Federal government is hiring 3000 ppl

[hugewallet]

just read it from a newspaper that the federal government is hiring 3000 college grads before March. according to the report, the hiring process started last Sept.

Anybody had applied? Is it too late to apply now?

[hugewallet]

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=cbd4d07c-00a1-4db8-8c11-f5d759f76c20

[MP3_SKY]

just read it from a newspaper that the federal government is hiring 3000 college grads before March. according to the report, the hiring process started last Sept.

Anybody had applied? Is it too late to apply now?


The recruitment campaign began in September and closed Christmas Eve

[wheezee]

Was there a particular name for the recruitment campaign?

I recall writing a tests in Toronto in November, to be eligible for a pool called the General Inventory for the Post-Secondary Recruitment program ... I wonder if this is the same campaign ...?

[harlequin]

From the Montreal Gazette article linked to upthread:

But Barrados recently released an audit into permanent hiring practices and warned the government is relying too heavily on casual and term employees who had become the main pool for full-time hires.

She said these short-term workers don't have to meet the same standards or merit requirements as candidates seeking permanent jobs and, once hired, they get the "inside tracks" on jobs.

The audit found that 80 per cent of the 86,000 full-time employees hired between 1998 and 2006 had previously worked in government as terms and casuals. The average age of new hires in government today is about 34.

The government's reliance on term and casual workers grew after the hiring freeze imposed during the downsizing of the 1990s, which cut 50,000 federal jobs.


Translation: managers in the federal public service are getting permanent jobs for their friends/family through the back door. They get them in as temps first (which helps to avoid barriers caused by the hiring freeze or merit requirements) and later on into permanent jobs.

Our federal tax dollars hard at work.:rolleyes:

[lekkel]

Was there a particular name for the recruitment campaign?

I recall writing a tests in Toronto in November, to be eligible for a pool called the General Inventory for the Post-Secondary Recruitment program ... I wonder if this is the same campaign ...?



The recruitment campaign is indeed called the Post-Secondary Recruitment Program. The tests were done all across Canada and overseas to recruit recent grads and students graduating in June 2008. Usually the bulk of the positions come out in September and some might come out again in January.

[technogirl]

recruitment

hmmmmm......... sounds intersting!:D

[cliff]

Translation: managers in the federal public service are getting permanent jobs for their friends/family through the back door. They get them in as temps first (which helps to avoid barriers caused by the hiring freeze or merit requirements) and later on into permanent jobs.

Our federal tax dollars hard at work.:rolleyes:


You do realize nearly all of the election, census and summer employees are classified as temp workers. That means there are *a lot* of people that have been employed as temp workers for the feds, it's natural some of them would later become full time. Most companies have internal job postings before they go outside, I would expect the same in the government.

[harlequin]

You do realize nearly all of the election, census and summer employees are classified as temp workers. That means there are *a lot* of people that have been employed as temp workers for the feds, it's natural some of them would later become full time. Most companies have internal job postings before they go outside, I would expect the same in the government.

My point is that managers assist their friends/family to get these temp positions. Then, later on, when a full time opening becomes available, they will beat out a more qualified external applicant.

No doubt this happens in the private sector too, but not nearly to the same extent. In the private sector, you can't afford to have too many unqualified staff.

[oasis100]

My point is that managers assist their friends/family to get these temp positions. Then, later on, when a full time opening becomes available, they will beat out a more qualified external applicant.

No doubt this happens in the private sector too, but not nearly to the same extent. In the private sector, you can't afford to have too many unqualified staff.

I think that a pretty fair statement.

[Ziggy007]

I worked for the government as a student, and I can tell you it is full of nepotism.

Almost every person in the office had at least one other family member located elsewhere in the office (this included everything from wives, husbands, aunts, parents, cousins) you can name it.

Basically the only way to get in with the government is through these channels, and I can say from past experience that this is absolutely how they hire, they take on temp people in weaker positions, so they can promote them to full time higher ranks within months.

[Narci]

For non-management positions, the manager has to post the position for union workers first before the job can go external.

The process of hiring of a temp leading to fulltime is a loop-hole around that.

Sucks but once your in, it's pretty cushy.

[Moogleknight]

My point is that managers assist their friends/family to get these temp positions. Then, later on, when a full time opening becomes available, they will beat out a more qualified external applicant.

No doubt this happens in the private sector too, but not nearly to the same extent. In the private sector, you can't afford to have too many unqualified staff.

Err... Most managers can hire can only hire "casual" employees. From my understanding, casual employees (having been one), do not have access to internal postings, and cannot be appointed without competition (and since they can't compete internally, they have to compete externally).

The only reason that they might beat out an external applicant in an external compeition is because they exceed the external applicant's qualifications by having more applicable experience, and applicable knowledge. Which makes sense when you think about it (although it does have the downside of encouraging the hiring of older, more experienced people).

Otherwise, there's no actual way that I know of to turn a casual employee into an indeterminate one - unless you were a student. In which case, there is a bridging mechanism (as there is a Treasury board policy which tries to encourage the hiring of youth). For terms... that's a different story. I've been led to believe that terms can only be turned into indeterminate employees if they're already won a competition to begin with. So almost all staff that gets hired as indeterminate employees should be fully qualified according to the statement of merit criteria given for the position.

As for promoting people within months, promotions are also done by competition, ie. to get promoted, you'll have to beat out anyone else who applies for that promotion.

