personalities of acknowledged standing and respectability
SUPREME COUNCIL FOR CIVIL PERSONNEL SELECTION (ASEP)
Σελίδα 1 από 1
THE INSTITUTION OF ASEP AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Neutrality on the part of the Administration and competition on equal terms for all candidates are essential safeguards for the right to work in the public sector in conditions of full transparency, publicity, objectivity and meritocracy. The institutional guardian of these principles is the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), which was established by Law 2190/1994 as an independent authority responsible for securing the implementation of the provisions on public sector staff selection and recruitment.
Specific independence safeguards have been included in the establishing law to facilitate ASEP in carrying out its mandate. Its members are characterised as senior state officials who enjoy personal and functional independence. ASEP is not subject to supervision and control by government bodies or other administrative authorities, but to parliamentary control according to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure; moreover, its acts are not subject to hierarchical control in terms of legitimacy, but only to judicial review. It has nation-wide powers to regulate and control the legitimacy of acts that fall within its scope of authority, as well as limited powers to impose sanctions. It also has administrative and economic independence, managing its own budget.
These independence safeguards were further enhanced by the 2001 Constitutional amendment, which established two entities: a public sector staff selection and recruitment system and an institution that guarantees the transparency, meritocracy and objectivity of this system.
During its operation for over twenty years, ASEP has managed to reverse established attitudes and practices, proving the independent authority’s ability to carry out successfully its institutional mandate and ensure impartiality, transparency and fairness in the crucial and sensitive area of employment in public administration; thus, ASEP has been evolved as an effective mechanism of controlling public sector staff recruitment, aiming at safeguarding the principle of meritocracy and consolidating the rule of law.
ASEP is composed of 24 members (a President, two Vice-Presidents and 21 Councillors), who are elected by the Conference of the Speakers of Parliament. ASEP’s Plenum, Lesser Plenum and five Chambers act as bodies with concrete, hierarchically structured decision-making powers. ASEP's members are personalities of acknowledged standing and respectability, who have a long term professional competence and experience. In their majority, they are former senior judges and senior state officials or employees, university professors or senior managers from public organizations and enterprises or other legal entities of the public sector.
The main powers of ASEP are: selecting the permanent staff of the public sector (central administration and wider public sector); controling the legitimacy of staff recruitment procedures under fixed-term employment contracts or project agreements which are followed by agencies of the public sector; supervising the public sector personnel assessment process within the framework of the administrative reform and the rational use and redistribution of the personnel; identifying cases of illegal recruitment, through ASEP’s Councillors-Inspectors who act as investigating officers.
ASEP’s selection process, in order to be timely, accessible to all candidates, cost-effective and to safeguard the principles of meritocracy, fairness, objectivity and transparency, is highly structured and formalized. More specifically:
All the announcements for open positions or proclamations, as well as all the results of the selection process are published in the Official Government Gazette and the Council’s website.
All the candidates that fulfil the necessary minimum requirements set by law are eligible for the open positions.
No matter how large the number of candidates, each and every one is evaluated fairly, based on specific, objective and transparent, graded criteria which differ according to the category of the offered position and relate to the candidates’ qualifications, experience and/or performance in tests/exams.
Every participant in the selection process has the right to an appeal or objection in case he/she does not succeed and to request further information regarding the criteria applied and the evaluation conducted.
For permanent staff positions, ASEP organizes and implements four main recruitment procedures:
Written examinations/concours. They consist, as a general rule, of several subjects according to specialization and there are 80-100 multiple choice questions or a number of written essays required for the different related fields. Each session lasts about three hours, whereas the whole process may take two or more days (always on weekends), depending on the number of participants. This procedure is applied mainly for the recruitment of primary and high school teachers and employees of the ministry of finance. Moreover, ASEP organizes special concours and exams for disabled candidates as well, with processes that respect their special needs, such as separate examination centres with easy access, oral exams if the candidates are unable to write, etc.
Evaluation of applications (CV), accompanied by official documents/transcripts, based on certain objective, graded selection criteria, defined by the recruitment law currently in force, such as: grade point average, number of postgraduate degrees, months of work experience, knowledge of foreign languages, as well as social criteria, namely: being member of a large family, place of residence, number of underage children, long term unemployment. Different selection criteria apply for each category position (University graduates’ posts Secondary education posts etc) and a certain number of points are assigned to each selection criterion.
Interviews (mainly for specific positions related to health care and public safety, mandatory for scientific/research positions). They are structured, consisting of questions that cover the fields of academic accomplishments, professional experience and personality characteristics.
Practical ability tests/practical tasks (for specific technical or administrative positions). They consist of several different tasks, used to evaluate specific skills and attributes necessary for the effective execution of the duties or assignments of the offered post. Depending upon the type or nature of the tasks, the practical ability test may require the use of a computer and its duration varies from half an hour to an hour and a half. Such practical tests have been applied to the recruitment of air traffic controllers, museum guards, typists and postal services employees.
All the functions of ASEP, notably those relating to recruitment procedures, are supported by a modern IT system able to manage successfully and rapidly the large number of agencies, vacancies, announcements and candidates who participate in the ASEP’s selection procedures.
The special nature of ASEP’s mandate and the need for strict compliance with the principle of transparency inevitably create increased information requirements. The public is informed through a Citizen Service Centre, specifically established for this purpose, as well as (most commonly) through ASEP’s website, which is ranked among the most visited websites of the Greek public sector.
Above all, ASEP’s contribution is recognised both by the agencies concerned, which consider that the staff they hire through ASEP is indeed highly-qualified and competent, and by the staff hired under the auspices of ASEP, who know that they have been hired only according to meritocratic criteria. This fact certainly gives enormous satisfaction to those who work for ASEP.
