1.1 Purpose of this Toolkit
This toolkit has been developed primarily to assist governance officers in departments who are responsible for supporting government to appoint Directors to public entity Boards.
The toolkit is designed to supplement the Government’s Appointment and Remuneration Guidelines for Victorian Government Boards, Statutory Bodies and Advisory Committees.
Each year in Victoria, significant numbers of appointments are made to public entity Boards. Recruiting and appointing Directors to these Boards can be a time consuming, involved and often complicated process.
This toolkit aims to clarify the processes that should be undertaken when recruiting and appointing Directors to public entity Boards. It provides a minimum set of guidelines based on good practice recruitment and selection process models.
1.2 Project Context
The toolkit provides practical guidance on how to go about the recruitment and appointment process. It draws on:
- VPSC’s ‘Public Entity Directors: supply, selection and appointments’
- Department of Premier and Cabinet’s ‘Appointment and Remuneration Guidelines for Victorian Government Boards, Statutory Bodies and Advisory Committees‘
- VPSC’s Best Practice and Recruitment and Selection Toolkit
- VPSC’s ‘Good practice guide on governance for Victorian public sector entities’
- a review of relevant literature.
The tips and techniques in this toolkit have been developed to assist in selecting the best person for a Board Directorship.
It is acknowledged that not all vacant positions can be filled in exactly the same way.
The recruitment and appointment processes used can depend on the legislative context, the politically sensitive nature of some appointments, the timing of the appointment and other Board specific issues.
Each appointment and recruitment process should be tailored specifically to the requirements of a particular Board and its Directors.
Having a structured, formalised and open approach to the selection of Board Directors is more likely to identify a broader range of candidates.
All appointments should be governed by the overriding principle of selection based on merit and professional dealing with all candidates, thus attracting the best possible candidates.