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| Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | RusRec |
| Date: | Friday, 22nd Sep 2006 15:21 |
| Views: | 6,927 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I have just come off the phone talking to two publishers regarding this legislation and its impact on recruitment advertising.
The background of the story is that a publication wants me to amend an ad that I am running. The role is a senior management position in Marketing, in a niche industry. The offending line is I stated I require a minimum of 5 years' experience. Apparently I am 'discriminating on age' as there might be someone with less experience who could do the job...my answer - b******ks! No-one with less than 5 years experience could even contemplate doing the role...it would be a total waste of everyone's time them even applying. However, that's not the point, I really don't care if they're 15 or 50, or 17 or 70, as long as they have 5 years' experience! Yet the publication has been told (by ACAS) that I am discriminating on age. I AM NOT!! I am discriminating on experience, the publication is not prepared to risk running the ad as is, as they would be liable, along with myself for prosecution. I pointed out that in the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 Regulation 3 Point 14 that there is a 'test' established in Law for 'proportionate' and 'appropriate & neccesary'. Specifying '5 years experience' would be (according to my interpretation) 'proportionate'.
It can be found here - http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file27136.pdf
I am really interested in hearing other people's views on this. I think it is not unreasonable to specify number of years experience as otherwise am I going to be spending my time in court defending myself against 18 year old fast food counter workers who think they can be Marketing Directors and are arguing a case against me on age discrimination!! |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Jo B |
| Date: | Friday, 22nd Sep 2006 17:27 |
| Views: | 431 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Hi RusRec
Good post, but unfortunately the publication is correct.
From 1st October adverts will need to be competency based and not include 'x number of years experience' or 'x number of years post qualification experience'.
It sound crazy I know, but I have been advised by two different law firms specialising in recruitment that this is correct.
FYI, I have also been advised that ALL dates should be removed from CVs, including dates of education and dates of emplyment....
Oh the fun!!!
Jo |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | TinaJ |
| Date: | Saturday, 23rd Sep 2006 00:26 |
| Views: | 438 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Hi,
Doesnt this just prove what a total farse this new legislation is? How many of us will get caught out by it?
I just feel this is more cr@p to contend with in an industry being filled with far too much red tape as it is - don't these idiots realise this is choking the industry?.
Our clients dont want it, we dont want it, more time is wasted and for what exactly? I see very little advantage and sheads loads of agrovation |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Jan Muir |
| Date: | Monday, 25th Sep 2006 13:27 |
| Views: | 442 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Hi all
Interesting post with much to debate. I was listening to the radio this morning and a headhunter who phoned in to a chat session said he had decided to close his business because of this new legislation.He believed that his clients would continue to expect him to find out about age/experience and he is in a no win situation. What are others peoples feelings on this?
As a recruitment researcher I am often asked to qualify candidates on a number of criteria which obviously I will need to control appropriately now.But if a candidate sends in his/her CV with details of their age, qualification dates etc and for instance say they are willing for these details to be forwarded to the client. Should I automatically delete this detail anyway and technically should I alter someones CV without their approval?
If i do this and they don't get the job can I be prosecuted for with holding information that may have got them the job?
Interested in others responses to this.
Jan |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Tony Restell |
| Date: | Monday, 25th Sep 2006 16:54 |
| Views: | 415 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I agree this is farcical - and I read in the last week that this legislation will also mean that businesses have to open up their "Graduate Recruitment schemes" to anyone who has a graduate degree. So instead of being able to take in their usual tranche of fresh-faced consultants and training them up to a common standard / having them bond as a team of similarly aged individuals, the accounting / consulting / legal / investment banking communities will have to take steps to ensure that anyone with a graduate degree is eligible for consideration.
I'm sure this legislation is aimed at getting older people back into the workforce and having us work until we're older to "plug the skills gap" and "plug the pensions deficit". But if it hinders every firm's ability to do business then I can't see how this legislation will achieve either aim.
Madness.
But as a publisher of job ads, I'm afraid we too will have to insist that you adhere to this legislation - or we in turn can face prosecution. And guess what - that means we need a staff member to review all job postings for offending paragraphs and to liase with advertisers to get postings revised. How many jobs boards are going to be able to do this without putting up prices? End result - the cost of making a new hire will rise and this acts as a brake on employment growth. What a marvellous piece of legislation. Costly and ineffective. Government at its worst!
