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Job ads, recruitment and the law

Job ads, recruitment and the law (part 1)

Jackie Barrie

Written by: Jackie Barrie

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says all ads should be: “Legal, decent, honest and truthful”. We were asked whether anyone has ever been sued for writing dishonest job ads. Here’s what we found:

Job ads that don’t exist

Ten years ago, Ian Johnson was sentenced to 30 weeks’ imprisonment and Ronald Clark was sentenced to 34 weeks suspended for 18 months. The pair were also banned from running or being involved in an employment agency for seven years. Why? Because they’d been placing ads for jobs which didn’t exist.

Misleading job ads

Also 10 years ago, Cerco IT advertised for an IT support engineer on Reed. Their ad was found to be misleading because it wasn’t a genuine vacancy – they just wanted to add candidates to their database.

In 2018, Vanguard Marketing advertised for a sales advisor on TotalJobs quoting an average salary of £250-£450 per week OTE. The ASA upheld the complaint that this was misleading, because it wasn’t clear the pay was commission only, and that readers wouldn’t understand “OTE” means Option To Earn.

Going further back, Netcom advertised in 2017 on CV Library for a first-line IT support technician. The ad was misleading because the job didn’t exist. It was trying to attract trainees onto a government-funded course.

That same year, Developing Your Potential Recruitment advertised teaching assistant roles on Monster, TotalJobs and Twitter. They were also found to breach the ASA guidance by using fake job ads to sell their training course.

What this means to you

Don’t mislead the reader. Jobs you advertise must exist.

Be clear. Don’t be too vague, nor omit key information.

You should back up any claims you make with evidence.

Include the type of role and whether it’s permanent or temporary, salary/voluntary or unpaid, location & working hours.

Further reading

If you’re looking for new ways to attract candidates to jobs, take a look at our Copywriting Training Courses

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The Taster Course

This is a pre-recorded taster course that will give you a clearer understanding of why writing effective job ads is important.

It also allows you to experience the training, which will help you decide if you want to invest in one of our copywriting training programmes.

The Taster Course

The Standard Course

You’ll learn how to write effective job ads. Job ads that stand out because they’re more interesting to read and more likely to get responded to by the right people.

Includes the pre-recorded course only.

Standard Course

The Personal Course

You’ll learn how to sell jobs more effectively in writing. And that’s regardless of whether the channels used are job postings, emails, LinkedIn Inmails or social media.

Includes the pre-recorded course, a writing assignment and customised live reinforcement coaching via Zoom.

The Personal Programme

The Group Course

A bespoke programme for corporate recruiters, HR professionals, and groups from recruitment agencies.

Includes the pre-recorded course, a writing assignment and customised live training as a group, via Zoom. Each workshop can cater for between 6 and 10 delegates.

The Group Programme

Taking the Job Brief

You’ll learn more about how to get the quality of information you need to be able to write a quality job advert, or series of emails and InMails. It all starts with the conversation you have with the hiring manager.

Taking the Job Brief
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1. Buy our pre-recorded Copywriting for Recruiters training course?

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3. Learn more about the art and science of writing more attractive job postings, emails or Inmails?

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We’re not big on talking about ourselves (you’ll understand why after doing the course), but if you’d like to know how this training programme got started and who the people are behind it, find out more about us.

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