Talent Acquisition is the area of Human Resources responsible for setting standards for recruitment and selection across The City of Calgary’s various business units. One section of Talent Acquisition is The City’s Temporary Employment Services Agency (TESA), which was established in 1976 to provide staffing for The City’s business units for short-term assignments in the administrative, financial, procurement, legal and clerical fields. TESA’s main purpose is to provide the best staffing coverage for temporary vacancies at different City locations.
Talent Acquisition has a mandate to provide standards for recruitment and selection, and is involved in executive staff sourcing, sourcing for hard to fill positions, and coordinating some contingent workforce components, such as students and temporary relief staffing. TESA provides temporary relief staffing, and plays a valuable role in keeping The City running efficiently. TESA coordinates the provision of temporary relief staffing, and the administration of technical skills assessments as needed within the corporation. Talent Acquisition is responsible for a variety of assessments, ranging from pre-employment telephone screening to interview structure, and other types of assessments such as psychometric or essential skills assessments.
- Temporary Administrative Staffing: TESA provides qualified temporary administrative staff across the corporation, - filling short term vacancies or other temporary roles up to three months. These short term requests may be made due to work overload, employee illness, leave or vacation, or a special project work.
- Technical Skills Assessments: Applicants for administrative jobs such as internal TESA positions and administrative assistants, are tested for administrative and clerical skills. Testing of applicants assists the corporation by providing an objective assessment of skills, which reduces the cost of poor hires or poor job matches. This testing may be used by the TESA office, by individual hiring managers, or by Talent Acquisition.
- Psychometric Skills Assessments: Psychometric Skills Assessments have been offered sporadically at The City. The City would like to formalize the identification of vendors who could offer such assessments for employees and leaders.
- Essential Skills Assessments: Essential skills testing, has been offered occasionally at The City. The City would like to formalize the identification of vendors who could offer such assessments for employees and leaders.
