Is your Recruitment process legal and effective?
All Early Years Settings must have a robust recruitment policy and procedure; this policy should be in place to safeguard children’s, welfare and safety as well as adults and parents.
When creating a recruitment process it should include key legislation such as the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Equality Act 2010 and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 as well as the requirements within the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements of the EYFS. Including this legislation is highly important in ensuring your recruitment process is legal and effective.
When advertising for new recruits it is imperative that the advertise states your commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Many adverts also include the following statement ‘The successful applicant will require an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check’
It is important to check all relevant documents such as application forms, job description, person specification to ensure they are up to date with current legislation and guidance changes. When recruiting new employees ensure you have both the job description and person specification for each role in your setting and that both these documents are given to new applicants.
Applications forms, Job descriptions and person specification all hold important information for those new employees and existing employees who apply for roles within the setting; therefore it is crucial when devising these documents that settings think about what should be included in them.
If creating your own application forms ensure these are clear and only include the information that is needed to carry out the job such as education, qualifications, experience and skills.
As an employer ensure you fully understand the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 in regard to health or disability issues.
The Equality Act 2010 prevents employers being able to ask applicants about health or disability questions before making a job offer, knowing this information ensure you are following this within your recruitment process.
Also ensure you have a system in place to monitor the diversity of your applicants.