Follow Recruitment Legislation

Follow Recruitment Legislation






Adopt good recruitment practice and know your legal obligations

When recruiting and filling vacant jobs and employing new workers it's important to remember your obligations as an employer. Recruitment is not different to other aspects of employing people and is covered by a range of legal requirements, legislation and best practice recruitment codes of conduct. There is, of course, a personal element in the recruitment process (will this person be effective in our company and culture) but some questions are inappropriate and even illegal to ask - and in the long run damage your company by missing out on key talent. This is our fourth of six tips on being a better recruiter.

It's vital that you know and understand your obligations as a recruiter. Although, of course, there is a certain amount of judgement in any and every recruitment campaign, you must remember that there are some areas which it is inappropriate (or in some cases, even illegal) to ask about at an interview. Even to imply certain things may be relevant to the decision of whether or not a candidate gets the job is taboo. Age, race, sex, marital status, health, and personal or religious beliefs are all pretty much none of your business and irrelevant to the candidates success or failure; the only thing you should concern yourself with is the direct practical upshot of any of these things - and even then the practical upshot should be considered totally independently of the reason for it and within the rules of employment law. There is a distinction between a decision made for practical, job related reasons and a decision based on a stereotype.

There are some simple and easy rules to follow: do not ask questions that are not required to determine if someone can do the job and ask all the candidates the same questions (so do not prejudge).  Take a job that requires flexibility and some late working.  Do not ask young females if they have children and what childcare arrangements they have (this is a stereotypical prejudice that they are responsible for children) but ask all the candidates if they can manage this work requirement and have appropriate home and transport arrangements to allow for last minute late working.  It is legitimate for you to find out if people are going to be able to meet the requirement of the job but this should be done in a way that does not imply that some people are more likely to have a problem with it than others.

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