Σελίδα 1 από 1
THE INSTITUTION OF ASEP AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Neutrality on the part of the Administration and competition on equal terms for all candidates are essential safeguards for the right to work in the public sector in conditions of full transparency, publicity, objectivity and meritocracy. The institutional guardian of these principles is the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), which was established by Law 2190/1994 as an independent authority responsible for securing the implementation of the provisions on public sector staff selection and recruitment.
Specific independence safeguards have been included in the establishing law to facilitate ASEP in carrying out its mandate. Its members are characterised as senior state officials who enjoy personal and functional independence. ASEP is not subject to supervision and control by government bodies or other administrative authorities, but to parliamentary control according to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure; moreover, its acts are not subject to hierarchical control in terms of legitimacy, but only to judicial review. It has nation-wide powers to regulate and control the legitimacy of acts that fall within its scope of authority, as well as limited powers to impose sanctions. It also has administrative and economic independence, managing its own budget.
These independence safeguards were further enhanced by the 2001 Constitutional amendment, which established two entities: a public sector staff selection and recruitment system and an institution that guarantees the transparency, meritocracy and objectivity of this system.
During its operation for over twenty years, ASEP has managed to reverse established attitudes and practices, proving the independent authority’s ability to carry out successfully its institutional mandate and ensure impartiality, transparency and fairness in the crucial and sensitive area of employment in public administration; thus, ASEP has been evolved as an effective mechanism of controlling public sector staff recruitment, aiming at safeguarding the principle of meritocracy and consolidating the rule of law.
ASEP is composed of 24 members (a President, two Vice-Presidents and 21 Councillors), who are elected by the Conference of the Speakers of Parliament. ASEP’s Plenum, Lesser Plenum and five Chambers act as bodies with concrete, hierarchically structured decision-making powers. ASEP's members are personalities of acknowledged standing and respectability, who have a long term professional competence and experience. In their majority, they are former senior judges and senior state officials or employees, university professors or senior managers from public organizations and enterprises or other legal entities of the public sector.
The Secretariat of ASEP, staffed with 213 highly qualified employees, actively assists ASEP’s members and works hard to carry out its duties effectively. Furthermore, the Council is actively supported by 11 specialized scientists.
The main powers of ASEP are: selecting the permanent staff of the public sector (central administration and wider public sector); controling the legitimacy of staff recruitment procedures under fixed-term employment contracts or project agreements which are followed by agencies of the public sector; supervising the public sector personnel assessment process within the framework of the administrative reform and the rational use and redistribution of the personnel; identifying cases of illegal recruitment, through ASEP’s Councillors-Inspectors who act as investigating officers.
ASEP’s selection process, in order to be timely, accessible to all candidates, cost-effective and to safeguard the principles of meritocracy, fairness, objectivity and transparency, is highly structured and formalized. More specifically:
All the announcements for open positions or proclamations, as well as all the results of the selection process are published in the Official Government Gazette and the Council’s website.
All the candidates that fulfil the necessary minimum requirements set by law are eligible for the open positions.
No matter how large the number of candidates, each and every one is evaluated fairly, based on specific, objective and transparent, graded criteria which differ according to the category of the offered position and relate to the candidates’ qualifications, experience and/or performance in tests/exams.
Every participant in the selection process has the right to an appeal or objection in case he/she does not succeed and to request further information regarding the criteria applied and the evaluation conducted.
For permanent staff positions, ASEP organizes and implements four main recruitment procedures:
Written examinations/concours. They consist, as a general rule, of several subjects according to specialization and there are 80-100 multiple choice questions or a number of written essays required for the different related fields. Each session lasts about three hours, whereas the whole process may take two or more days (always on weekends), depending on the number of participants. This procedure is applied mainly for the recruitment of primary and high school teachers and employees of the ministry of finance. Moreover, ASEP organizes special concours and exams for disabled candidates as well, with processes that respect their special needs, such as separate examination centres with easy access, oral exams if the candidates are unable to write, etc.
Evaluation of applications (CV), accompanied by official documents/transcripts, based on certain objective, graded selection criteria, defined by the recruitment law currently in force, such as: grade point average, number of postgraduate degrees, months of work experience, knowledge of foreign languages, as well as social criteria, namely: being member of a large family, place of residence, number of underage children, long term unemployment. Different selection criteria apply for each category position (University graduates’ posts Secondary education posts etc) and a certain number of points are assigned to each selection criterion.
Interviews (mainly for specific positions related to health care and public safety, mandatory for scientific/research positions). They are structured, consisting of questions that cover the fields of academic accomplishments, professional experience and personality characteristics.
Practical ability tests/practical tasks (for specific technical or administrative positions). They consist of several different tasks, used to evaluate specific skills and attributes necessary for the effective execution of the duties or assignments of the offered post. Depending upon the type or nature of the tasks, the practical ability test may require the use of a computer and its duration varies from half an hour to an hour and a half. Such practical tests have been applied to the recruitment of air traffic controllers, museum guards, typists and postal services employees.
All the functions of ASEP, notably those relating to recruitment procedures, are supported by a modern IT system able to manage successfully and rapidly the large number of agencies, vacancies, announcements and candidates who participate in the ASEP’s selection procedures.
The special nature of ASEP’s mandate and the need for strict compliance with the principle of transparency inevitably create increased information requirements. The public is informed through a Citizen Service Centre, specifically established for this purpose, as well as (most commonly) through ASEP’s website, which is ranked among the most visited websites of the Greek public sector.
Above all, ASEP’s contribution is recognised both by the agencies concerned, which consider that the staff they hire through ASEP is indeed highly-qualified and competent, and by the staff hired under the auspices of ASEP, who know that they have been hired only according to meritocratic criteria. This fact certainly gives enormous satisfaction to those who work for ASEP.
Σχόλια
Δημοσίευση σχολίου