Organization
Visayas State University
Best Practice Focus Area/s
Human Resource
Year Implemented
2018-present
This is a GBPR entry
Summary
The Visayas State University is following a problematic traditional system of recruitment, selection, and placement. Two of its HR personnel attended a Competency-based HR training on 7-8 December, conducted by the Civil Service Institute of the Civil Service Commission in Quezon City. The university produced a Competency-based Human Resource Management System (CBHRMS) manual approved by the National Library. The university has also conducted an in-house Competency Based HR Workshop. From then on, vacancy announcements for faculty and administrative staff became competency-based. Based on the training, personnel committees and boards conduct interviews already using the STAR method.
Background and Problem
The main objective of the university’s Competency-Based Recruitment, Selection and Placement System is to hire the right person with the right qualifications for the position. The system hopes to hire a potential performer over an average performer. The university has been known for imposing higher qualifications, especially in hiring faculty members, because they are the ones who deliver the primary product of the university. However, by doing the usual way of assessing applicants for a position, a candidate’s capability and potential cannot be determined by focusing only on the skills and minimum qualifications. Another vital component necessary in hiring is attitude, which has been left out most of the time. Typically, the genuine attitude of an employee can be displayed only after they are already hired, and it is a burden for the organization to change it.
Therefore, assessing competencies is very important before deciding whom to hire. The combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes should be measured to differentiate an average from superior performers. Introducing competency-based HR into the university was an enormous challenge. Most of them, particularly the HR personnel, do not know about it and do not have the expertise to initiate the change. By implementing a competency-based HR, the university qualifies for the deregulated status in Human Resource Management under the CSC PRIME-HRM Program. They need to submit to the university for assessment between 2020 and 2021. Another problem is that there are no manuals available to be used as a guide, and even the people who are supposed to implement it have no knowledge of how to operationalize it.
Solution and Impact
As a solution, the university sent two (2) VSU HR personnel to attend a Competency-based HR training last 7-8 December 2017, conducted by the Civil Service Institute of the Civil Service Commission in Quezon City. From the learnings acquired, the HR Director prepared a draft Competency-based Human Resource Management System (CBHRMS) manual using the “borrow and build” concept from other sources, specifically from the CSC Generics Competency Dictionary, where the competencies and behavioral indicators of some of the commonly used competencies are defined. The next step was to conduct an in-house Competency Based HR Workshop, wherein an HR expert from Metro Manila was invited. This was attended by supervisors, members and chairpersons of Personnel committees and Personnel Board, and Vice Presidents. The workshop included an orientation on competency-based HR. The participants also commented on the draft CBHRM manual, identifying specific competencies related to academic functions and its behavioral indicators per level. There was also role-playing among the participants on conducting interviews using the STAR method and other methods to assess applicants’ competencies. They revised the draft CBHRMS Manual for faculty and staff and subjected it to review/deliberation. Then an ad hoc committee was created to edit the manual. The Board of Regents approved the final manual. The vacancy announcements for faculty and administrative staff became competency-based. The assessment of applicants using the STAR method.
The HR Director prepared/submitted to the National Library two Operations Manual (ISBN: 978-971-592-087-2 for administrative staff and ISBN: 978-971-592-087-2 for the faculty). The CBHRMS Manual was likewise issued with ISBN: 978-971-592-086-5. The two Operations Manual are due for printing but still awaiting completion of the review by the English critic. Soft copies of the Operations Manual and the CBHRMS manual were already disseminated to the Personnel Boards and the external campuses for their use in hiring faculty and staff. The final printing of the three manuals will follow the final English editing by the English critics. As a result, since implementing competency-based recruitment in hiring faculty and staff, the complaints regarding the attitudes of new hires significantly decreased.
Milestones/Next Steps
The university even received recognitions from the Civil Service Commission: 2018 Best Competency Based Merit Selection Plan given by CSC Region 8 at Summit Hotel in October 2018 and a Bronze Award by the CSC in September 2019 at PICC, Metro Manila. The assessment and rating by personnel committees/boards shall only be done through the Human Resources Information System (HRIS). With the operationalization of the VSU HRIS, the competencies and behavior indicators are already incorporated into the system. Recently, the vacancy announcements specified in the application should be lodged online through jobs.vsu.edu.ph.
The Competency-based Recruitment, Selection, and Placement of additional faculty and staff took off right after the 4-6 July 2018 competency-based training among supervisors since they are the ones who initially assess applicants for faculty positions. The full-swing implementation was in October 2018, after the Board of Regents approved the system. The CBHRMS has been installed in the HRMIS, where applicants must lodge their applications online at jobs.vsu.edu.ph. The assessment of their competencies was immediately encoded by the panel of interviewers/assessors effective July 2020.