As an employer, it can sometimes be challenging to find the right person for a vacancy you need to fill. Your team has likely had to wade through piles of applications in the past, many of which may have been from people who were totally unsuitable for the role.
Therefore, it can be tempting to detail exactly what you want in a candidate in a targeted job posting. However, spelling out your ideal candidate too precisely may cause you to violate employment laws. It may also cause you to lose out on some qualified people who don’t fit your specified description
Job postings must not discriminate
Let’s imagine you’ve realized that the employees who do best in your workforce tend to fall into a particular age bracket. For example, you may have had great success with those fresh out of college. They’ve been eager to impress and completely at home with the technology they need to use.
Therefore, you make it clear in your posting that these are the type of people you are looking for. You use words such as “recent graduate” or “digital native” or even “fun-loving Gen Z”.
By including language like this, you put the company at risk of facing legal action. A potential candidate who sees the listing and feels there is no point in applying because they are too old for what you want could claim age discrimination. Similar things can happen with words that express a preference for or against a particular gender, race, religion or other characteristic.
There are exceptions where it is acceptable to be more specific, such as requiring that candidates are not above the maximum permitted age to become a firefighter or police officer. A church may be allowed to stipulate that candidates to be the new pastor must follow its religion. In general, however, you need to ensure that everyone with suitable experience and qualifications feels welcome to apply — or at least that they do not feel discouraged from applying because of one of their protected characteristics.
Slip-ups may happen, of course. When they do, experienced legal guidance may help you find a speedy resolution.