[harlequin]

Just so the feds don't think we are picking only on them, this kind of monkey business occurs in all governments. There was an outrageous example of it in the Toronto City government a few years ago:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2005-10-06/news_feature.php

This woman who was head of a major department in the government got her boyfriend in as a temp - 10 months later, he is 2nd-in-command with a 100K+ salary.

[harlequin]

The only reason that they might beat out an external applicant in an external compeition is because they exceed the external applicant's qualifications by having more applicable experience, and applicable knowledge. Which makes sense when you think about it (although it does have the downside of encouraging the hiring of older, more experienced people).

Err... this sounds like the justification that a civil service manager would make. However, the audit of permanent hiring practices (article linked to upthread) concluded that: "these short-term workers don't have to meet the same standards or merit requirements as candidates seeking permanent jobs and, once hired, they get the "inside tracks" on jobs."

[Moogleknight]

Err... this sounds like the justification that a civil service manager would make. However, the audit of permanent hiring practices (article linked to upthread) concluded that: "these short-term workers don't have to meet the same standards or merit requirements as candidates seeking permanent jobs and, once hired, they get the "inside tracks" on jobs."

Why thank you, I take it as a compliment that I seem to be management material ;) Honestly though, the only government experience I have is as a low grade temp employee - one who wants to keep their job (which is why I've looked into this topic).

I know that casual employees don't have to meet the same merit requirements (a casual employee's merit qualifications seem to be very lax in comparison to a permanent merit qualifications), and I would agree that by getting applicable job experience, they are indeed getting the "inside track". That would make sense in any industry. However, they don't get access to internal postings, so I see very little benefit from being a casual employee.

It's actually the term contracts that I'm kinda confused about, since from my experience, terms and indeterminates are often drawn from the same pool, and should therefore theorhetically have to meet the same qualifications.

Now, if someone were to tell me how to use my temp status to become permanent, I'd absolutely love to know=p

[harlequin]

Now, if someone were to tell me how to use my temp status to become permanent, I'd absolutely love to know=p

Well, if the auditor's report it to be believed, you got a better shot at it now than before you got the temp job.

[lekkel]

My point is that managers assist their friends/family to get these temp positions. Then, later on, when a full time opening becomes available, they will beat out a more qualified external applicant.

No doubt this happens in the private sector too, but not nearly to the same extent. In the private sector, you can't afford to have too many unqualified staff.

I don't quite agree with your statement above...

I'm presenting working in HR of in a Federal department and don't view the issue as above. Although it is true that having these so-called 'connections' can get you casual positions, it does not mean that they will 'beat out' a more qualified external applicant.

What I mean is that, for a casual/temp employee to become term or indeterminate, they MUST apply for an EXTERNAL selection process. Through this process, they are evaluated with the same set of statement of merit criteria as external candidates. If, like your above statement, the external candidate is more qualified, he/she will get the job.

This is my opinion on the issue, and I understand that from the outside point of view, it would seem like the casuals get preferred treatment, but in reality, they really do not, especially if there is someone more qualified for the job.

I don't know how it is in other departments, but so far this is what I have observed in my own dept.

Anyway, that's just my opinion.

[lekkel]

Now, if someone were to tell me how to use my temp status to become permanent, I'd absolutely love to know=p


apply to external job postings you see on jobs.gc.ca

[ygtgxi]

I wish I knew about this earliar

[AzN_RiverdaleCI]

ACK too late.

[Moogleknight]

apply to external job postings you see on jobs.gc.ca

I am well aware of jobs.gc.ca :)

I was simply making a snarky remark about how I am (was) really in no better shape than anyone else to get an indeterminate position as a casual employee. I'm actually now on term, so I'm in a slightly better position (although from my perspective not all that much better).

[Ebola]

Cmon now... nepotism is your friend... isn't it?;)

[lekkel]

I am well aware of jobs.gc.ca :)

I was simply making a snarky remark about how I am (was) really in no better shape than anyone else to get an indeterminate position as a casual employee. I'm actually now on term, so I'm in a slightly better position (although from my perspective not all that much better).

i'm glad that u are well aware of jobs.gc.ca

[lekkel]

I wish I knew about this earliar

you can always apply to the general inventory...departments draw people from that inventory all the time. i know we do.

[Ziggy007]

Err... Most managers can hire can only hire "casual" employees. From my understanding, casual employees (having been one), do not have access to internal postings, and cannot be appointed without competition (and since they can't compete internally, they have to compete externally).

The only reason that they might beat out an external applicant in an external compeition is because they exceed the external applicant's qualifications by having more applicable experience, and applicable knowledge. Which makes sense when you think about it (although it does have the downside of encouraging the hiring of older, more experienced people).

Otherwise, there's no actual way that I know of to turn a casual employee into an indeterminate one - unless you were a student. In which case, there is a bridging mechanism (as there is a Treasury board policy which tries to encourage the hiring of youth). For terms... that's a different story. I've been led to believe that terms can only be turned into indeterminate employees if they're already won a competition to begin with. So almost all staff that gets hired as indeterminate employees should be fully qualified according to the statement of merit criteria given for the position.

As for promoting people within months, promotions are also done by competition, ie. to get promoted, you'll have to beat out anyone else who applies for that promotion.

Most external postings are only placed for show, and are created only to hire one specific person who has already been selected.

Like I said I worked there as a student and knew many other students who were there as temps all their managers told them the same things, if you want a job just say so and they will make one appear.