Recruitment, Change Management and Graduate Schemes: Industry Q&A with Judith Pettit, Director for People Services and Internal Communications at VicRoads

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HR IQ

 Can you tell us bit about your role at VicRoads and the HR journey of the organisation since you’ve joined?

 Judith Pettitt

I think I’ve got a fabulous role at VicRoads, but then again, I’ve been able to create it a little bit the way I want it to, since I’ve been here for 10 years. That’s a long time long time in the HR world.  My role covers all the traditional HR areas, such as workforce planning, employer relations and health and safety, but also training development and work development. But along the way, I’ve also managed to pick up internal communications, which I think is absolutely crucial to building a culture in an organisation in working where you work with managers, staff and change management. 

My journey has been really to reposition in HR in VicRoads.  When I started here, it was quite traditional, largely policy-driven service - quite adversarial in many aspects - and it really wasn’t listening to all the business areas in VicRoads. Back then, we weren’t asking how we could help the organization to deliver value. So now, we work in a much more consultant style.  Of course, we still have policies and procedures, and hopefully, there are a lot simpler than they used to be, but we really do try to listen to the organisation and try to be that little bit ahead of its needs. This means that we’re ready for their next challenge, right alongside them which means we are much more inked to the business now. 

HR IQ

Part of the change management you mentioned would obviously include recruiting, and creating a successful recruitment process is vital to any organisation, so how often would these really need to be modified and changed, and what do you feel are the key things to look out for?

Judith Pettitt

I think you’re right that recruitment is vital - particularly as we were in older organization. When I started at VicRoads, many people were reaching retirement age, so we’ve had quite a bit of recruitment to do in the organisation.  My view is that you really need to regularly review recruitment and to see what you’re doing. Also, you need to be fairly harsh on yourself.  My view is if what you’re doing is not working, then stop doing it and look what other successful organisations are doing. Try to do something a bit different.  I think people can be the change averse in recruitment. They say, we’ve always done it this way, but in fact, it’s one of the easiest processes to change because you’re not working with existing stuff by and large – you’re working with the people who are outside. I think if you are working reasonably well with recruitment, my view would be looking to set the bar higher. 

I think things like how long it takes to make a job offer comes into play. Some organisations taking a long time and they sometimes lose candidates; they also lose candidate’s enthusiasm and excitement whereas I think you can do this as soon as possible. I mean, I once got a job offer 5 minutes after I left the interview. I was impressed with that organisation that they can make a decision so quickly.  So I think that you’ve got to continually challenge yourself, look at what others are doing, think about how you’re seen by the people that you want to recruit, and what sort of people do you want, what will attract them about the organization etc. you have to ask whether your employee value proposition is something that will bring in the kind of people you want. You can’t afford to sit back, relax and say “Well, we’ve done that so that’s it for time into the future”.  You really have to stay right on top of what you’re doing especially because you’re in a competitive market - and competitors don’t sit back and relax.

 HR IQ

Just following on that note, do you want to talk about the recruitment process at VicRoads?  And what aspects are done in-house and by agencies then?

Judith Pettitt

A good question.  Over the past 10 years, we’ve used agencies in the past, but now we’ve made very little use of agencies. Maybe occasionally at the executive director level in the executive group though. But there are a few things that have influenced this, one is that we’ve had really good succession management and leadership programs, so there’s a very, very strong internal field.  We will put them against an external field for merit purposes, but also so that they know that they’re the best person for the job and we feel comfortable with that as well. 

We largely do as much as we can in-house because I think that the people who will be working with potential recruits know what they’re looking for best, but this needs to take into account that your internal staff is effectively trained in the interview processes and know where they can get help if they need to.  We often suggest that they don’t have a pedal that’s entirely composed of people that look and found and highlight themselves.  You want to think of difference.  You want to be able to bring that up that makes a strong organisation, so our recruitment process is aligned initially.  I guess my challenge is to make better use of the screening mechanisms that we have online. 

There’s no doubt that we’ve got a ready field of applicants; but the question is if they’re the right ones.  So I think our conversion rate needs to be a lot better in terms of people who say they’re really interested, but we must ask whether they have the right qualifications and experience.  We then move into short-listing based on their online application.  After short-listing, we may move to interview.  We may ask them to do some tasks related to the role.  Sometimes we may follow up with the use of psychological testing (we can afford to do these things because we’re not spending a lot of money on agencies). All this can help a selection panel reach the right decision, but as I said earlier, I do want the job offer made as quickly as possible, as soon as references can be checked. We then welcome them onboard in a very coordinated way with induction to both local and corporate levels, and then we follow up with them on how their first 6 months is going, both from their manager and their own perspective.

 HR IQ

You mentioned planning ahead for retention recruitment here, and graduate schemes play quite an important part in this. It’s essential we plan for the future and nurture talent within the company. But some organisations find that they aren’t always getting the best ROI on their graduate scheme, so how has the VicRoads tried to retain talent and ensure an optimal ROI on their graduate scheme?

Judith Pettitt

We’ve been very fortunate with our graduate scheme.  Our retention rate after 5 years is 80%, so our return on investment is very pleasing.  I think some of that is the strength and design of our graduate program. At the conference I’ll talk about this, but it’s really about making sure that the graduate has a good initial experience, one that’s varied and that they can see opportunities 2 - 4 years ahead of them. It’s also important to get them interesting work, perhaps getting promotions and that the graduate program has a profile within the organisation.  We achieved this through senior executives working as mentors for the program, but the profile aspect is really important.  VicRoads has actually been voted the best civil engineering recruiter two years running in a national survey, which is just an extraordinary achievement, but I think the design of our program, the selection of people into it, and of course , the fact that they’ve given good work play an important role in this.  I think if you do those things, you’ll get the ROI.  We do get some dissolution graduates from other companies who say they didn’t deliver on their promises - and nothing matters more to Gen Y than delivering all new promises, so that would be my advice there. 

HR IQ

On this note, how is VicRoads driving loyalty within the company and what have been the most effective strategies here?

Judith Pettitt

Loyalty is very important and I think it’s something that organisations need to talk about.  At VicRoads, we do it through a concept of ways of being - which is really about our values in the organisation.  I guess the other comment I have to make there is that loyalty can often be best supported at the local level.  Being a great company and being proud to work for a company is really important. But what people experience day-to-day when they go to work is what will build their loyalty, so do they have people they get on well with at work, etc. I don’t have to be their best friend, I don’t have to go out with them every Friday night, but they do have to feel that they’ve got good friends where they work.  I think having a really good manager that you feel understands you, is interested in you, is supportive of you, and wants to see you do well - this builds loyalty.  For us, the effective strategy to build that is a lot of work around their values and ways of being, but also to develop how managers and leaders in the organisation can get to know their staff and they know how to build loyalty in their own areas. 

Judith Pettitt is the Director for People Services and Internal Communications at VicRoads and is speaking at the National Recruitment and Retention Summit in Melbourne this September.  

If you're interested in learning more from Judith, or others in similar industries that can help you improve your recruitment and retention strategies, why not check out our upcoming event: www.RecruitandRetain.com.au