The Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE) has taken steps to increase diversity and inclusion across the Victorian Public Service (VPS) by extending JSE access to certain employees as they leave the VPS (or conclude a VPS employment program).
This page contains the following information to support this policy:
- Identification of employees eligible for extended JSE access
- What does this mean for HR and people managers?
- Steps required by HR and managers to identify eligible employees, including the use of an offboarding form
- How eligible members will apply for roles on the JSE after leaving the VPS
- Changes to the wording in job advertisements and position descriptions
- Additional considerations for Youth Cadetship Scheme (YCS) participants
- Changes for YCS participants
- Changes for hiring managers
- Access for Youth Employment Scheme (YES) trainees
- Government diversity employment targets
- Privacy considerations
- How to access further information and contact the JSE
1. VPS employees eligible for extended JSE access
Effective immediately VPS employees who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or a person with disability, and/or participants of an identified VPS employment program* will be able to view and apply for VPS jobs through the JSE for an additional 12 months after they leave the public service, or conclude a VPS employment program.
Previously, in line with the JSE Recruitment Policy, access to the JSE for VPS employees ceased when they departed the VPS. Extending JSE access for these employees as they leave the VPS or conclude a VPS employment program is an important step towards supporting those groups who are disadvantaged when it comes to seeking employment, achieving government targets regarding diversity in employment, and helping the VPS better reflect the diverse community we serve.
Employment programs include:
- Youth Employment Scheme
- Youth Employment Program
- Youth Cadetship Scheme
- Any Aboriginal internship program in the VPS
- Any internship program in the VPS for people with disability
- Any internship program in the VPS for refugees and asylum seekers
2. What does this mean for employees seeking extended access, HR staff and people managers?
The identification of employees eligible for extended access as they leave the VPS will happen in various stages, with the support of HR staff and people managers:
Offboarding
- Eligible employees will self-identify via an offboarding form to completed by the departing or departed employee. The offboarding form can be found here.
- This form can be completed prior to the employee’s final day of employment, or after they leave the VPS, if they left the VPS on or after 11 March 2020. The final date of employment, or the date that they conclude their VPS employment program (whichever is the latter) must be specified. The 12 months extended access will begin one day after this date.
- Once completed, this form will be automatically submitted to the JSE.
- It is the responsibility of the departing employee’s manager to ensure that staff are aware of this policy. Managers can alert eligible departed employees to this policy, allowing departed employees to complete this form retrospectively, if they left the VPS on or after 11 March 2020.
- Once this form is completed, the JSE will be responsible for ensuring that extended access is established.
Applying for roles on the JSE
- Applicants will be requested to confirm their eligibility to apply for a role within the VPS. At the moment, the online application form only asks applicants whether or not they are a member of the VPS.
- Until this application form is updated with the new eligibility criteria, applicants with extended access to the JSE who are applying for roles after they leave the VPS must tick ‘no’ when answering whether they are a VPS employee.
- Ticking ‘no’ will not prevent these applicants from continuing with an application. As is current practice, it is the responsibility of the hiring manager to confirm with shortlisted candidates that they are eligible to be considered for the jobs to which they are applying and/or interviewing for.
- Work is underway to amend the online application form to allow applicants to specify the reasons for their eligibility to apply for a VPS role. When this happens, applicants can confirm their eligibility to apply for a role in the VPS by declaring that they belong to one of the extended access categories. They won’t be required to identify the specific category to which they belong.
Wording of job ads and position descriptions
- Given these changes, jobs advertisements should not include any statement that specifies “only VPS employees are eligible to apply”.
3. Considerations for Youth Cadet Scheme (YCS) participants
To further assist young people who face barriers to employment begin a career in the VPS, Youth Cadetship Scheme (YCS) participants will be given:
- priority consideration for VPS2 positions advertised on the JSE after successfully completing the Certificate IV in Government; and
- 12 months extended access to the JSE after YCS participants depart the VPS.
Eligible YCS participants applying for VPS2 roles should identify, in their application, their eligibility for priority consideration for VPS2 roles as per JSE policy. They should also inform their YCS program manager who will assist in contacting the relevant hiring manager for the position. This prioritisation continues throughout the 12 month extended access period.
For hiring managers
- Eligible Youth Cadetship Scheme (YCS) participants should be considered for a role before any other applicants. Please note that these arrangements do not alter hiring managers’ existing obligations to prioritise redeployees for ongoing roles in accordance with the Schedule A of the VPS Enterprise Agreement and the VPS redeployment policy.
- If a YCS participant is deemed suitable for a VPS2 role, they should be offered that role before other candidates.
- If multiple eligible YCS participants are deemed suitable for a role, the preferred candidate among those eligible YCS applicants should be offered the role.
4. Youth Employment Scheme (YES) trainees
As non-VPS employees, it was decided that YES trainees would be granted access to the JSE throughout the duration of their program, in addition to the 12 months extended JSE access upon completion of the program.
5. Government diversity employment targets
Extended access to identified employees supports the following Victorian Government diversity employment targets:
- 2% Aboriginal representation in the VPS by 2022
- 6% representation of people with disability in the VPS by 2020, and 12% by 2025
6. Privacy
The JSE acknowledges the sensitive nature of personal data and takes all possible measures to ensure the privacy of JSE members and their personal information. Information provided by members to the JSE (e.g. through the offboarding form) will be managed confidentially and used only to fulfil the functions of the JSE. All personal and sensitive information will be handled in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic).
7. More information
Further information about extended access to the JSE can be found on the FAQ page of the JSE website. These are under ‘access to the JSE’ and can be found by searching for ‘extended JSE access’.
Any questions or comments can be directed to: jse@dpc.vic.gov.au