Co-production guide: recruitment and selection

Invite people with lived experience to express their interest in being involved as soon as the recruitment is agreed, to allow plenty of preparation time.

Provide people with a clear summary of what the job involves at this stage, along with the recruitment co-production guide.

Aim to involve 3-4 people with lived experience – with at least one person with experience of support from the team the vacant post is in.

People with lived experience should be involved in shortlisting as well as interviewing. Shortlisting should be undertaken by the same people who will be involved in the interviews.

Once you have agreed who will be involved, agree dates for shortlisting, preparation meetings and interviews together. Aim to be as flexible as possible.

Check any access requirements to make sure people can fully participate and make any reasonable adjustments necessary. Refer to the person’s Working with me profile, and if they don’t have a profile, support them to complete one.

Agree how people will be rewarded for their time and expenses, and make sure people know how much they will be paid if that’s how they choose to be rewarded. Follow the recognition and reward guidance.

Remove any names and contact details from application forms before sharing with people with lived experience. Assign each candidate a number or letter instead, e.g. Candidate A.

Make sure information is shared in an accessible format to meet people’s information and communication requirements.

Decide as a group whether to have a mixed panel involving Council workers and people with lived experience, or a separate Council panel and lived experience panel.

If there will be a separate lived experience panel, agree a named Council worker to support the panel. NB. The worker will have no role in the interviews and must not influence any decision-making. They must have completed the Council’s recruitment and selection training.

If there will be a separate Council panel and lived experience panel, both panels should plan to meet after the interviews have finished to share their scores and make the overall decision together – either on the day or the day after.

Ideally don’t aim to interview any more than 4 candidates in one day.

Interviews should last approximately 30-45 minutes.

Allow plenty of time between each interview for scoring and a comfort break.

Agree together what time to start and finish.

Organise a pre-meet to agree interview questions, and who will ask each question. One question per panel member is usually enough. Example questions are included below.

Agree who will chair the interview panel.

Agree how the panel will score the questions. NB. If there is a separate Council panel and lived experience panel, both panels’ scores should have equal weighting in terms of the final decision.

Send the interview questions in advance to all candidates, along with information about what to expect and who will be on the panel.

Organise refreshments, plus lunch for full day interviews. Check dietary requirements.

Organise transport to and from the venue if needed.

Arrange a date/time after the interviews for the panel to meet up to share feedback. Where possible/relevant, work with people with lived experience to plan the successful candidate’s induction.

9:45 - 10:00   Panel arrival, time to get a drink and get comfortable in the room

10:00 – 10:30 Recap on questions, plan for the day

10:30 – 11:30 Candidate 1 interview, scoring and comfort break

11:30 – 12:30 Candidate 2 interview, scoring and comfort break

12:30 – 1:30   Lunch

1:30 - 2:30     Candidate 3 interview, scoring and comfort break

2:30 – 3:30    Candidate 4 interview, scoring and comfort break

3:30 – 4:00    Overall decision making with all panels

Follow the Meetings and events co-production guide.

Have score sheets and any other information ready.

Arrange the room so the panel sit around a table with the candidate, not in a line facing them.

Have a clock on the table so everyone can keep track of time.

Have a jug of water and enough cups for the panel and all candidates.

When each candidate arrives, panel members should introduce themselves in a way they feel comfortable. People may not wish to give information about their personal experience. Agree how people will introduce themselves before the first candidate arrives. If there is a member of council staff supporting the panel, they should introduce themselves and make it clear they are there to support the interviews but will not influence scoring or decision-making.

If there is a separate Council panel and lived experience panel, both panels should meet to share their scores and make the overall decision together.

Make sure people are rewarded in line with the Co-production recognition and reward policy.

Let the people involved know whether the successful candidate has accepted the job.

Meet up with panel members so everyone can share feedback about the interviews.

Schedule in a check-in three months into the job, so the successful candidate can meet the panel and discuss how the job is going.

Can you tell us who you are and why you’re interested in this job?

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and how you feel your experience, skills and knowledge will help you in this role?

What inspires you about this job, and how would you get started?

If you are successful in gaining the role, you will be expected to work alongside people with lived experience as equals. What would show you have been successful in achieving this?

If you are successful in gaining the role, your values and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion will be beyond question. How will you demonstrate this? Can you give some examples?

If you are successful in gaining the role, you will be working alongside people and communities in Doncaster. Can you give an example of when you’ve been involved in co-production with people with lived experience and what you learnt from this?

If a new IT system was introduced and a disabled member of your team was being teased by another team member becausgling te they were struggling use the new system, what would you do?

Can you give us an example of a time you’ve faced a big challenge, and explain what you did to overcome it? when