Fancy joining the LSB? Check your tweets

Fancy earning £15,000 a year for 30 days’ work as a non-lay member of the Legal Services Board? Before rushing to apply, you may want to check your social media history first.

Holding its first recruitment webinar this week, the oversight regulator gave a glimpse of the bureaucracy involved in joining a quango.

Applicants will need to put together a CV of no more than two pages as well as a personal statement, again no more than two pages long. 

The Ministry of Justice, which is leading the recruitment process, also requires candidates to detail ‘significant political activity’ and conflicts of interest. According to forms provided by the Cabinet Office, this includes public speaking events for any political parties, as well as political donations (including amount).

Another important area that candidates will also have to declare are conflicts of interest.

Holly Perry, the LSB’s director of enabling services told the webinar: 'It’s really about interests that might be relevant to the work if you were to be successful in this role as a non-lay member which could lead to real or perceived conflicts of interest if you were to be appointed. So, details do need to be provided. And this is about the fact that this is a public appointment, it’s a significant public appointment and it’s important for public bodies and for the confidence of parliament and the public to maintained for obvious maximum transparency and maximum disclosure.

‘So, if there’s anything in relation to conflicts of interest or previous conduct, so, for example if there’s ever been an occasion where there have been issues which have been reported or picked up on in relation to your personal or professional history which could if you were appointed then be misconstrued or cause embarrassment. It’s really important to bring those to the attention of the panel. And you should also consider in terms of this whole area, sort of, statements you’ve made in the public, for example, via social media.’