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Premium and Premium Plus customers, Graphite provides a HR
Consultation Service. As part of our regular monthly review
in HR e-ssentials Graphite HRM provides you with an insight
into the type of queries we get through this consultation
service. This month we have taken some of the recruitment
related queries that we have dealt with.
Q: What recruitment records
should we keep and how long should we keep them for?
A: Recruitment
records should include a copy of the job advertisement, the
job description and person specification, all applications
received, the short-listing criteria used and the scores achieved
by each applicant at short listing stage. Copies of all correspondence
with applicants should also be retained, and records of the
interview process, including invites to interview, the criteria
assessed at interview and the corresponding scores for each
candidate. If any selection tests are used these should also
be recorded. Any other documentation produced as part of the
process must be retained.
The Employment Equality Acts provide that an individual who
wishes to refer a complaint of discrimination to the Equality
Tribunal must do so within six months of the most recent incident
of discrimination. This may be extended to twelve months in
special circumstances. Therefore, in order to be in a position
to defend your organisation against complaints of discrimination
in the recruitment process, you should retain records for
at least 12 months.
It is important to remember that any individual whose personal
data is held by you is entitled, under data protection legislation,
to access their file. Such access must be provided within
40 days of receipt of a request.
To read about Recruitment please see Chapter 13, Recruitment,
of Personnel Policies and
Procedures – The Law in Perspective.
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Q: We set
a closing date for applications for a post that we advertised
recently, however a number of applicants applied after the
closing date. Can we still consider them for the role?
A: Best practice
dictates that where a criteria is set for a role, that this
criteria be applied consistently. Therefore where a closing
date is set, it should be applied. If an organisation decides
to ignore the closing date that it set, then it must do so
for all applicants, whether they are one day late or over
a week late applying. If there is a difference of treatment
between individuals, this may amount to discrimination, so
a recruiter should think in advance before specifying requirements
for the role, particularly where these requirements may be
waived in the future. At times organisation have dealt with
a situation like the one described by re-advertising and allowing
any other new candidates to come forward
To read about Recruitment please see Chapter 13, Recruitment,
of Personnel Policies and
Procedures – The Law in Perspective.
Disclaimer - This is not
a legal service, all suggestions will be based on HR best
practice.
You should seek independent legal advice before making any
decisions.
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