Age Discrimination Legislation

Recruitment - send the right message

By using age as a recruitment condition, you are showing potential employees that you are an employer who discriminates unfairly. Be an employer of choice. Make it clear that you recruit people on the basis of their skills and ability, not their age.

In your job adverts, you should:

• avoid giving age limits or age ranges;
• avoid age restrictions, such as 'young graduates', 'mature person' or "according to age and experience"; and
• where possible, ask for relevant experience, skills and ability rather than insisting on particular qualifications. For example, a phrase like "Only people with GCSE English need apply" will exclude all those who left school before GCSEs were introduced. A better phrase might be "Good communication skills required".

Do you think about where and how jobs are advertised?

• Younger people might be more likely to use careers advice services, Jobcentre Plus and newspapers.
• Older people might rely on community and business networks.
• Do you make sure that application forms only ask for job-related information?

If you use recruitment consultants, do you make sure that they know you are positive about age?