General introduction
Employers should always ensure that vacancies are advertised internally and that any employees on maternity leave are made aware of vacancies within the organisation.
All advertisement or recruitment documents issued should almost always avoid the inclusion of job requirements, which relate to the successful applicant's age, race, sex, disability, religion or Trade Union affiliation. Specifically for Northern Ireland, the Fair Employment Legislation should also be considered.
There is a limited range of situations where a genuine occupational qualification may justify the specific inclusion of one of the above criteria i.e. a job specification may require a person of a particular race or sex. There is also a limited number of situations where recruitment practices can concentrate on redressing the numerical balance between particular categories of employee within an employer's business i.e. positive discrimination.
Individuals who believe that they have been denied reasonable opportunity at recruitment stage by virtue of the content of recruitment methods, documentation or advertisements may apply to an Employment Tribunal for a remedy.
In these situations, there is no upper limit to the awards which may be made by a Tribunal to a successful claimant.
Recruitment need
An employer should always consider carefully the need for any recruitment to determine whether there are any other ways in which the work can be done which would be as effective but more cost beneficial It is always better to be cautious with staff recruitment than incur the costs of advertising and internal recruitment .
Recruitment method
Employers need to ensure that their method of recruitment is in no way discriminatory and that it is cost effective in relation to the vacancy. There is increased use of Internet recruitment and many employers rely heavily upon their own web sites to make people aware of vacancies and career opportunities within their organisation. External advertising can be costly so it needs to be targeted to be fully effective.
When advertising, employers should ensure that they know what they want and always prepare a job specification and a people specification for the post prior to preparing the recruitment advertisement. This ensures a proper focus on the needs of the new job if the essential requirements of the post. Are put down on paper
Application form
It is always better to use a standard application form for all recruitment within the organisation. The application form needs to cover all the basic information that is required in relation to the post and the needs of the organisation. This will ensure that a consistent level of information is provided by each applicant.
Downloads are available for application and internal staff monitoring forms. The advice service can help you with any specific recruitment issues.