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FED UP WITH AGEIST JOB ADS? Age campaigners launch job ad amnesty 16 June 2003 Take one look in the recruitment pages of any newspaper in the UK and you will discover that ageism is alive and well, warns the Employers Forum on Age (EFA), the leading expert on age issues in the workplace. The EFA today (16 June) is launching a national job ad amnesty, encouraging everyone to send in examples of ageist recruitment ads and join together in challenging recruiters to change their ways. Forward thinking companies have realised that there is no place for age discrimination in the workplace, but too many employers still don’t get it. Four years on from the launch of the Government’s voluntary code, it is still too easy to find adverts which are both explicitly and implicitly ageist. Here are just a few phrases taken from ads in May 2003:
Sam Mercer, director of the EFA says: ‘Employers really need to focus on ability, not age. Too many ads are not thought through, employers may not realise they are putting off ideal candidates by sending out the message they only want a person of a specific age. Simply removing an age range from an advert will not protect employers from future age discrimination laws. Ageist language may also be considered unlawful and going by the adverts we see today many recruiters are going to have a serious problem in 3 years time’. The EFA is launching its campaign just prior to the start of the government’s second consultation on the legislation – due to start at the end of this month – and will report back on its findings before the government’s consultation ends this autumn. The EFA’s top 10 words to watch in recruitment ads: When an employer is looking for a ‘young candidate’ they often use:
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