Tony |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Jan Muir |
| Date: | Monday, 25th Sep 2006 18:23 |
| Views: | 435 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Tony
This is a disaster waiting to happen, in terms of RusRec's comments could he for example change the wording of his ad to read " extensive experience in marketing" would that be appropriate or something like "candidates must be able to demonstrate experience at dealing at board level" or are comments like that a complete no no.
Who was the brains behind this in government anyway, and did they consult with the industry before they dreamed up this piece of legislation. What also happens to the job boards that specilaise in certain ages, genders I believe there is one called where woman want to work.com and one for the over 50's how will they be able to comply? Would you also no longer be able to ask if they are degree qualified, as the older the candidate is, the chances of them having a degree is slim could that be discrimination?
Also the employer will have to know age eventually surely and at what point in the interview process can that be asked. pension schemes for example, companys healthcare schemes will be an issue here.
I also think it allows potential candidates to actually tell a few untruths on their CV's................
Jan |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Gwhitey |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 08:58 |
| Views: | 455 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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So, can I see a show of hands of how many of us are going to stop putting dates of education, dates of employment and age on CV's?
Do you intend to put for example:
5 years at Company A
3 years at Company B
on a candidates CV rather than their employment dates? |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Tony Restell |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 10:28 |
| Views: | 445 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Jan - I'm not a legal expert, but my understanding is that you can't put anything in an advert that would enable you to discriminate by ago - or to put candidates off applying based on their age.
So you asked would "extensive experience in marketing" be acceptable. My understanding is that it would not be, since implicit in this wording is the fact that someone has to be reasonably old to have "extensive experience in marketing". Job ads need to be competency-based rather than years-of-experience based.
In this example I think you could put eg. "expert in marketing and able to conduct board-level marketing discussions". Arguably a 30 year old consultant who's worked on marketing assignments for a few years could be as able to fulfil this requirement as a 45 year old existing marketing director. You have to consider the 30 year old's competency vs. that of the 45 year old - and indeed vs. that of a 60 year-old coming out of early retirement. Only competency can then be used to decide between the candidates rather than age.
I agree this opens a huge can of worms and I'm really struggling to see who this benefits. Best bet is to take some legal advice on the subject so that you can at least demonstrate you have tried to understand the implications of the legislation for your business. But I do think it's going to be impossible for recruiters to catch every single "energetic", "highly mobile", "ambitious" type wording in their adverts that have an age-related connotation but that aren't being used to consciously discriminate based on age.
Good luck. Tony Restell (www.Top-Consultant.com) |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Jan Muir |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 12:29 |
| Views: | 446 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Thanks Tony
Actually there is some good information on www.agepositive.gov.uk web site and of course with acas there is huge file on this subject entitled age and the workplace.
Jan |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Georgie Girl |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 13:45 |
| Views: | 422 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Hi. Agree with previous postings that a radical rethink of the wording of adverts and presentation of CVs is required. Anything that makes an already pressurised situation worse is not welcome.
However, I think the removal of a certain no of years experience works both ways:
in requesting a min no of years the client is seeking to indicate the level of knowledge and experience required to meet the demands of the post. But how many times have you have found candidates with less years experience but who have made significant achievements in their field and fit the company and culture in every other respect?
The best outcome is someone who can achieve the goals and objectives that are attached to the job regardless of the no of years. That's why it is so important to take control of the job order and ask why the post exists and what must they achieve rather than rely on a set of artificial criteria that could exclude a potential candidate.
Furthermore, thorough screening of the candidate will establish their depth and breadth of experience and of specific examples and achievements. This will provide us with sufficient evidence to justify our recommendation of them.
I know that "he who pays the piper plays the tune" but we are consultants and we should not loose site of that not withstanding the fact that the client is paying us.
After all, the success of the candidate will be judged on what they achieve and not how many years they have been doing it.
So the glass will be half full for some. |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | RusRec |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 14:09 |
| Views: | 415 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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As I thought an interesting debate. I would still maintain that by stating '5 years experience' in whatever field is not discriminatory to anyone of any age, for a managerial role. How it could be construed any other way is beyond my limited intellect!! However, common sense and the law are never easy bedfellows, excacerbated by a Government dominated by lawyers keeping their kind busy.
