What Makes Fair Hiring? Part 2: Developing a Fair and Effective Job Ad

Now that you have successfully established your organisation’s fair hiring policy, crafting a merit-based and non-discriminatory job ad is the next key step to your hiring process, and critical to the successful recruitment of the right candidate. A well-written job advertisement will not only help you attract the right talent, allow you to build a strong talent pool of potential candidates for the future, but will also promote your organisation’s brand.

Developing the Job Description

A job description reflects various components, such as the job title, duties and responsibilities, required/preferred qualifications and working conditions. 
Before writing any job advertisement, it is important to thoroughly understand what the job role entails and its day-to-day requirements to accurately develop the job description and specifications. Put together your job description by summarising the following:

• Accurate information about the job role. This may involve interviews with current employees in the organisation to find out exactly the tasks performed or observing how the tasks are performed. 
• The required qualifications – knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required to perform the role effectively; and preferred qualifications which provide an added advantage in succeeding in the role. 
• The context to which the tasks are being carried out, e.g., the physical environment, working conditions, etc. and other requirements that relate directly to the job role, e.g. travelling on short notice, essential physical requirements, requirement to work on weekends, or be on-call as a regular part of the job, etc.

Once you have crafted your job description, you are ready to develop your job ad.

Ensuring your Job Ad is Non-Discriminatory

Ensuring your job ads are merit-based and non-discriminatory can help your organisation stand out against competing employers by exhibiting the value of fairness. Refer to these tips to help you write a great job advertisement that is non-discriminatory; and 3C’s to help you write a fair job advertisement.

Here are some areas to examine before publishing your job ad.

• Are there any words/phrases that could be perceived as discriminatory?
• Is your job description too specific to certain skills/products and would deter certain groups of candidates from applying for the job, or pre-selects certain types of candidates? Doing so not only restricts your talent pool, but may be perceived as discriminatory.
• Are all personnel involved in the development of a job ad aware of the need to adhere  to the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) in different roles, e.g. drafting the job ad, vetting and/or approving the job ad to ensure accuracy, etc.? Having a robust and comprehensive vetting process in place prevents potential miscommunications that can arise from human error such as typos, lack of clarity and carelessness. 

Selecting Advertising Platforms

The final step is selecting the best advertising platform to connect with potential job candidates.

Different platforms appeal to different work segments. However, it is important that your platform fairly reaches out to a diverse audience. To do so, always ensure that your job ad is first posted on a platform that is widely accessible by a diverse pool of talent.

The drafting of a job advertisement may seem like a straightforward process, but there are many factors at play that will affect the quantity and quality of candidates applying. More importantly, it is an important indicator to potential candidates of your organisation’s commitment towards fair hiring.

This article is part of a series to facilitate the review of your hiring practices to establish your organisation’s commitment towards fair hiring.