Executive Council
April 29, 2013
 

Temporary Hiring Suspension Lifted For Filling of Select Vacant Positions

Effective today (Monday, April 29), Provincial Government departments will resume the recruitment process for vacant positions, but each position will first be subject to a pre-recruitment analysis to ensure that only necessary jobs are filled.  
 
Since the hiring suspension was imposed, vacancies have accumulated due to normal employee turnover, retirements, and long-term leave.   Now that decisions have been finalized from Budget 2013, the process of filling select positions can begin again.
 
“In implementing a temporary suspension of recruitment activities prior to Budget 2013, we made a responsible decision to delay recruitment of new positions or to fill those that had become vacant until we assessed the province’s complete financial situation,” said the Honourable Jerome Kennedy, Minister of Finance and Minister Responsible for the Human Resource Secretariat. “The new approval process will ensure that recruitment will only occur for positions that departments have deemed necessary for continued operations. In keeping with prudent fiscal and human resource management, all vacant positions will be thoroughly analyzed prior to approval being granted for recruitment.”
 
Under the pre-recruitment analysis, departments must demonstrate that it is necessary to fill any vacancy.  Factors that must be taken into account include:

• The position is vital to a particular program or service;
• The position is the sole position for which there are no other department supports;
• The position is considered hard to fill based on the specialized nature of the job; and/or,
• The functions of the position cannot be reassigned or assumed by another person in the organization.

Positions that are approved for recruitment will be advertised on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador careers website www.hiring.gov.nl.ca.
 
The Provincial Government remains committed to providing job experiences for students, and will continue to have a program for co-op students and summer students.  
 
"We remain committed to ensuring fiscal prudence and that savings obtained in Budget 2013 are maintained,” said Minister Kennedy. “We are focused on ensuring that the public service does not expand beyond available fiscal resources, while maintaining a professional and competent workforce that best serves the needs of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.”
 

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Media contact:

Tansy Mundon
Director of Communications
Department of Finance
709-729-6830; 693-1865
tansymundon@gov.nl.ca
 
2013 04 29                                        12:15 p.m.