Hi, I’m Cliff Ennico, legal editor of sbtv.com and author of the best selling book Small Business Survivor Guide. So your thinking of hiring your first employee or maybe its your 15th employee and your thinking about taking out and advertisement, either in a local newspaper or one of the increasingly popular internet advertising sides such as craiglist.org or squidoo.com, which is a new one.
What are some of the rules about creating and effective and legal job advertisement? Well, lets begin at the beginning. You’re looking for a specific position, you need to be able to define with some accuracy with the essential functions of that position are. People do not like it when they respond to an end and they show up for the job interview and the position is completely other than as what’s described in the advertisement that they read and relied on. So give some serious thought about what exactly the essential functions are of the job position and make sure that those are stated in the advertisement.
Secondly, make sure the job title is stated in the advertisement. You do not have to indicate salary or but some people in their advertising like to suggest a range jut to give people a sense of whether this is an entry level or a professional position. I think digression would air on the side of perhaps not putting that information in because let’s face it. Salary is always subject to negotiation. If you publish a $100,000 a year and someone comes in who’s willing to work for $80,000 a year, you’ve lost your ability to negotiate that.
I would keep it out of the attic if necessary. Very important, do not put anything in your add that would indicate any sort of a discriminatory hiring preference. This is probably the biggest mistake that people make with their job advertising. So for example, non women of color need not apply. That’s an absolute no-no that violates every federal and state job discrimination law that I know off. You know certain types of people tend not to work well in this job, not suitable for a disabled person. These are all things that can get you into some incredible legal hot water if your not careful.
I would say, if you run to encourage minorities and females and other assessed people to apply for your position and other assessed people to apply for your position, do state that you are an equal opportunity employer. Believe it or not, a lot of people think you have to be certified but some government agency as an equal opportunity employer, not at all. All you have to do is say in your add, we’re an equal opportunity employer translation. We encourage minorities, women, the disabled and veterans to apply for this position.
Do state, if a position would b suitable for veterans, that is absolutely not a discriminatory thing as long as you don’t say, the veterans only need to apply. Its okay to welcome people into the applicant pool. Its not okay to exclude people from your applicant pool when you do a job advertisement. I’m Cliff Enneco for sbtv.com.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services