Clearly a number of recruitment advertisers are already creating 'Age Discrimination Compliant' Ads....they are as I feared, saying nothing about who should be applying which will just increase the workload of the HR people. Equally as Tony pointed out, all publishers of vacancies are going to have to employ an individual to vet ads. I believe it will cost the publishing industry hundreds of thousands of pounds; who will risk a late space deal if there's no-one around to vet the ad?
I don't disagree with age discrimination, however with the added spice of political correctness it becomes another draconian, senseless, time-wasting, expensive regulation that as has already been pointed out will actually have the opposite effect of what it is suppose to do. |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Recruiter |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 14:17 |
| Views: | 508 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I agree with Georgiegirl's sentiments. The legislation could bring huge benefits to businesses and recruiters who are stuck in their ways.
Job descriptions and specifications and interview questions can now be comptetency based. Employers may now interview someone they would never normally interview ( because of the employers out-of-date discrimination views) and find that the candidate can actually do the job - rather than just have sat in a chair at a previous employers for a specified amount of time which does not guarantee that they can do the job.
I think that we as recruiters should see this as a golden opportunity to be at the start of something very positive ( remember that only about 30 years ago, women would not be interviewed for any senior jobs just because of their gender and now we don't think twice about putting a women forward for a senior job for which she has the appropriate skills). |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Diesel |
| Date: | Tuesday, 26th Sep 2006 15:13 |
| Views: | 439 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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There are two key statements in the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations which apply largely to us:
Firstly:
Regulation 8. 3.1:
Regulation 8 allows an employer when recruiting for a post, to treat job applicants differently on grounds of age if possessing a characteristic related to age is a genuine occupational requirement (“GOR”) for that post. An employer may also rely on this exception when promoting, transferring or training persons for a post, and when dismissing persons from a post, where a GOR applies in respect of that post.
And secondly:
Regulation 21. 67.
The prohibition on discrimination does not apply if the employment in relation to which the agency’s services are provided is employment for which a characteristic relating to age is a GOR (genuine occupational requirement). Moreover, an agency can defend a claim under this regulation by showing that it relied, and that is was reasonable for it to rely, on a statement from an employer that possession of a particular age-related characteristic was a GOR for a particular employment.
What these points don’t clarify is if an employer can state “4 years experience” on a job advert. It is arguable that experience doesn’t directly relate to age. It is also arguable, however, that a person with only a year of experience may be just as competent as a person with four years.
What needs to be assessed is to what extend can a GOR be defined as. I’d argue it is a genuine occupational requirement to have worked in a particular role for x number of years if that is how long it takes to gather necessary knowledge to be competent in the senior role.
However, what this legislation does do is prevent employers from just scooping the cream from the top of the pile. If recruitment consultants continue to put “4 years experience” when it is not necessary, it is discriminative against candidates with a lesser number of experience years who may be equally as valid for the role.
In conclusion, if you can argue fairly that the vacancy cannot be filled successfully with a candidate with less than x number of years experience, then (from what I can gather from the DTI’s regulations) it is acceptable to state it on the advertisement.
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Julie |
| Date: | Wednesday, 27th Sep 2006 15:04 |
| Views: | 407 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I've been reading some very interesting posts on this subject and I can see that our lives are going to be much more difficult from now on.
However, I wonder if anyone can clarify the following for me. We are a UK based recruiter with both candidates and clients from all across the globe who are not governed by UK legislation. If, for example, we have a client in Singapore who asks for employment dates or age of a candidate - are we allowed to request or (if we know it already) provide that information to our client? Does the age discrimination legislation apply purely because we are a UK based recruiter even though our client and frequently the candidate may be in another country?
I'm interested in any thoughts or suggestions. |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Pooh |
| Date: | Wednesday, 27th Sep 2006 16:36 |
| Views: | 453 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Hi All
I'm a little confused about this. Surely if a candidate puts their DOB on a CV (which they all seem to do) how can an agency be blamed for revealing their age - and furthermore surely its not revealing their age that's the issue - its the candidate believing that they have been discriminated against because of their age. If they are likely to do this - why would they put their DOB on the CV in the first place?
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Lucy |
| Date: | Tuesday, 3rd Oct 2006 11:37 |
| Views: | 427 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I feel the new legislation will make our jobs much harder - creating adverts within the new guidlines is the easy part, as it is visible to candidates and employers so we cannot be accused of being disciminatory if we stick to the guidelines.
