April. For candidates successful at assessment centres they are guaranteed an interview with you at this stage. They are not guaranteed a job offer.

Interviews can be booked after outcomes are delivered to candidates on the 21 April 2022.

It is recommended that you hold your local interviews ahead of interviews for national candidates so that you are clear on how many places you have offered to locals ahead of the national pool.

Alternatively, you may wish to host your interviews for local and national candidates on the same day. If you choose to do so, you cannot interview national candidates until 1 June 2022 as the national candidates are required to complete an additional stage to the local candidates, whereby they choose their preferred councils.

An introduction to this template document - The NGDP has put together a template advert text should you wish to use this in your local recruitment campaign.

Introduction to the application for all local campaigns

The NGDP has designed a standard application template for councils. This has been designed with councils' objectives in mind and cannot be amended. The questions allow for flexibility to shortlist based on your own shortlisting criteria.

Below is an outline only and the candidates will see a sophisticated application in the LGA applicant tracking system, Jobtrain. If you would like to see what the candidates see, please  email [email protected] to request a copy.

The local application will mirror the NGDP application with regards to the following sections:

• Pre-screening questions – to ensure candidates have the right level of education and right to work,
• Personal details – name, contact details and where they found this opportunity.
• Equal Opps – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion data including social mobility questions.
• Education/University details – degree level education required.
• Additional Info – criminal convictions declaration.
• All applicants for the LGA have to agree to the LGA’s privacy policy before they proceed to the application.

The local application additionally includes:

• an additional pre-assessment question
• assessment questions
• declaration of interest question.

The key areas for the local application are the pre-assessment and assessment which are unique to the local applicant process. we have outlined below what is included as standard within those two parts of the application.

Pre-screening – the qualifying questions

For each applicant, we have three questions that must be answered “yes” in order to proceed with an application.

• Have you obtained or, are you predicted a 2:2 at University by August 2022?
• Do you have the right to work within the UK without employer sponsorship?
• Please confirm the following:
• • I understand that by completing this form that I am applying as a local candidate for the authority advertising this position as part of the wider NGDP campaign. In proceeding with this application I accept that parts of my application will be reviewed by the local authority in order for them to shortlist. This is the correct answer and will take them through to complete the application.
  • I do not wish for the local authority to view my application and do not wish to proceed. Applicants who select this option will not proceed with an application.

Assessment questions – to aid councils in their shortlisting process

Section description: The council recruiting for this local campaign will have access to view your responses in order to shortlist against their criteria for local candidates. Please ensure you have thoroughly read the advert for this opportunity and understand the process.

The following question is important to ensure a fair and open process. Please disclose below any family or personal relationships where this may put you in a position where this may be considered a conflict of interest – for example, where that person may be on the interview panel at the end of this process. We will not share details of your application with any individuals named and this information will be viewed by the placement coordinator only.

Note: the candidate names used in this document are dummy candidates and does not display personal data belonging to any previous or current candidates.

1. Log onto Jobtrain

Log in details will be sent to you directly once the NGDP support team have received your completed contact form, which is required in order to set you up on Jobtrain.

If you have not received this please contact [email protected]

Once you have logged in the first time, you will be forced to change the password.

2. View candidates

Select jobs & talent top on the top right hand corner.

3. Shortlist candidates

By clicking on the candidate’s name, you will then be able to see their application.

You can tab through the various categories of the application: Personal, Education, Additional info and Equal Opps

Following your local shortlisting process, if the candidates is suitable you can change the status to: ‘Recommend Interview’. If you feel the candidate is unsuitable, please can change the status to ‘Recommend Reject’ the status change option can be found on the right hand side.

Once you have finished reviewing the candidate you can move onto the next candidate by selecting it on the left hand side.

4. Complete shortlisting by 7 January 2022 at the latest

The deadline date for candidates to apply and complete their tests is at midday on the 5 January 2022. You must complete your shortlisting by close of play on Friday the 7 January 2022.

We recommend that you consider shortlisting during the application period or setting an earlier closing date to allow time for you to shortlist. Some councils receive between 50-200 applications so you need to allow sufficient resource to shortlist as we will be unable to offer an extension. The dates set have an impact on the scoring and an extension may lead to delays in the overall recruitment process.

<<< end of shortlisting guidance >>>

Key dates

General application queries and FAQ’s at Stage 1

FAGs at Stage 2

FAQs at Stage 3

FAQs at Stage 4

If you have a question that is not covered by this document please contact the team at [email protected] who will be happy to answer your query.