Former candidates who have reapplied to be on the Candidates List – and whose application has been successful – have been invited to book a Re-List Assessment Centre by logging into a portal where they can also upload a headshot onto their profile. This all sounds very swish and automated – kudos to the welcome new regime in the Candidates Team.
CCHQ are asking for this to be done ASAP “due to the volume of re-applications and limited number of dates available.” and not booking a slot within the next two weeks means they assume you no longer wish to proceed with your application.
This must mean Parliamentary Assessment Boards are also starting again soon – no dates yet and understandably only after lockdown is fully lifted. I expect they will move fast after processing former candidates as the new team will want to earn a refreshing, new reputation for efficiency.
What does the re-listing process tell us about the new PAB?
It might be just different labels on the same process but I suspect there is more to it than that! I think, and hope, there will be better processes and better systems in place – a more professional and objective process that is more consistently applied and prevents the party cooking the books. (OK – the last bit is just pure, fantastical optimism.)
For the re-listing process, the historic assessment criteria (which were valid and eternal) seem to have been repackaged with at least one new twist.
The re-listing process apparently includes:
- Campaigning Elevator Pitch – same as before but hopefully more structured and consistent – tough luck if you haven’t been campaigning recently locally and in the last General election.
- Competency-Based Interview – same as before but hopefully more structured.
- Situational Judgement Test – interesting to see how this is conducted, is it just a rebadged In-Tray exercise?
- Developmental Psychometric – this is new. Will it exclude those who stand out and favour the conformists? What are they looking for?
The new PAB?
Is it it limited to this? What does this new selection process mean for hopeful parliamentarians? The same 7 criteria and the assessments plus psychometric testing and all automated via a candidate portal?
Will there be development stages and (pay as you train) training courses and profile updates for public speaking, campaigning, publicity, volunteering etc that are uploaded and monitored and checked via the candidates portal? This might finally replace candidates taking photos for Facebook to prove they have been working … or maybe not…
Will you rank higher on a sort of candidates training and development league if you attend, and pay for, more courses and trainings? So if you attend more training courses you are then more likely to be chosen for by-elections or plum seats? Will the training courses be affordable for all candidates? Will there be scholarship opportunities? Can donors finance worthy candidates?
The original 7 candidate criteria and their various iterations are eternal, and prepping for them should help candidates jump through all the new hoops. Preparing for psychometric testing is possible in a limited way, but nobody knows what CCHQ are looking for or how they are weighting it – so it’s a bit of a suck-it-and-see approach there.
The old PAB was a good process with valid and relevant criteria – inconsistently and imperfectly applied and assessed. I’ve heard that the head of the new candidates team has real-world private sector recruitment experience, so I am hopeful the process will be more professionally managed and applied.
What is still true and valid: we need competent people getting involved in the party for the right reasons at all levels, and there are many ways to serve.
Over 170 of my clients have become MPs, hundreds more have become councillors, others have become Police and Crime Commissioners.