Job seekers should be treated with integrity and honesty

WHEN Money Management recently reported that recruitment agencies were advertising non-existent roles, it raised a broader issue of what constitutes acceptable and ethical recruitment practices.

In this case, such an approach is generally used to collect candidates’ CVs in order to present them to an agency’s potential clients, and it is clearly not allowed by the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association’s (RCSA’s) Code for Professional Conduct.

In particular, the code does not permit recruiters to advertise positions that do not exist, demands that advertisements “accurately describe what, if any, jobs are available”, and only allows them to advertise “for positions which they have permission to recruit”.

As our code is authorised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the RCSA has the ability to discipline members who breach it. There are clear processes for reporting and investigating alleged breaches, with penalties ranging from fines to expulsion.

Like financial services, the recruitment and talent management sector relies on clients’ and candidates’ trust, which is why the RCSA has devoted a great deal of time, effort and resources to developing and implementing the code: it’s the key to our industry’s professional standing.

Unfortunately, however, the code can only be applied to our members, meaning it’s very difficult to rein in the recruitment agencies that aren’t part of the association. And just as a small number of unprofessional financial planners can do untold damage to the reputation of the industry at large, good recruiters can be tarnished by the unethical practices of the minority.

The key difference, however, is that the finance sector has a large apparatus of regulators to deal with unethical practices.

But while the recruitment industry is subject to the normal privacy, workplace relations and consumer laws, it is difficult to regulate those who fall outside the RCSA’s remit.

As a peak body, we certainly work hard to maintain high professional standards, particularly through our education initiatives. Not only is every individual and corporate member required to undergo training on the code, we also offer a range of online, face-to-face seminars, workshops and induction courses to foster best practice.

But we can’t be everywhere at once. It’s up to clients and candidates to keep us informed if they believe they have been treated unethically or unfairly.

So it pays to arm yourself with knowledge about the job search process, what you can expect, and how you should be treated.

This is particularly relevant for the financial services sector: the large number of redundancies in recent months and slowing demand for investment and financial planning services have made the job market tougher than ever.

According to recent figures from RCSA member Hudson, which were reported in this magazine, more than half of all financial services hiring managers have put a freeze on recruitment to cope with the economic environment. Only 17 per cent of all respondents had said they had planned to hire staff in the June quarter this year, compared to 43.7 per cent last year.

In this context, it pays to understand the job search process: the greater your understanding, the more likely you are to work effectively with recruitment professionals.