The Selection Committee

A Selection Committee should be formed as early as possible in the planning phase to allow for their involvement in planning activities.

Responsibilities

The Selection Committee or panel:

• determines the process for accepting and reviewing applicants
• determines the processes by which selection shall occur
• ensures the position description and accompanying information reflects the roles and responsibilities of the training position
• decides or makes recommendations about appointments to positions

Composition

Selection Committee members should be from:

• the employing training setting/network, such as the Service Director, Director of Medical Services, or Head of Department
• the College, such as the Director of Physician or Paediatrican Education, Network Director, and/or appropriate Supervisor

A diverse range of individuals not just by position but by age, gender and other balances in line with relevant jurisdictional policies is ideal.

For a rigorous, fair and non-discriminatory selection process, selection committee members require the appropriate training as outlined in the Guidelines for local selection of trainee physicians for RACP Training Providers.

In some jurisdictions, it may be a requirement that the Chair of the selection committee undertake additional training for their role. This is sometimes referred to as panel convenor training.

Further guidance and administrative support can be sought from the local workforce unit or Human Resources department.

The Selection Committee Chair

The Selection Committee Chair's role is important and should be assigned to someone with:

• a high level of authority for the management and supervision of trainees in the training program
• significant prior experience with the recruitment process such as a Director of Physician or Paediatrician Education or a Director of Medical Services

Responsibilities

The Chair is responsible for the overall governance of the recruitment and selection process and generally has final sign-off on decisions.

They ensure all members of the selection committee throughout the recruitment and selection process adhere to the agreed process and the principles of equity, fairness and non-discrimination. It is important the principles are reviewed with all new committee members as well as existing members periodically.

Providing ongoing education about the committee process, particularly for new members of the committee, is another responsibility of the Chair’s role. Topics can cover the overall recruitment process, what is its purpose, what outcomes are to be achieved and how the various selection tools relate to pursuing these outcomes.

Importantly, the Chair is the only member of the Selection Committee that can have direct contact with candidates. All other Selection Committee members should not have direct contact with candidates outside of the agreed selection process. Members should refer any enquiries from candidates to the Chair.

Larger panels

The recruiting and selecting process for training positions can involve many people. With larger committees, it may not be practical to have everyone involved from the start of the selection process and others may enter the process at later stages.

Two actions that committees can take:

• Establish a core selection committee group overseeing all aspects of the process. Remember to meet composition requirements i.e. gender balance, departmental representation and other factors.
• Clarify upfront who is responsible for which parts of the process.

Trainees as job experts

A common recruitment practice is to have a job expert on the selection panel.

Job experts are often included on selection committees. They can provide a different insight into the position and what it entails and help assess whether candidates may be ‘up to the task’. In medical trainee selection, a job expert would either be a current Basic Trainee or an Advanced Trainee. Job experts can add value when revising position descriptions, improving selection criteria and developing better ways of assessing candidates, e.g. generating more realistic clinical problems.

Participation in selection committees can be a valuable professional development opportunity for a trainee and may fulfill some training requirements in relation to leadership and management training, e.g. an Advanced Trainee joining a selection panel for Basic Physician Trainees.

This role can place trainees in a difficult position where they can feel that they may be making judgements about their peers. To ensure there is no unintended negative consequences for those involved, it’s important to plan how the trainee will work within the selection process as a job expert.

Establishing the process

In the recruitment process, establishing the procedure, criteria and timings before a call for applications sets up a rigorous and fair selection process. It can become difficult to have discussions around decision-making processes at peak times during the recruitment process, particularly when the focus shifts to establishing interview panels and Selection Committee members’ fielding multiple requests of their time.

Have a kick-off meeting

Start the process by gathering the whole Selection Committee, along with your HR department. It may be hard to include all members, but a core group should initiate the process.

Despite policy possibly instructing  Selection Committee to form only when candidates are under consideration, involving committee members in the position description design or redesign is valuable. Their input and experience can assist in developing and streamlining the candidate selection process and increase the likelihood of consensus among committee members about the process and selection of candidates.

Review key documents

In the planning stage, it is useful to review any data and information from previous years of recruitment alongside any jurisdictional or RACP policy changes. This information can prompt a need to consider changing the position description or the selection process.

Key RACP documents:

• Selection into Training Policy
• Guidelines for Training Providers on Local Selection for Training
• Indigenous Strategic Framework
• Professional Practice Framework
• Curricula Standards

Equity and diversity

The idea of 'workplace diversity' means that a workplace should reflect the makeup of our broader society. This is acknowledged as a key issue by the Australian and New Zealand Governments and the RACP.

One of the four RACP principles for selection is embracing diversity to engage a more diverse range of candidates to apply for and progress through training. It is also a key priority of the RACP Indigenous Strategic Framework to support the increased selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori physician trainees, in partnership with training providers, to grow the Indigenous medical workforce.

Training providers should demonstrate a strong commitment to equitable selection and health outcomes for Indigenous peoples in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand⁴ as well as people living in regional, rural or remote regions, and other under-represented groups.

An inclusive workplace culture is one where all staff are valued and recognised for their unique qualities, ideas and perspectives. Acknowledgment of the skills and perspectives that staff may bring to the workplace through their race, gender, culture, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or other differences, can contribute to a better workplace and organisational outcomes⁵.

Although there is no set approach to what factors should be considered in relation to addressing equity and diversity in selection outcomes, the first step is to make equity and diversity obligatory discussion for the selection committee. The committee should research how well the program is currently performing in ensuring diversity in its trainee workforce.