Where there is an issue is in our evaluation and vetting of candidates - we specialise in a specific, highly regulated area of finance in financial services and the Big 4 public practice firms. Without a certain level of experience/ exposure to these regs, which we are not meant to state, candidates will not be able to do the roles we handle. I agree with the above that relevant experience has nothing to do with age. Someone underqualified / underexperienced would underperform in certain roles.
The specs we are getting from clients still specify the ideal min number of years, areas of exposure required and that they must have an hons degree 2:1 and above and certain professional quals. Are we to query clients on their specs, and sumbit applicants falling below these criteria because they posses certain required competencies when the clients will decline to interview them? Are we not meant to reduce the workload for clients and provide a shortlist of a select few we believe have the best fit for the experience AND competencies the client requires, regardless of age, gender, ethinicity etc?
AND does the new leg mean we interview every applicant we get as even candidates lacking desired experience and in some cases quals, may possess strong competencies?
WHO has time to register and therefore CB interview every single applicant who sends a CV to them regardless of fit?
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Tom Atkinson |
| Date: | Tuesday, 3rd Oct 2006 13:47 |
| Views: | 426 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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What a wonderful debate. Of course many of the points will remain unanswerable or simply be matters of opinion until there is case law . Tthe answer therefore has got to be tread carefully, accept that logic doesn't apply and that whilst publications might be wrong - understand that they are only trying to protect themselves from a law that is not a clear as we would like. This is not easy for the recruitment industry but then it was never meant to be. It was drafted to partially address the pensions crisis, not the needs of the recruitment industry. If you design seats for a motorbike don't be surprised if they don't easily seat 4. What is interesting is that in countries where similar legislation has been introduced, most of the complaints have been from young people. Remember, the Data Prtection act interpretation allowed Ian Huntley to be Ok'd for a job in a school and I don't think it was intended to do that. Let's raise a glass to bureaucracy, it creates lots of jobs to fill (at least in the short term.) |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Tom Atkinson |
| Date: | Wednesday, 4th Oct 2006 09:09 |
| Views: | 433 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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It didn't take long. I heard on the radio on the way in to work this morning that the first case had been concluded. Needless to say it wasn't for an older person (the unemployment issue is predominantly with older males) it was for a young woman - a relatively new starter in Health & Safety - who wanted to be paid the long service sums her longer serving (mostly male) colleagues were getting. The case was funded by her union. Surprise surprise. The case was not upheld. (Perhaps it might yet be re submitted under sexual discrimination laws?) Who was it who said "Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first send mad". |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Kim |
| Date: | Wednesday, 4th Oct 2006 17:28 |
| Views: | 424 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Isnt one relatively simple way round all this to be more specific in your job spec? Really detai lthe job and its responsibilities so it is clear to all but the dullest exactly what skill set is needed? |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Darren Biggs |
| Date: | Friday, 6th Oct 2006 20:04 |
| Views: | 443 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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We are in the same situation as Julie several posts up.
About 6 months ago we started a new recruitment jobs board - www.oilrecruiter.net
The actual underlying software was developed in California and as a result has a drop down menu for desired number of years experience. The effect of this change in legislation is that we're now likely to have to go back to the developers and request yet a further alteration to the workings of the database, all time and money I'm afraid to say.
Jobs stay live on the system for a month of more and we had a fair number posted in September. As a result do we have to go through and remove any existing references to number of years experience?
Obviously again we're a UK company dealing in an international field and have adverts from around the globe. So do we have a duty of care to ensure that all adverts from non-UK companies comply with UK legislation? There doesn't seem to be a straight answer.
Darren ( www.oilrecruiter.net ) |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | jojo |
| Date: | Monday, 9th Oct 2006 12:32 |
| Views: | 478 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I went to an REC seminar about this a couple of weeks ago - they said that although we can't put dates of birth on CVs, we can include dates of education and employment because they show continuity (or otherwise) of employment. |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Greg |
| Date: | Monday, 23rd Oct 2006 13:53 |
| Views: | 432 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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It may be useful for all of you to have a look at the SFIA website. It's the way forward. We now use the Structured Framework for The Information Age and it works a treat. It gets rid of all age and experience conotations and gets your mind and your clients around to competency based adverts and job specs. |
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | AJ |
| Date: | Wednesday, 25th Oct 2006 10:25 |
| Views: | 414 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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What is the position regarding past job titles on CVs?
