The Equality Acts 1998-2011 apply to all employees and agency workers, in both public and private sectors. It's important that the interviewers are mindful of the nine equality grounds:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Sexuality
- Family Status
- Civil Status
- Race
- Religion
- Members of the travelling community.
Advertising
A common question from employers is “do we need to advertise internally and externally?” All companies should follow their own recruitment policy. If your recruitment policy states that you will advertise all roles internally and externally, you should follow your own policy.
Once a role has been advertised, it's important to have some kind of shortlisting for interviews. The personnel specification, job description, and application form should be used as the most accurate and objective tools in shortlisting. Any candidates who are not being called for an interview should be sent a rejection letter.
Preparation and conducting the interview
Preparation is key, we all know that.
The structure of the interview should be set and questions should be prepped in advance. You should ensure there are no interruptions throughout the interview.
Interviews can be quite nerve-racking, if you want to get the most out of candidates it’s important to put them at ease. Give them a brief overview of the business and a summary of the interviewers’ background. Ask the candidate to tell you a bit about their relevant experience.
Ask open-ended questions and ensure not to ask any discriminatory questions. At the end of the interview, ask the candidate if they have any questions and make sure details of referees are available. Also, give them a time frame as to when they will receive an outcome.
Note-taking
Note-taking is an important part of the interview process. Detailed notes should be kept and all candidates should be scored at the end of each interview. Having a scoring system in place clearly shows all candidates have been treated fairly. The notes should be retained on file for 12 months thereafter.
It's not uncommon for unsuccessful candidates to request feedback from interviews. It's also not uncommon for candidates to take equality claims. If you ensure you have a fair, transparent interview process in place where all candidates are asked the same questions and scored the way will help mitigate against any potential claims. Any reviewing panel may draw an inference of discrimination from the lack of any records. Due to the risk of equality claims, it's important that all interviewers should be trained appropriately.
Finally, as an employer, you need to stand over and be responsible for selection decisions. Ensure you can prove that all candidates were treated fairly and within reason, which they were not subjected, directly or indirectly, to any discrimination. The maximum compensation for a candidate who has been discriminated against at the interview stage is €12,967.
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