Local Government











Background







Whitewater Consulting Ltd has extensive experience of providing Assessment and Development centre solutions in Local Government.   Our team brings a powerful blend of experience and skills to this context as it combines business psychology with very practical experience of local government management and challenges.







We have an established reputation in providing assessment centres in l recruitment exercises for a range of roles in the Northern Ireland Local Government Context. We have designed Assessment Centres for Middle Management and Senior Management across different departments. These roles have included Chief Executive, Directors, Head of HR, Financial Controller, District Policing Partnership Manager, Principal Administration Officer, Leisure Centre Manager, Senior Committee Administrator, Head of Best Value & Committee Administrator.

We have also provided development centres across Northern Ireland councils







Input







Our approach is to design an assessment process that is bespoke to Local Government requirements ,  budget and quality requirements.  All of our centres draw on the best practice guidleines provided by the lead Body in this area, the British Psychological Society (BPS). This has involved a number of key stages

Output and Results







We always develop and agree with the stakeholders a cost effective solution for assessing the role they wish to recruit. This may range from one half to two days.  







We have asked our clients why they continue to use us and they have made comments as follows:

Not off the shelf or pre planned assessments ; "It was important it was not pre planned, you took account of our culture and what was required from the post, it was not a one size fits all mentality but bespoke to our requirements"







Partnership Approach: "There was a real partnership approach, a balance of openness and non Judgemental Attitude, the Whitewater consultants were challenging but not unfriendly they were nice people who gave sound guidance"







High degree of professionalism: "Having trained psychologists gave us real confidence to stand over the scores and assessments, there was good quality evidence in reports that gave a level of robustness and fairness to the assessments" "Your professional approach and expertise were invaluable"







Appropriate Use of Psychometrics: "They were not used as a deciding factor but helped to give a more rounded picture of the individuals.







Interview Questions: "The areas of exploration in the summary report were useful, we used set questions but the information in the report allowed us to probe below the surface"







Objectivity: "It introduced a large element of objectivity which helped to reduce the perception of inequality and gave great confidence in the final decision" "I am confident that your efforts have resulted in a good appointment".

Why Use us ?

§  We offer a professional assessment process that is bespoke to your requirements and budget. We know one size does not fit all. We are happy to provide a full assessment centre or simply one or two exercises to supplement your selection procedure.

§  Our Assessment Centres will test candidates through a variety of work related exercises that are designed to reflect a Council context.

§  Our assessors are highly experienced Occupational Psychologists, HR professionals and Local Government Managers who are fully trained to ensure that they assess candidates objectively and fairly.

§  Our comprehensive feedback reports are strongly evidence based and clearly outline each candidate's key strengths and areas of development as well as indicating areas for exploration at interview. This means we achieve the goal of helping you select the best candidate for the role. Plus, you have confidence that the process is fair and non discriminatory.

We provide feedback to all candidates on their performance as we understand that Assessment Centres can be a daunting process for candidates and therefore aim to ensure that all candidates gain as much learning from the process as is possible.

If you would like to find out more about our Assessment work Team Building and Team Development please contact one of our consultants on 028 92683207