CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS
RECRUITMENT PRINCIPLES
April 2009 Edition
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS
RECRUITMENT PRINCIPLES
1.
The Civil Service Order in Council 1995 (as amended) and the Diplomatic
Service Order in Council 1991 (as amended) requires selection for appointment
to the Civil Service to be on merit on the basis of fair and open competition (“the
requirement”) and that the Civil Service Commissioners (“the Commissioners”)
publish Recruitment Principles to be applied for the purposes of the requirement.
This document sets out those principles.
Merit - means the appointment of the best available person: no one should be
appointed to a job unless they are competent to do it and the job must be
offered to the person who would do it best.
Fair – means there is no bias in the assessment of candidates. Selection
processes must be objective, impartial and applied consistently.
Open - means that job opportunities must be advertised publicly and potential
candidates given reasonable access to information about the job and its
requirements, and about the selection process.
Role of the Commissioners
2.
The role of the Commissioners in recruitment is to maintain the principle
that appointments to the Civil Service are on merit through fair and open
competition. Annex A provides more detail on how the Commissioners interpret
the principle.
3.
The approval of the Commissioners is required for appointments to the
posts listed at Annex B. The Commissioners will decide whether and how it will
participate in the selection processes for such posts.
4.
The Commissioners except certain appointments from the principle of
appointment on merit through fair and open competition. These are described at
Annex C.
Departments and agencies’ responsibilities
5.
Departments and agencies must comply with the principle of appointment
on merit through fair and open competition and these Recruitment Principles,
in