Recruitment authorisation form

The first stage in recruitment is to check what your business requirements are. Do you really need a new member of staff and, if so, are you proposing to recruit at the right level of seniority? Always take care with your proposed advertisement wording.

A necessary expenditure?

It can be common for line managers to make requests for replacement staff without giving any thought at all to whether work could be re-distributed or work practices and systems better organised. Use of our Recruitment Authorisation Form will ensure managers give full consideration to whether or not the post can be justified and what the financial implications of recruiting a new or replacement member of staff are likely to be. Its use also means a request for a new or replacement employee has to be approved in advance by a director. Our form should therefore be used as part of the recruitment process for managers. Once approval has been granted, the job vacancy can then be advertised.

An advertising headache

Broadly speaking, it is unlawful to make any statement in any job advertisement that indicates or implies an intention to discriminate because of sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, married or civil partnership status, race, religion, pregnancy or maternity, age or disability. It could amount to discrimination on age grounds to specify age limits or age ranges in advertisements or indeed to specify a minimum or maximum number of years of relevant experience. Avoid using stereotyped words or phrases such as “salesman”, “young”, “mature”, “fit”, etc. Advertisements should not be placed in a way that has the effect of limiting the range of potential applicants, for example, by being placed solely in a newspaper read mainly by one sex or race, and they should encourage equality of opportunity.

Advertising aims

The aim of the ad should be to attract suitable candidates. The ad therefore needs to be eye-catching, interesting, informative (but not overly wordy) and clear about how and by when applications should be made. The ad should cover the essentials of the company, the job, person specification, salary and major benefits and location.

Advertising media

Once you’ve drafted a suitable ad, it needs to be published. The national broadsheets or professional journals are best for managerial, professional and technical jobs. Local papers, trade journals and the Job Centre are preferable for recruiting junior office staff and manual workers. Use the Internet too.