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Updating author: Lynda Macdonald
On this page:
Summary
Future
developments
Key references
Advertising the job
Using social media
Avoiding discrimination in
job advertisements
Positive action
Pensions
auto-enrolment and prohibited recruitment conduct
Using third parties to attract
candidates
Employment agencies
and executive search businesses
Jobcentres
Data protection
recommendations
Ensuring instructions
are free from discrimination
Summary
Having defined clearly what type of person the organisation is
seeking to recruit, the next stage will be to identify methods of attracting a
pool of suitable candidates. There are many ways to advertise a vacant
job. Apart from conventional methods such as placing an advertisement in
the press, it can often be productive to place notices on company notice-boards,
contact the local jobcentre, local schools or professional associations, use
local radio and of course advertise on the internet.
- The core provisions of the Equality Act 2010, which applies to England,
Wales and Scotland (but not to Northern Ireland), came into force on 1 October
2010.
- The Equality Act 2010 largely consolidates and replaces previous
anti-discrimination legislation, ie the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex
Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation)
Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1661), the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief)
Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1660) and the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
2006 (SI 2006/1031).
- The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate
against job applicants (and existing workers) because of a "protected
characteristic". The protected characteristics are: age, disability,
gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity,
race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
- Employers should aim, when seeking to attract job applicants, to promote
the job in such a way as to attract a small number of suitable candidates
rather than a large, miscellaneous array of people. (See Advertising the job)
- Employers should take care that social media use does not exclude specific
groups from the scope of recruitment campaigns. (See Using social media)
- Under the Equality Act 2010, it is unlawful to publish job advertisements
that contain discriminatory wording, unless the application of an indirectly
discriminatory criterion can be justified. (See Avoiding discrimination
in job advertisements)
- It is permissible to target advertising at under-represented or
disadvantaged groups, for example women or people from a minority racial or
religious group. (See Positive action)
- The duty not to discriminate applies to employment agencies as regards the
terms on which they offer to provide their services, the way in which they
provide any of their services and any refusal to provide services. (See
Employment
agencies and executive search businesses)
- Giving instructions to an employment agency to discriminate is unlawful,
and if the instructions are carried out, both the employer that gave the
instructions and the employment agency that complied with them would be liable
in law. (See Ensuring
instructions are free from discrimination)
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Future developments
There are no future developments.
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top
Advertising the job
The aim of placing an advertisement should be to attract a
sufficient number of candidates, all of whom possess the necessary skills,
experience and qualifications to do the job effectively. |