Webcast search for top officers
Date published: 02 February 2009
Council leaders went online to recruit staff
OLDHAM Council chiefs reached potential candidates from all over the country to recruit their new top team — without travelling a mile.
The council leader, Councillor Howard Sykes, and new chief executive Charlie Parker went live and interactive online so that potential candidates could hear directly from them about the council’s plans for change.
Webcasting is increasingly used among businesses and corporations as a way of staging meetings without having the problems and costs associated with travelling to them.
The live webcast allowed people interested in the top jobs on offer to ask questions about the council and its aims before they submitted job applications.
It was the first time the council’s recruitment agency Tribal had used the technology with a local authority and it is getting requests from other authorities to follow suit.
Three new executive directors and a deputy chief executive were appointed by Oldham Council at the end of the recruitment process.
They are due to take up their posts in the next few weeks.
Councillor Sykes said: “It was the first time we had tried it, and people had to register their interest.
“We talked to about 30 people and they saw us live and we answered their questions.
“We were recruiting for four jobs at once so it really created some interest.
“And if people could not take part on the day they could download it and watch it later.”
Tribal chief executive Julie Towers, who chaired the session, complimented the council for its creativity: “Charlie and Howard knew that the technology was relatively new and complex, but they were keen to get their message out to as many people as possible.
“By putting themselves out live and using this modern technology, they have demonstrated everything that is modern and creative about Oldham, and set down a clear marker to potential candidates about the kind of radical change they want to deliver.”
