Martin Beaumont, Facilities and CCTV Manager, at Cambridge City Council reports that as a result of SIA licensing and the costs involved there have been a number of concerns raised about recruiting the right people for the job, and retaining them once they have been licensed.
This article is my view as a manager on how to tackle the problem. It may not have all the answers but hopefully it will open the debate on ‘best practice’ in resolving the issues.
Advertising the post
Once it is clear that you have a vacancy and you have permission to fill it, the first task is to advertise for someone to fill the post. The advertisement should be aimed at the specific type of person you want to recruit and be given wide circulation. The advertisement should contain some of the following information:
Salary; hours of work (specifying shifts, lone and unsupervised working if relevant); ability to listen and observe and pass on information both orally and in writing; maintain records and factual information; overview of CCTV role; work within guidelines and procedures; able to recognise and report colours; work an unbroken shift in a non-smoking environment (if relevant); attend and pass training and obtain an SIA PSS CCTV Licence (if applicable); and successful applicant will be subjected to vetting. Applicants are required to sign a confidentiality agreement. Where to get application forms, information packs and further information; aand closing date for applications
Dealing with forms
The application forms are sent out with clear instructions on how to fill them in. In addition a list of supplementary questions are enclosed covering essential and non-essential criteria from the person’s specification. Applicants are requested to answer these questions by providing example of things like their experience in record-keeping, providing written and oral briefings, working in accordance with guidelines and procedure, understanding the sensitive nature of CCTV etc. I do not normally accept CV,s however; if they are included by the applicant, they are put to one side.
Obviously the next phase is weeding. This can be quite difficult if you have a large number of applicants for one post. Therefore a scoring matrix is required with points being awarded for correct completion of the application form and each suitable answer on the supplementary questions. This should quickly whittle down the number of suitable applicants for interviews.
Interviews
The first rule of an interview is to prepare thoroughly. Ensure you book suitable rooms. Read the applicant’s application form and answers to the supplementary questions and ensure any staff assisting in the process are thoroughly briefed. Set a timetable and ensure you build in breaks between each applicant to allow staff to have a rest and for you to complete notes after interviewing each candidate. Prepare the interview questions and the observation test yourself. Do not use the same items for the observation test over and over again; or there may be accusations of people receiving unfair help from existing staff.
The interview process can be in three or four phases. Phase two below is optional.
Phase one: CCTV tour
A short (20 minute) tour of the CCTV control room. Conducted by the duty staff just to give the applicant a feel of what is involved.
Phase two: psychometric test
Phase three: interview.
For the interview lay out the room so there are no barriers (such as desks) between you and the applicant. Ensure there is no risk of interruption – telephones – and that there are no distractions, such as the applicant facing a window. Explain the format that the interview is going to take and introduce anyone else in the room and explain their role (such as a Human Resources representative). The applicant will be nervous, so provide some water for them. And to help relax them choose a subject from their application form, which they are interested in. If they start by talking about something they know it will help to relax them and make the interview flow better. You only have about half an hour or so to decide if the applicant is suitable. So you need to be clear about what your objectives are; and pitch your questions accordingly. In our case we want to know if they are intelligent, can think on their feet, have moral courage and the ability to make decisions.
So there is no point in asking question, which are going to waste time and have no relevance to the job. An example of a useless question would be: ‘Why do you want this job’? Far better to give a scenario, like ‘Our guidelines on the rights to privacy and viewing private areas are very strict and infringements of this rule can lead to dismissal. However you are the duty operator and you are panning a camera around (be prepared to explain what panning is) when you see a violent assault taking place in someone’s living room window. What action if any would you take?" Each of the questions should have a scoring matrix. We use one to five. With five being the highest score.
Finally the interview is an opportunity the check the applicant’s oral skills, general attitude and any issues on health and attendance. Confirmation of acceptance of certain issues such as vetting, signing confidentiality agreements, colour blindness and the ability to use the equipment can be confirmed. Make sure scores and notes on the interview are filled in before the next applicant arrives whilst the issues are fresh in your mind.
Phase four: observation test
This part of the interview process enables you to confirm the applicant’s observation and writing skills, their clarity of thought, their ability to recognise colours, absorb factual information and produce results under pressure. It is also an extremely useful tool for separating candidates whose scores are very close. A small room can be set up for the test with a television, VCR or a PC, desk, chair and writing implements. Ensure there are no distractions.
Normally a real incident of about three minutes is used. Ideally with between four and six people involved and plenty of activity such as a fight. A three-minute clip will normally contain between 250 to 300 factual pieces of information. The manager needs to go through this clip in details to ensure that every fact is recorded for accurate marking. Clear instructions on how the test is to be conducted must be provided. We ask them to view the incident once as if they were the operator on duty at the time. They are then given 10 minutes to write a report on what they have seen. Applicants receive one point for each factually correct piece of information and lose five points for each factually incorrect piece of information.
The average scores tend to range between 25 and 40. Interestingly enough people who are already CCTV operators tend to do badly at this test. Obviously if we scored them on the points they had placed in their report we could mess up the overall result. So we place the candidates in order of their highest score and then award points for their position. So if there were six applicants, the person in first place would get 12 points, second place 10 points and sixth place 2 points.
Consolidation
Once the interviews are over, the scores from the isometric test, the interview and the observation test are added together to give us the most suitable candidates. We offer the job to the highest scorer and keep those in second and third place as reserves for up to six months. This means that if another vacancy arises we can offer the reserves a job without going through the whole process again. It is vital that you keep the notes and scores from the interview in case of accusations of unfairness. Each organisation will have a policy on how long this information should be kept. What about other managers, how do you deal with recruiting?
