Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 02/99) - Those thinking of applying for jobs in the Nunavut government, but a little bit nervous about the interview process can take heart.

The government's central hiring agency, the Department of Human Resources, is adopting a newer, kinder and more effective approach to interviews.

"We're asking for people to draw from their experience to give us examples (of using skills required)," said Tom Thompson, director of staffing for the department.

Thompson said the new approach -- the fancy name is "behavioral event model" -- draws on experience in real-life situations rather than knowledge of theory.

"The interviews are more interesting for the interviewer and interviewee," said Thompson.

He recalled an interview in which the technique was used in an interview for a filing clerk's position.

"We knew if we asked her what her theories of filing were she would have looked down and said ŒI don't know' and we would have had to give her a zero.

"But what we did was ask her to tell us about a time when she had to set up a filing position. She lit up and told us about walking into a hunters and trappers association and setting up a simple filing system, not using a government system, just based on alphabetical order."

Community job boom

Nunavut is the land of opportunity, particularly for Inuit willing to live and work in communities targeted for decentralization.

The government is beginning the three-year decentralization process and is desperate for qualified candidates for government jobs being moved into the communities.

Though the government is close to its employment targets in the three regional centres, the vast majority of jobs tagged for the communities are vacant.

In addition to finding people to fill the jobs, though, the government must build the offices and housing required for decentralization.

"Departments are in a mad rush to fill positions," said Thompson. "At last count we had 64 active competitions."

Thompson said the biggest demand is for positions requiring technical expertise -- nurses, doctors, computer analysts, finance directors, engineers and tradespeople.

In an attempt to meet its goal of a representative public service, the government has adopted the old GNWT affirmative action policy.

Priority in hiring is given to Inuit, females in non-traditional roles, the disabled, and non-aboriginal Northerners, in that order. To qualify as Northerners, non-aboriginals must be born in the North or spent half their life here.