We provide specialised Well Engineers to the oil and gas industry. Recognised job titles in this field include Senior Drilling Engineers and Senior Completion Engineer. Our clients are now changing such job titles to "Lead" or "Specialist" as opposed to "senior" and as such we will advertise the positions on this basis.
Where do we stand however if someone has stated on their CV that their job title on a previous assignment was a Senior Drilling Engineer. This role is not dependent on age (we have Senior Drilling Engineers who are younger than some Drilling Engineers) and it is a recognised job title - can we still list such positions in their previous employment history??
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Steve |
| Date: | Monday, 11th Dec 2006 14:39 |
| Views: | 415 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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I am in firm agreement with Kim.
What we’re talking about here is laziness on the part of recruiters when it comes to writing job descriptions. It’s far easier to simply ask for a minimum number of years of experience than it is to write a comprehensive job description detailing the skills and attributes of the candidates as well as the tasks they will need to carry out in the role.
Recruiters then complain that they receive too many speculative applications from inappropriate job seekers, when it is their own fault for not being more specific and informative.
If I were a job seeker and saw an advertisement for a role asking for 3 years of experience and I considered myself to have 2.5 years of relevant experience I would still apply. However, if I saw a detailed description which listed several skill requirements that did not possess I would be then probably be dissuaded from applying. The net result of this would be less time wasted dealing with irrelevant applications for the recruiters.
Whilst some of us may disagree about whether it constitutes Age Discrimination or not recruiters should take this as a suitable reason for improving the quality of job descriptions.
As for the excuse that recruiters are simply passing on their client’s requirements, this again is a cop-out. This should be taken as an opportunity to educate your clients and demonstrate knowledge of legislation and to add value to their recruitment process. Why should an older person with a graduate degree be unable to apply for a graduate training scheme just because the majority of other people will likely be young? It is their choice, not the recruiter’s whether they apply or not and the employer’s responsibility to decide their suitability based on their capabilities, not their age. Not only that, they could likely bring a selection of unique skills to their potential employers.
With regards to Darren’s hard luck story of having to get his website redeveloped because of this legislation, perhaps he should have been more aware of the changes that have been scheduled for the last 3 years. The Acas website has contained information about the potential impact for much of that period.
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| Reply To This Thread |
| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Grrr...Agh |
| Date: | Monday, 11th Dec 2006 15:07 |
| Views: | 374 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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In respect Steve, it wouldn't matter how detailed a job description I wrote, with or without no. years experience, some of the people who apply quite blatantly haven't read the description.
It’s easy to blame the recruit for not being more specific and informative but in my personal experience, I can write an incredibly detailed job spec, requesting specific experience on projects, software, clients etc and we still get people who are obviously not suited for the job apply. Some people have actually applied to every vacancy we have advertised, even when the roles are completely diverse and have no relation to another.
You are obviously a candidate of the more discerning kind who reads adverts and thinks about whether you are suitable or not but from what I have seen, you are in the minority. A number of applicants merely see a job title they want and decide to apply – no matter whether the description is one line or one page long.
Yes, I believe there is a responsibility for a recruiter to ensure the advert is as specific as possible, listing skills and knowledge required as well as detailing the role and what it will entail. However the responsibility should also lie with the candidate and they should ensure they are either applying for a role which they are suited for or applying speculatively (once) instead of applying for the 30 vacancies advertised by one company.
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| Re: Age Discimination in Advertising |
| Author: | Steve |
| Date: | Monday, 11th Dec 2006 16:17 |
| Views: | 420 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Standards and Reputation | | URL: | http://web.ukrecruiter.co.uk/forum/Forum/read.php?i=3888 |
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Well Grr...Agh, perhaps you are the discerning type of recruiter who actually takes the time to write the most detailed job description possible. I would say that you too are in the minority.
From a professional standpoint, should you not seek to provide the best service possible, irrespective of the response from job seekers? While recruiters continue to cut corners, they can have no gripes with job seekers that do the same.
As I said before, with the case of number of years of experience, legal compliance is now further reason to remove this from job descriptions, in addtion to the fact that it is essentially meaningless.
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