Members may feel that if the selection process itself is fair and open to all, and that there are no obvious signs of discrimination, then this should be sufficient evidence of a ‘level playing field’. However, it is important to challenge ideas like this that assumes all candidates arrive from the same starting point. Some trainees may have had more barriers to overcome than others in entering medical school and progressing through to applying for Basic Training or Advanced Training.

Have a conversation around the differences between the concepts of equality and equity. After your discussion, review the process of selection and recruitment to consider whether more equitable selection outcomes can be achieved through any changes or additions.

Resources and timelines

Discuss and allocate responsibility for all part of the process and what level of administrative support will be required. Create and share a timeline flagging key dates and have instruct all committee members to block out the proposed interview period to avoid conflicts.

The training needs of Selection Committee members and support staff should be reviewed by the Chair early in the process.

Plan the process

Recruitment and selection should be conducted in accordance with RACP Training Provider Accreditation Standards, particularly the principles of fairness, rigour and transparency, and within legal requirements including anti-discrimination legislation.

Following a proper process and abiding by legal obligations is in everybody's best interest.

Under New Zealand and Australian laws, employers are required to provide equal employment opportunities and make hiring decisions based on individual merit. It is unlawful to treat a candidate less favourably because race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or domestic status, family or carer responsibilities, pregnancy (including breastfeeding), religion, political opinion or criminal record.

There may be some limited exceptions where these characteristics are genuinely relevant to the candidate's ability to perform the role, but generally it is unlawful to treat a candidate less favourably because of these attributes.

To minimise the risk of discrimination in recruitment, consider the following criteria:

• Are you planning your approach to comply with your obligations to prevent discrimination?
• Are you being consistent and fair in the way you treat applicants?
• Are you sure no irrelevant personal information from applicants has been sought?
• Are you focusing on the essential requirements of the role?
• Are you setting aside personal bias, myths and stereotypes?
• Are you considering what can be done to accommodate applicants who require adjustments?

Consultation

Your local HR department or workforce unit should be consulted throughout the entire selection process. They are particularly vital in addressing any queries about the process, requirements, employment policies, training, providing support and guidance and assisting with significant process changes and resourcing issues.

If you are recruiting for positions within a network of settings, there will likely be a key person appointed to coordinate this activity. Generally, this person will coordinate a meeting between sites. If recruitment is not being coordinated centrally, then it is important to liaise with this key contact to ensure all proper processes are being followed. An agreed framework for position descriptions and selection may already be established.

Candidates assessment

For reasons of rigour and fairness, it is important to agree ahead of time how you will be deciding on candidates. Many factors go into obtaining the best recruitment outcomes, including:

• how many assessment tools are used
• the use of specific assessment tools
• the breadth and training of Selection Committee members
• how and when candidates are scored, such as what weighting or scoring rubrics is used and when

Selection tools

Most of these tools are applied to candidates during the application or interviewing component of the selection process.

Choosing a combination of tests is more likely to guarantee a higher number of successful candidate outcomes than applying any one test or tool.

Be aware that while a tool may have good test properties (e.g. be valid, reliable, acceptable and feasible) in studies, this does not always make it useful. A good example is General Mental Ability or IQ in medical trainees. This test is one of the most well validated and supported selection tests. However, as most medical trainees would already be in the highest centiles for IQ, applying such a test to a group of physician trainee candidates is unlikely to lead to any more useful information.

Selection tools or tests should ultimately be chosen because they will provide further information that can assist the decision of the selection committee.

Weighting and scoring

To assess the suitability of candidates and ensure rigour and fairness in selection decisions, certain components of the selection process should be weighted.

There are potential advantages to applying a weighting process to selection and therefore developing a score for applicants.

Advantages

• Streamlines the decision process.
• Can be used to easily develop a ranking order.
• Assists with screening unsuitable candidates during applications and interviews.
• Provides valuable data for reviewing the process each year.

Disadvantages

• There is the tendency for weights and scores to reflect more tangible or assessable component, for example the number of research articles a candidate may have published or their academic record, and they can be harder to apply equal consideration to other desirable qualities, like communication skills.
  • The problem can be countered by developing scales that are descriptively anchored⁶.
• An important issue in considering how to deal with critical information outside of a weighting and scoring process is apparent.
  • For example, the issue can occur where a medical trainee scores highly on CV, application letter and interview performance, but a referee report reveals a critical weakness or concern about suitability.
  • It is important to discuss the process for potentially ignoring or adjusting the score of an individual candidate based upon such findings, as well as the process for not ranking or finding a candidate ineligible.

You can choose to apply a different weighting to various aspects of the selection process (applications, interviews and references) or you identify selection criteria that is more important than the rest and apply weight to that selected criteria based on importance. You can implement both methods if it is appropriate for your setting.

In developing weights and scoring, remember that individual selection tools or processes do not have to assess every selection criteria. For example, reviewing a candidate’s CV and application letter will assist with reviewing written communication but not verbal communication. Also, it is unlikely to indicate much about teamwork or judgement and decision making, but would likely reveal quite a bit about teaching, learning and research. Whereas an interview is unlikely to be able to fully assess the breadth of a candidate’s medical expertise, particularly medical knowledge, but would be able to assess communication.

Once the tools for scoring each part of the process are developed, a review should be made to ensure that all selection criteria are being effectively considered across the process.