A fan of lifelong learning

I came from a single-parent family in rural Lincolnshire, living largely on benefits, given a divorce and some mental health issues. My motivation was very clear, to get educated and to better myself for both my own sake and my family's sake. I passed my 11+ and got into the local grammar school and worked hard. I don’t think I’m naturally talented, but I learnt very early on, that hard work got you a long way. I didn’t have a specific ambition as I know some do, I just wanted to be in a different place.

The MBA was about career; the Art History was for fun. I love contemporary art, and I wanted to develop my understanding, have a language that helped me appreciate it all the more. Both were via the Open University which I cannot recommend highly enough, a great institution especially when you are trying to juggle family, work and study. I’m a great fan of lifelong learning, it doesn’t matter what you choose to do , but the challenge is always worth it. I’m now coming to the end of my fourth postgrad programme (Diplomacy and Foreign Policy) as I prepare to start my retirement project – a Phd in Arms control and Nuclear Weapons verification!

I joined my local hospital as the Board member for Workforce and HR, and I quickly became accountable for IT as the NHS was going through a lot of strategic change. My CEO and I felt that it was important to link the technology and the sociology to make the process more effective. The reason for joining was very simple, I could sleep in my own bed every night! For the previous eight years, I had been working away from home mainly in a major tech start-up and latterly, in a turnaround which just absorbed my whole time, to the detriment of my family. The NHS is a very complex environment, but the fundamentals of good people and operations management apply.

I went freelance to run my own business as an interim manager which was great fun. I got to work with lots of interesting projects, mainly in the public sector, the creation of the Ministry of Justice being a prime example. It was through my interim work that I came to Jersey.

Originally, I was here on a 1-year contract which included recruiting the new HRD for the Public service which I did. As I was preparing to leave, it was suggested that I stay on and develop a new workforce model which integrated the various workforce groups into a single-status workforce. Given that I had fallen for Jersey, I said yes. Over the next few years, I had one of the best times in my career. I was lucky enough to find a great bunch of people in the public service who were able to help shape the vision and were fun to work with. I acted as an advisor to the SEB which was a privilege and provided me with some insight into Jersey politics and the role of arms-length bodies such as the Jersey Appointments Commission.

All good things come to an end and I left the public service and took up the role of interim CPO initially and then permanently in an AI /ML-led health data firm based in Oxford. One of the many good aspects of the role was that it was full-time remote, so I was able to manage it from Jersey with visits as necessary. This approach applied to all roles, and we had employees globally, which, when the pandemic struck, was a real bonus. This was a start-up in an AI-led business before it was fashionable to talk about AI, so I have seen the potential and the risks that AI brings as an enabler.

I had the opportunity to apply for the role of Chair of the Jersey Appointments Commission (JAC) and was pleased to be appointed by the Chief Minister. The JAC is an important part of the public ecosystem in Jersey as it oversees the appointment of all senior public service roles and associated public bodies to ensure that appointments are of the highest quality and the process is open and transparent. I’m supported by a super team of Commissioners who largely give their time freely although there is a small honorarium. Each Commissioner carries between 8-12 assignments a year depending on need.

I wanted to take the Chair role to contribute to improving the access to public roles from all parts of the Jersey Community. For our island to work effectively, and develop itself for the future, it needs its community to contribute to the public ecosystem which is essential to how the island functions.

The Commission works with its clients to ensure and assure their recruitment process is fair, transparent and is conducted in accordance with good practice. This covers all aspects of the recruitment process, role and person specifications, attraction, and the selection process. The Commissioners are nonvoting members of the panels. It is not our job to make the selection decision, it is our job to ensure a fair process has been undertaken. We are very conscious of the importance of diversity and inclusion in what we do. There is from time to time criticism that public appointments are not diverse enough. My response is that the JAC works hard to ensure that diversity and quality is front and centre of the selection decision, but outcomes are only as good as the pool of candidates to select from. I’d encourage islanders and others to apply if they see roles they can contribute to.

The JAC is building a website to provide a focus for those interested in applying, showing roles that are available, toolkits that will help applicants, and sources of contact and advice for those interested in supporting public roles in Jersey. This will be developed over the course of this year. If anyone wants to have a discussion about the work of the JAC, you can contact me on c.stephenson@jac.je