As we approach the new financial year in local government, Simon Law shares his five key recruitment trends to look out for across the sector in 2018/19

1. Corporate services focusing on business partnering

We've seen a real shift towards business partnering across corporate services departments in local government, especially in finance and HR.

Local authorities are restructuring their finance functions to work under a business partnering model, and are hiring finance professionals who can successfully integrate, support and collaborate with the rest of the organisation. Finance business partners who can understand the business, build relationships with various stakeholders, influence, problem solve and communicate effectively are in high demand as they have the key skills and behaviours necessary to be effective business partners. For example, having the ability to explain financial data in a meaningful and relatable way will help local authorities make strategic decisions.

HR teams are also increasingly looking for good senior HR business partners with proven experience of change/restructuring workforces and project management. Skilled project management within HR is quite a new trend especially across local government organisations. Local authorities are expecting HR to run and deliver their projects in a more business-like process and are seeking candidates who have successfully planned, communicated and delivered a range of small to large-scale projects.

2. Commercial skills remain a high priority

With continued financial pressures on local government to generate and grow income streams principally to address funding changes by central government in 2020/21, there is an increasing need to attract and recruit talented, commercially-minded professionals who can navigate the new economic environment whilst improving the efficiency of service delivery. Most notably procurement and estates teams have a substantial need for candidates with a commercial mindset.

Council procurement and estates functions are expected to maximise operational efficiency across all assets and contracts and create new opportunities to save on running costs or generate income.

In procurement, there is a drive for more commercial contract management skills to deliver better value for money to help alleviate funding pressures. Local authorities are seeking procurement and category managers who understand how procurement affects the rest of the organisation, establish commercial best practice and can increase value for money through existing and new contracts.

In estates, hiring experienced estates professionals who can increase income streams and negotiate better deals to add better value for money are in high-demand. Being able to wisely invest in new assets and make best use of all existing assets across commercial and residential portfolios are key to successfully developing funding streams for service delivery.

3. More robust recruitment processes to hire senior interim positions

We're seeing a rise of more rigorous recruitment processes to hire business critical interim management positions. Across public health we're seeing local councils following a detailed process to hire senior interims in the same way as permanent roles. For example, we're currently recruiting an interim deputy director of public health position which requires three interview stages at this level of seniority:

• Stage one: telephone interview

• Stage two: face-to-face presentation for 20-30 minutes

• Final and third stage: an assessment centre comprising of role plays, case studies and presentation lasting around four hours with breaks, followed by a formal 45-minute competency-based interview.

So far, the process has taken around three to four weeks to fill an interim role.

While adopting a robust recruitment process to hire the right person to a key public health position is paramount, the potential downside of longer timescales to recruit an interim position may result in the candidate(s) finding other opportunities in the meantime.

4. Recognising the cost of bad hires

Across our clients we're seeing a shift to local authorities preferring to pay a slightly higher rate to source a highly-qualified interim candidate who can potentially complete the interim assignment in less time.

Since joining the Local Government Resourcing (LGRP) framework and specifically at the senior end of the interim finance market, clients are welcoming the option to contact us directly with roles as opposed to going through a Managed Service Provider (MSP). The main reason clients are briefing us directly is that they can explain to the consultant in far greater detail the specific technical requirements of their interim hire. The client benefits from receiving fewer, more qualified candidate CVs for their role; ultimately saving them a considerable amount of time through a far more efficient process.

5. Increase in alternative business models

As local authorities move to alternative business models, such as public-private partnerships or joint ventures with two or more councils, we are seeing a strong demand for finance and accountancy professionals with options modelling experience. For example, we we're working with a council who hired a candidate to build options modelling for a leisure centre contract to deliver better value for money and improve service delivery.

After the collapse of Carillion, understandably councils are also bringing services back in house. In HR, we are seeing a trend of services such as housing going back into the council and a need for HR professionals to lead the transfer from a HR perspective.

Simon Law is the co-founder of Morgan Law, a specialist recruitment consultancy for the public and not-for-profit sectors