Public Appointments Service Retain O2 Ability Award

The Public Appointments Service won an O2 Ability Award for the second successive year in 2007, winning the overall award for Recruitment & Selection. The prize compliments our previous award for environmental accessibility.

With the Public Appointments Service receiving up to 50,000 applications per annum, the need to ensure we provide a diverse range of accessible options to candidates is to the fore of Office policy. It is our attitude and commitment to removing obstacles and ensuring our services are accessible to all our customers which has been recognised by the O2 Ability Awards scheme.

Diversity Conference in Clontarf Castle

The Public Appointments Service and the Employers' Diversity Network held an international Diversity Conference entitled 'The Talent Spectrum: Managing Across the Boundaries' in Clontarf Castle on the 11th September 2008.

• More Information on the Diversity Conference
• PDF | 306kb | Diversity_Conf_Clontarf.pdf

Public Appointments Service Retains the Excellence Through People Platinum Level Accreditation

Excellence Through People is Ireland's national standard for human resource management. It has been announced that the Public Appointments Service has retained the Platinum Level of the Excellence Through People Accreditation.

This is the second occasion the office has been presented with the highest level accreditation for demonstrating its commitment to ongoing training and education of its staff in line with its strategic business objectives.

The two key Excellence Through People objectives are:

• to act as a business improvement tool as well as being a driver for change and innovation
• to promote employee learning, development and involvement in line with the organisation's goals.

Our assessment for accreditation took place in late 2008 and involved external assessors examining our policies and practices, and holding meetings with a cross-section of staff. The eight assessment criteria we were assessed on were:

• Business Planning and Quality Improvement;
• Effective Communication and People Involvement;
• Leadership and People Management;
• Planning of Learning and Development;
• Training and Life-Long Learning;
• Review of Learning;
• Recruitment and Selection;
• Employee Well-Being.

Following our assessment the Auditors stated in their report to the ETP BOARD that:

"the management team in PAS acknowledges that its approach to recruitment and selection, and to partnership within the organisation, combined with the on-going training and development of its people have been major contributors to the organisation's success" .

PAS has held Platinum Accreditation since 2006 (when this new system was first introduced). This is the highest level available and PAS were the first public service body to achieve this.

For further information, please contact Ger Murphy on 01-8587576. If you require this page in an alternative format, please email gerard.murphy@publicjobs.ie