A recent survey looking at discriminatory phrases used in job adverts found that 64% of accountancy and finance professionals did not believe the term ënewly qualifiedí to be a discriminatory phrase. This is despite many employers and recruitment agencies reluctantly eliminating the term from job specs for fear of breaking age discrimination laws.
GAAPweb, the UKís specialist financial job site, questioned nearly 200 accountancy and finance professionals to gain a better understanding of what they consider to be either discriminatory or exclusive use of language in job adverts.
The survey found that nearly three quarters of finance professionals (70%) consider ënewly qualifiedí as a specific stage in their career and did not think that it necessarily related to age. Whilst some terms such as ëyoungí and ëmatureí clearly refer to a particular age group, the jury is still out on whether omitting the phrase ënewly qualifiedí helps encourage inclusion or simply makes life more difficult for employers who now receive piles of unsuitable job applications. GAAPweb is calling for the Government to urgently review discriminatory terms in job specifications.
Graham Ruddick, managing director of GAAPweb comments:
ìAs exam time approaches and the next group of finance and accounting professionals get ready to enter the jobs market, there needs to be more clarification from the Government on the words and phrases that can and cannot be used in job specification. The employers and recruitment agencies we work with often tell us that they now receive unsuitable candidates for entry-level positions because they feel they can no longer specify that the job is only suitable for the newly qualified. We also work with a number of clients who would like to run campaigns around exam time in the same way that employers target graduates but they are being held back because of the confusion around age discrimination law.î
Ruddick concludes:
ìThe pressure is on for employers to find the right candidates. When skills shortages are rife, the last thing they need are unnecessary obstacles in their way preventing them from doing this.î
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Newly qualifiedí not considered discriminatory, new survey reveals
A recent survey looking at discriminatory phrases used in job adverts found that 64% of accountancy and finance professionals did not believe the term ënewly qualifiedí to be a discriminatory phrase
