Focus on potential, skills and ability
...not age
Related Information
In this section
- Recruitment
- Employee benefits and pay
- Training and development
- Flexible working
- Redundancy
- Retirement
- Workforce management
- Health and safety
"Our workforce is productive because it feels valued and trusted. A growing company needs people of
all ages to provide a balance. It's this mix of ages which has had a marked improvement on teamwork
and customer service."
Spokesperson, Rachel's Organic Dairy
"When you employ staff you get the benefit of their life experiences too. We feature employees over
50 in our recruitment advertising to send out a positive message to prospective older applicants."
Philip Brown, Recruitment and Training Manager, FirstGroup
The resource centre has information about age legislation, publications and external contacts.
Good Practice
Recruitment
Broadening the search
Recruitment advertising that is clear and avoids age discrimination attracts a broad range of applicants and skills. Use a wider range of methods including:
- local newspapers
- community newsletters
- Jobcentre Plus
- recruitment agencies
- in-house advertising
- staff referrals.
Recruitment agencies
Ensure that your agency is up to date with your policies and practices and complying with current legislation. Remember, if they discriminate, you may be liable.
Job descriptions
Focus on the job and its requirements and avoid any words or phrases that could suggest an age preference, such as:
- mature person
- school leaver
- first job
- energetic graduate
Ask for relevant and proven experience and avoid stating a set or minimum number of years experience.
If you are asking for qualifications, make it clear you accept equivalents from applicants of all ages.
A positive approach
You can take positive action to encourage people of a particular age to apply. You could include a statement saying that applicants are welcome from everyone 'irrespective of age, but especially from people in the [under-represented] age group'. By making it clear that any appointment is based on merit alone you will be encouraging applications from people who might previously have felt excluded from applying.
Application forms
Separate personal details, including age and date of birth, from the rest of the application form. This will ensure that those involved in the recruitment process are not influenced by age, and judge on merit alone. Is asking for a complete work history relevant or necessary for the particular job ? Focus on skills - don't rely on qualifications unnecessarily.