Recruitment and Selection Policy

All employers should have a recruitment and selection policy to help avoid claims of discrimination. (Discrimination claims can be made by anyone - someone responding to a job advert, a candidate attending a job interview, even someone sending your organisation an unsolicited CV.)

Discrimination claims can be made on the grounds of sex, age, disability, race, religious or other grounds. Furthermore, discrimination does not have to be direct - if a recruitment policy is likely to penalise women unfairly, it could constitute indirect discrimination.

All UK employers have a legal obligation to avoid direct or indirect discrimination in their recruitment process.

This document helps avoid discrimination claims by outlining the recruitment process, how candidates will be selected for interview, how they will be assessed and how recruitment decisions will be made.

The recruitment and selection procedures outline the activities that should be undertaken when recruiting both permanent and temporary staff. They also define what information will be provided to prospective employees, what references will be requested and what information will be retained.