Q. Do I have to advertise job vacancies?
This is a question that has a lot of businesses and organisations scratching their heads and it’s usually posed when a vacancy comes up and there’s someone earmarked to do it. Hopefully it’s the right person with the right skillset and attitude for the role but leaving that aside for the moment, the business then has the dilemma of whether or not to advertise the position.
The short answer to this question is no. There is no legal obligation to advertise any vacancy, neither internally nor externally. However, unless you have an employee who is a perfect fit for the role, there are usually benefits to advertising. Such benefits include:
Internal advertising
- Gives all employees a fair chance to apply and be considered;
- Promotes a feeling of openness and transparency in the organisation and does away with the “behind closed doors” mentality;
- Gives all employees the opportunity to be aware of the vacancy and to introduce friends/family/acquaintances who might be suitable (this works particularly well with an employee referral scheme in place).
External advertising
- Opens the role to a wider audience who may bring skills and experience you don’t already have;
- Allows for “fresh blood” to come into the business;
- Meets best practice in recruiting by making positions open and accessible to all;
- Helps to avoid potentially discriminatory recruitment decisions;
- Can be used as a positive message of business growth for marketing and promotional purposes.
However, as I saw recently, if you are going to advertise a role internally, make it meaningful. I was asked to assist someone in an application for an internal position. The job advert is written rather strangely to say the least but it does invite interested applicants to request a job description from two named individuals. Upon request, neither individual has or has access to said job description. The internal applicant is left wondering why bother and it has done nothing to promote the company culture in this person’s eyes.
If you’d like help with your recruitment advertising strategies or just recruitment in general, contact us today
