Evaluation of APS recruitment advertising - Find out what sources of advertising work

The Australian Public Service Commission, in consultation with the Department of Finance and Deregulation, has completed an Evaluation of Recruitment Advertising.  The evaluation was conducted to closely monitor the impact, if any, the Guidelines on Non-Campaign Recruitment Advertising (Guidelines) have on the efficiency and effectiveness of Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA) agencies’ recruitment advertising.  The Guidelines are available at: www.finance.gov.au/publications/fmg-series/22-guidelines-on-recruitment-advertising/.

The evaluation sought to gain an understanding of how and where potential employees become aware of vacant APS positions, and to consider how effective the various advertising sources are at providing the best candidates. To evaluate the effectiveness of an advertising source in terms of quality dimensions the evaluation collected information on the number of applications from the advertising source, the number of interviews derived from those applications, and the resulting job offers that occurred from those applicants. The data was collected from FMA Act agencies over three survey periods.

Survey 1 of the evaluation selected a random sample of recruitment advertisements published in June and July 2009 by FMA Act agencies that collect source-of-hire information. 

Survey 2 collected data on APS recruitment advertisements published by all FMA Act agencies from 13 to 27 March 2010. 

Survey 3 collected data on APS recruitment advertisements published by all FMA Act agencies from 16 to 25 September 2010. 

Interim reports providing outcomes of Survey 1 and Survey 2 and a final report which incorporates outcomes of Survey 3 are now available.

Responses to the surveys indicate that the Guidelines do not appear to have an impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of FMA Act agencies’ recruitment advertising.  Analysis of the data indicates no apparent problems with the introduction of the Guidelines.

Survey responses generally indicate that across the three advertising sources studied, APSjobs, print and internet, there are more job offers made to those applicants who indicated that they saw the position advertised on APSjobs than for those applicants who indicated that they saw the position advertised on the internet or in the print media.

The Commission would like to acknowledge and thank those agencies that participated in the surveys.  Their cooperation and valued input will assist all agencies to evaluate their recruitment advertising decisions ensuring efficient and effective recruitment advertising and optimising the return on investment from recruitment advertising expenditure.  While what is right for an agency will be based on a number of internal factors, there are many consistent factors across the APS that can be considered when evaluating recruitment advertising.  The Commission encourages better data collection, monitoring of source-of-hire and sharing of best practice.

If you would like further information on the evaluation please email Evaluation.RecAd@apsc.gov.au or contact Gail Baker on (07) 3004 0727.