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Human Resources Manual - 118 - Direct Appointments

Contents

Introduction

  1. The Government recognizes the need to direct appointment individuals to the Public Service.  Direct appointments allow for unique staffing circumstances to be addressed.
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Definitions

  1. Human Resources Officer means those employees of the Department of Human Resources designated to co-ordinate the recruitment process.
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Guidelines

  1. Cabinet approval is required prior to any direct appointments to the Pubic Service.
  2. Cabinet approval for a direct appointment may be sought in the following circumstances:

    1. to support the career development of long-term employees (i.e., one with five or more years of service) who have demonstrated both ability and commitment to the organization;

    2. to support the advancement of an existing employee who has successfully completed formal training/preparatory assignment directly related to the proposed appointment;

    3. when a direct appointment would ensure that specialized and unique experience is retained within the public service;

    4. to resolve an undesirable work situation (e.g., marriage between two employees in a supervisor/subordinate relationship);
    5. to obtain necessary managerial, technical or operational expertise that is not currently available within the Government of the Northwest Territories;

    6. to support the career development of an affirmative action candidate from outside the public service when an open competition would not be an appropriate way of filling the position;

    7. to fill a position when recent recruitment practices for similar positions indicate that an open competition would be unproductive;

    8. to fill a position when there is reasonable and sufficient evidence to suggest that other candidates could not successfully compete with the proposed candidate; or

    9. to support the training and development of an individual where a position has been difficult to fill and the only potential candidate requires some time in a trainee capacity to reach the appropriate skill level.
  3. Direct appointments may also be requested for extraordinary circumstances such as:
    1. appointment of individuals hired on a term basis for Ministerial staff positions;
    2. appointment of individuals when an outside agency or group becomes part of the Public Service and the status of existing staff needs to be confirmed; and
    3. appointment of individuals to positions that provide direct administrative support to Deputy Heads.
  4. When developing a decision paper to seeking Cabinet approval for a direct appointment use the direct appointment format.
  5. The Department of Human Resources is required to review the draft decision paper prior to it being submitted for Cabinet consideration.
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Procedures

  1. Departments wanting to pursue a direct appointment contact their Human Resources Officer to discuss the direct appointment.
  2. The Human Resources Officer contacts the Deputy Head to confirm their support for proceeding with the direct appointment.
  3. The Human Resources Officer works with the Department to ensure that preliminary work, such as reorganization or establishment and classification of positions, is finalized prior to any request for direct appointment.
  4. The Human Resources Officer prepares a draft decision paper for review by the appropriate department/board staff.
  5. If the decision is made to proceed, the Deputy Minister of the requesting Department signs off the direct appointment paper and submits the paper to Cabinet.
  6. Cabinet reviews the request for a direct appointment and makes a decision.
  7. If the direct appointment is approved the Human Resources Officer prepares a job offer for the Deputy Minister’s signature.
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Last Updated: October 2006