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Attracting suitable candidates

Updating author: Lynda Macdonald

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)