Shelby Township Human Resource Director Lisa Suida and the General Employees Civil Service Commission instituted reforms and modernizations to the Township’s hiring process to make it more efficient and ensure the process ends in hiring the best candidates.
Along with new features, such as the inclusion of new technologies in the application and testing processes, the reforms reduced the number of days it takes to fill a vacancy from 224 days to less than 100.
“This new process retains all of the strengths of the old process, but it has brought Township hiring into the 21st century,” Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis said.
Find out what's happening in Shelby-Uticawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Before, the Township had to hope and wish the best candidates did not find other employment before the hiring process ran its course, but now we can be proactive and pursue the best of the best to meet the needs of our community.”
Stathakis said, because the Township’s top product and service is customer service, these reforms to ensure the best applicants fill Township positions make passing them a significant milestone for government.
Find out what's happening in Shelby-Uticawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Ms. Lisa Suida and her staff in the Human Resource Department worked hand-in-hand with our Civil Service Commission in what is one of the most significant examples of reform in our Township in the last five years,” Stathakis said.
Suida said she was impressed with the way her staff, volunteers from within the Township’s employee base and members of the General Employees Civil Service Commission worked together.
“Everyone brought their ideas to the table, and because of that, this process was a success,” Suida said. “And because of the wealth of opinions we had in crafting it, I feel it is something that will stand the test of time.”
Suida said she felt the ability to remove hurdles, such as redundancies in the application process, and the addition of examination requirements to job descriptions reduced the number of meetings and the amount of time between the application process and a hiring date.
“By removing application appeals and allowing the hiring managers to accept qualified applicants, the Civil Service Commission was able to remove up to four months from the hiring process,” Suida said.
The streamlined rules and regulations, which addressed the Township’s No. 3 priority for 2013, were approved by the General Employees Civil Service Commission at its May 28 meeting and have already been put into action as the Township works to fill an inspector vacancy in the Building Department.
“As our Township continues to grow and rebound economically, qualified building inspectors are some of our most valuable assets, so I am very grateful to the Commission, Ms. Suida and her staff that we have these reforms in place to fill that position as soon as possible,” Stathakis said.
