I'm Cindy butts and I'm a Senior

Independent Panel Member

so in terms of the recruitment process

and what to expect

I'm afraid the first thing to say is

expect to be long they invariably are

which is not necessarily a bad thing

because it actually demonstrates that

the process is thorough and that it's

robust but they do tend to be a bit long

but don't let that put you off the key

thing is well there are a number of key

things but one of the things is is to

expect a competency-based process so

that means being prepared both in your

application form and hopefully if you

get through to the other stages is to

really be able to demonstrate what you

have achieved. What we're not looking for

is a list of roles that you've performed

but actually what have you been able to

accomplish through your various roles.

Candidates can also expect the process

to be fair we're not looking for any one

type of person, it really just depends on

the role that you're going for so some

roles will advertise for very specific

types of skills that they are looking for

that might be in relation to finance or

strategic engagement for instance so

it's really important that you consider

what the body is looking for and how you're

able to meet that criteria and I

would say focus on the essential

criteria and don't be too concerned

about wanting to tick every single box

but as long as you feel that you can

meet most of the essential criteria I

would encourage you to apply.

So the fact that we have independent

panel members and in some appointments

senior independent panel members, they

are an important guarantee that the

process has been fair and based on merit,

and there is no bias in the system so

they are an important part of that

guaranteeing fairness in addition to

that the office of the Commissioner of

Public Appointments who oversees

the appointments process and

have a very clear set of principles and

a code that panel members have to abide

by but also that ministers have to abide

by to - so there is accountability within

this system itself.

It may be that you would go straight for

a you know, sort of big national body but

it might be that you want to start more

smaller and perhaps think about a more

local body or a regional body and get

that experience and be able to really

get a feel for what it is and whether

it's right for you of course and then

perhaps you know you know apply for

something bigger later on.

So I've held public appointments now for

gosh nearly almost 20 years. My first

public appointment was as the Deputy

Chair of the Metropolitan Police

Authority overseeing the Metropolitan

Police all of its 44,000 staff at the

time with a budget of 3.4 billion and it

was honestly the best thing I have ever

done being able to really feel like

you're making a difference

bringing your views your perspectives to

the table and really being able to

impact on what is, you know, crucial area

of for the public which is policing,

fighting crime, and protecting the public

so for me that was just the most amazing

experience and since then I've carried

out a number of different public

appointments and for me it really is

about being able to contribute to bring

my skills to the table as well as to

learn as well as all of the roles I've

had have been really quite stretching

and have been really quite difficult and

I've learned so much through that

process, so I'm a huge fan of public

appointments and I really would

encourage you all to just look out, see

what's out there think about what you

can contribute and just go for it.