Councils in the South East are advertising their new recruitment venture
without mentioning the words ‘local government’, in a bid to avoid people’s
negative perceptions of the sector.
Essex County Council and Epping Forest and Uttlesford district councils have
launched a campaign in railway stations, in the hope of attracting business
people travelling to and from London to a single recruitment portal.
The campaign, targeting travellers with the slogan ‘For the best jobs, look
closer’, will run until the end of December and hopes to capitalise on bad
weather and dark nights to encourage employees to work closer to home.
The poster avoids putting off potential applicants by having no mention of
local government; instead it directs commuters to a website for ‘careers in
Essex’.
After the first three weeks of the campaign, more than 1,000 people had
visited the site.
Yvonne Skingle, strategic HR manager at Essex CC, said the single portal
allowed the councils to work in a cost-effective way and to look at recruitment
needs together in a modern way.
"Local government has to move away from traditional methods of
recruitment advertising," she said. "We need to overcome its traditional,
stodgy image. With this poster, you could be going into anything."
By Michael Millar
EO looks to the future
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The Employers’ Organisation for local government (EO) is
targeting 12 to 16-year-olds as potential employees.
Futureville, an interactive virtual community on CD-Rom, will
be launched in November, and allows young people to discover the careers in
local government that will suit their skills and ambitions.
