Age Discrimination: Advertising your Jobs

As you are fully aware, 1st October 2006 saw a new dawn in recruitment with the introduction of The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (2006). It’s the biggest piece of workplace legislation since sex and race discrimination laws were introduced in the 1970s.

Employers will now have to be very careful using phrases such as ‘youthful’ or even ‘mature’ or 'senior' when advertising for candidates. There is no real list of banned terms but recruitment experts are advising employers to keep their job adverts generic to steer clear of any potential legal pitfalls.

Helpful Hints for Job Descriptions - by reed.co.uk

When posting jobs your job description should outline the duties required of the position along with the skills, knowledge and experience required to carry out these duties.

• Avoid any reference to the age group of the desired applicant or the age group of any colleagues that the successful applicant will be working with, e.g. 'applicant needed to work with a young, lively team'.

• Add the words 'or equivalent' next to any academic qualifications. Simply stating a GCSE requirement would rule out many older people who left school before GCSEs were introduced.

• The term 'mature' should be avoided unless it is made clear that it refers to attitude rather than age.

• The terms 'junior' and 'senior' should be used with caution and only when they can be objectively justified.

• Avoid asking for 'x years experience'. The quality and relevance of the experience should be important - not the number of years.