The Brief

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service's recruitment process for Group Manager B level positions consisted of the familiar structure of an application form process, and for those selected a series of tests followed by interview in front of the Deputy Chief Officer, Assistant Chief Officer and HR Director.

After evaluating their existing process, supported by t-three, the Leadership Team gained some valuable insights in vital indicators they were missing within their selection process by focusing on track records/history and not spending much time exploring candidates’ personal traits, both positive and negative in relation to those deemed essential for the post.

As Cumbria Fire were looking to recruit a new Group Manager B level, they requested t-three support them in designing a recruitment process which would take account of personality and fit with the organisational culture and the job role.

What we did

t-three had already introduced the Leadership Team and the wider Senior Management Team to the Facet5 psychometric tool, which had initially been used as part of the SMT Leadership Development process, and was well respected and trusted by the members of the team.

With Cumbria Fire's brief, we now introduced them to Facet5's Audition people matching tool to support the Service during its upcoming recruitment process. t-three worked with the Service to integrate Audition into all stages of the recruitment process for maximum success, in order to allow all members of the panel to see firsthand the strengths, risks and suitability of fit of the candidates.

The process we adopted was as follows:

Using Audition, the Leadership Team created an profile of the Facet5 attributes considered as key to the post. This exercise was facilitated by t-three.

Shortlisted candidates were then invited to complete a Facet5 questionnaire and once completed were ranked against the desired profile. This created a list of closest to furthest fit and was also used to focus observations of behaviour during the practical team exercises to either confirm or challenge the profile.

Finally, we generated the Audition interview guides for each of the candidates shortlisted for interview, which provided questions to explore match/mismatch areas of their personality and was then the basis for the interview questioning.

The first interview was with the Deputy Chief and the t-three facilitator, where the questions focused on personality, style and fit. The second interview with the Assistant Chief and the Director of HR focused on questions regarding process, procedures, and technical ability.

The Results

Four candidates were selected for interview. The four individuals had been placed number 1, 2, 4, 7, on the best fit comparison chart. The candidate selected had a 90% fit to the profile.

Every candidate was offered a full Facet5 feedback and coaching session to support their personal development regardless of the outcome of the recruitment process. Feedback from the delegates was very good even from those who were unsuccessful.