Section 1 – Introduction and Purpose 

1. The Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE) is a Victorian Government initiative established to enhance mobility, skills development and career opportunities for Victorian Public Service (VPS) and other eligible employees. 

2. In 2018, the Victorian Government made an election commitment to ensure “an efficient, fair and high-quality public service”. As part of this commitment, the JSE jobs board grants eligible employees’ access to VPS job vacancies. 

3. The JSE Recruitment Policy (JSE Policy) is a key step to ensure that eligible employees  have visibility of, and first access to, all job opportunities across the VPS. 

4. Key features of the JSE Policy are: 

5. This policy will be subject to review as the JSE is further operationalised. 

Section 2 – Policy Outline and Principles 

2.1     Scope and application 

6. From 1 October 2019 all VPS jobs across all levels (including bulk recruitment) will first be advertised to eligible employees exclusively via the JSE jobs board. This includes the following roles: 

7. Secondment opportunities that fall within the above categories must be advertised on the JSE.

8. Advertising through the JSE is not mandatory, but is encouraged, for temporary acting opportunities up to six (6) months duration if a current VPS employee is identified. A temporary acting opportunity is a role temporarily vacated by an employee (e.g., by taking leave or going on secondment) or a vacant role for which a substantive recruitment process is underway. Temporary acting opportunities longer than six (6) months must be advertised through the JSE in accordance with this policy.  

9. The recruitment processes and advertising requirements outlined in this policy apply to employers that employ people under Part 3 of the Public Administration Act 2004 (Vic), and to the employees employed under that Part. The JSE Policy includes, but is not limited to: 

a) VPS departments 

b) Administrative Offices 

c) Victoria Police (unsworn officers) 

d) the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC).

10. This policy does not apply in circumstances of restructures, the prioritisation of work or changes to the size or composition of a workforce. In these cases, internal job matching and EOI merit processes can be restricted to the affected employee group and not advertised on the JSE. If, at the conclusion of these processes, there are vacant positions that could not be filled by affected employees, those jobs must be advertised on the JSE in accordance with this policy. 

2.2 JSE advertising period 

11. Opportunities longer than six (6) months must be advertised on the JSE for a minimum of 10 business days (and must include two weekends). This approach strikes the balance between the need for fairness in allowing interested candidates enough time to submit their applications with the desire of hiring managers to be able to fill positions without unnecessary delay and will be supported by JSE ‘Job Alerts’ to give potential candidates timely email notification of the job advertisement. 

12. If short-term opportunities of up to six (6) months are advertised through the JSE, the roles must be advertised for seven days (including one weekend). 

13. If a successful candidate resigns from a position within three (3) months of the role being advertised, hiring managers are permitted to fill the vacancy with the next most suitable candidate from the recruitment process for that exact role. If no other suitable candidate was found, hiring managers must readvertise through the JSE, but may seek an approval from the relevant Secretary (or equivalent) for concurrent external advertising. 

14. Hiring managers are permitted to fill a new vacancy with a candidate deemed the next most suitable in a previous recruitment process if all the following criteria are met: 

a) the hiring manager selects a candidate no later than three (3) months after the conclusion of the previous recruitment process 

b) both the vacant role and the previously advertised role are at the same VPS classification level 

c) the employment category of the new vacancy must match (or be no more beneficial) than the previously advertised role. For example, if the previous vacancy was fixed-term, the new vacancy must be fixed-term. If the previous vacancy was ongoing, the new vacancy can be ongoing or fixed-term 

d) the duties carried out in both roles are the same and in the same business unit (e.g., two youth justice workers in the same unit) 

e) filling the vacancy in this manner is consistent with existing departmental policies. 

15. Direct appointments of VPS staff are permitted for roles up to 12 weeks’ duration when standing up new teams in times of urgency and when the ongoing composition of the team is still being determined. Roles longer than 12 weeks must be advertised through the JSE. Once the team composition is determined, all roles must be advertised on the JSE.

2.3  Robust and fit for purpose assessment of candidates 

16. This advertising period must be followed by a robust and fit for purpose assessment of applications applying merit selection principles, as set out in the Robust Assessment Guidelines (RA Guidelines). 

17. The RA Guidelines include how redeployees will be prioritised for vacancies, and ways in which preferred/highly suitable candidates can be supported (e.g., through mentoring, coaching and skills development) to be successful in their roles. If redeployment is not achieved at the end of the Redeployment Period, redeployees who have left the VPS can have access to the JSE per Section 2.5 (JSE access and eligibility) and are eligible to apply for roles through the JSE. However, they are not required to be prioritised for roles. 

18. A VPS employee who indicates that they are subject to a change process related to their current employment and that their role has been declared surplus must be given priority access to vacancies that occur within the public service consistent with Schedule A of the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2020, the Redeployment Common Policy, and the Public Sector Industrial Relations Policies 2015. 
    
    

2.4 Approval for external advertisement in parallel with the JSE 

19. If a suitable candidate is not found after this assessment, approval from the Secretary (or equivalent) must be sought to commence external recruitment for the role. 

20. The Secretary (or equivalent) may pre-approve (before the role is advertised through the JSE) a specific role for external advertising in the event that it is anticipated that it will not receive any applications through the JSE. Pre- approval should be on a case-by-case basis. 

21. This external advertisement must occur in parallel with re-advertising on the JSE. 

22. A request for external advertising requires a clear evidence-base and explanation for why no suitable applicant was found within the VPS, making direct reference to the RA Guidelines and the principle of recruiting for growth potential. 

23. To promote diversity in the VPS, hiring managers may seek approval for immediate external advertising (in parallel with advertising on the JSE jobs board) for roles subject to Section 12 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). 

24. In rare circumstances, hiring managers may seek approval for immediate external advertising (in parallel with advertising on the JSE jobs board), when specialist skills are required. 

25. If a job is advertised on external jobs boards in the first instance, in parallel with advertising on the JSE, JSE-eligible applicants must (where reasonably practicable) be considered and assessed using the RA Guidelines, prior to consideration of external applicants.  

26. The VPS employment programs listed below will be advertised externally. Advertising in parallel on the JSE is encouraged (Clause 25 does not apply in these circumstances). 

a) Victorian Government graduate program 

b) Barring Djinang and other Aboriginal internship programs 

c) Youth Employment Scheme 

d) Departmental internship programs 

e) Departmental work placement programs 

f) Departmental traineeships.