All, Its been a long time since i place a post but i could do with some advice. It is likely that i may be forced to leave one of my valued SHE managers go to join another dept as a civils SHE advisor. Not a bad thing for the facilities team but it means a blow to my SHE team. Consequently with an external recruitment freeze in place i would be allowed to recruit an enthusiastic replacment internally. My questions is how to pick the right person i.e. enthusiasm over experience!!!!! and then how best to development the new person to ensure that they develop at the right speed concentrating on the right SHE work and how much mentoring should i be expected to provide? So over to you my learned friends - what advice can you give me? Regards, Annoyed in waiting.......

Get yourself on a recruitment and selection course as the first point; remembering that recruitment actions should be transparent as possible as people who do not get the job may put a grievance in about the recruitment process

Funny I was just reading this article on the BSC website and thought it may be appropriate toy your situation.16/04/2012 Employers are now placing personal attributes above the importance of a degree among potential job candidates, according to research carried out among 2000 business decision-makers by Aldi. That is not to say that the employers questioned disregard qualifications but rather that a degree is taken as a given and applicants are increasingly judged on key personality traits. Aldi Head of Graduate Recruitment Richard Holloway said: "Strong personalities, work experience, hobbies and leading teams at university are key strengths. Although we look for candidates who can bring something else to the workplace, there still needs to be an emphasis on whether they can do the job well." The company, which is looking to recruit more than 100 graduates (with at least a 2.1 degree) this year is keen to see what else candidates can offer aside from education to justify a £40,000 starting salary. Confidence was the number one attribute looked for in new staff by employers (who have clearly never watched The Apprentice), just ahead of a positive attitude and experience. According to the study Aldi commissioned, just 20% of employers thought that a degree made a potential candidate stand out — with most saying that it is less impressive to them now than what it would have been 10 years ago. In a finding that has worrying implications for diversity, more than half of potential employers said they look for someone that "reminds them of themselves" with men more likely to look to take on the role of mentor to new employees. "Women, meanwhile, were less likely to hire anyone that had better qualifications than they did or greater experience because they worried they might eventually want their job," the study found. Men are more likely to hire someone good-looking than women, while women place more emphasis on hiring someone who is well-spoken. More than a quarter of respondents said they judged potential staff on whether they were polite to reception, security and cleaning staff while a similar percentage expected them to be respectful in the interview process. HR professionals will wince at the comment in the report that "more than half say their hiring decisions are based on instincts more than anything else" and can it really be true that some interviewers are asking young graduates in 2012 to name their favourite Spice Girl? From Paul Clarke, business writer for Croner Last updated on 16/04/2012

Overworked. Think first about what aspects of the job you want this person to do. Are they going to be doing training for example? This gives you a job spec of sorts and then (like most companies!) you will probably be expected to advertise internally rather than just select. See if any candidates are people who have been (voluntarily) involved in H&S before such as on safety committees or as area reps or whatever your company has. Don't be pushed into accepting TU reps though - the good ones are great but there are still some with the old-fashioned "management-bashing" mentality. Maybe get each to do a short presentation for you on a subject of their choice? That will show you who has the confidence to stand up and deliver training (or not). Then it's really down to asking the right interview questions - get HR involved obviously. Don't get stuck with someone who has been moved sideways because a misguided manager thinks H&S is an easy option... As for mentoring, I did this many times in a previous life as a H&S Manager. It is the most rewarding and satisfying thing you can do if you both work at it. Even when people from your team subsequently move on, there is huge satisfaction from knowing that you helped them do that. Enjoy it, don't see it as a burden!