Analytical study: An exploration on how to recruit a Member of Parliament

On December 12th 2019, the British public are the hiring managers for 650 very important roles. The process for electing new Members of Parliament is never short of criticism and, we as recruitment experts, want to share how we would apply our experience and knowledge to source the right person for this crucial role. This report is an exploration of how we would use our bespoke methods to hire a new Member of Parliament on behalf of the British public.

Whenever we engage with a client on a search mandate, we have a consulting session with the hiring manager and HR to put together a bespoke and robust process that, partnered with their needs and our experience, will lead to a successful hire. In this instance, the hiring manager is circa 52 million people, and so we reached out to our candidates and clients asking them to complete a questionnaire on what they would be looking for in their Member of Parliament. We had a great response to our survey, with 161 responses in 48 hours. Thank you to all who participated.

From the results, and wider data research, we have put together a guide including an MP job description, the proposed interview process, and specific questioning lines to get the most out of our potential candidates. Of course, this report is a bit of fun, however from exploring the way in which the current system works and looking intrinsically at our own internal processes, we believe there are a number of questions we should be asking ourselves with regards to, not just December 12th, but in the context of hiring in general. It is clear that in any hiring process, honesty, integrity and accountability are up-held at all times, and this could not be more accurate than during a General Election.

This General Election is one of the most polarising political events of our life-time with several very clear issues dominating the race so far, including Brexit and the NHS. In an attempt to avoid alienation - and as this is an exercise in process and procurement - we elected to steer clear of any policy based questions; instead focusing on experience and character, and the results threw up some surprises!

Download the full report here