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Discrimination in job ads is commonplace

I recently came across a job advertisement a friend had posted on Facebook. It was fairly detailed and clearly a lot of thought had gone into writing it, but one element stood out to me and started alarm bells ringing.

My friend said the position wasn’t suited for a college leaver without experience, so they shouldn’t even apply. If everybody put that in their ads no college leavers would ever be able to get a job because they lacked the necessary experience. That’s clearly unfair and is recognised in law.

Employers are prohibited from advertising job vacancies in a way that is discriminatory on the basis of age. The Equality Act 2010 sets out the legal framework for preventing discrimination in the workplace, including in recruitment and advertising. To comply with these laws, employers must ensure that their job advertisements are worded in a way that is inclusive and avoids any direct or indirect discrimination on the basis of age.

Hints & Tips

Below are some tips on how employers can word their job advertisements to avoid age discrimination while still attracting suitable candidates with adequate experience: