Found her Job advertised online....Legal?

N

nearlyhappy

Registered User
Messages
12
Hi there,

Would like to know if its legal for a company to advertise a position without the person knowing about it.

My "friend" became permament after 1 years probation about 4 months ago. Its a private sector job, pensionable, professional, specific.

Crusing a jobs site at home last evening she saw her position advertised. Its an agency ad, but there is no doubt because it is so specific.

Of course its possible the agency is pulling a fast one, but when she approaches HR is there any specific law she can wave at them?


Thanks in advance


Nh
 
Your friend is protected by the Unfair Dismissals Act. If they decide to fire her, they must show that it was fair. If it was not, she will get compensation or be reinstated.

Although it is very specific, I would not assume that it's the same job. Why does she not get someone else to apply for the job through the agency and see can she get more information. If it is her job, then she can decide if she should approach her employer.

Brendan
 
Could it be that the job was advertised around the time she was made permanent and the agency haven't removed it? I've often applied for jobs online that actually don't seem to exist or have long since been filled.
 
But don't forget there is no legal issue with someone placing an advertisement for a position. There is nothing inherently wrong with placing the ad.

Being replaced by someone without any chance to defend yourself or apply for your own position is a different thing, but right now all that has happened is that an ad has appeared.

It would be quite unwise to go storming into HR demanding an explanation. If it is totally 'innocent' (like the agency placed the ad again in error) then HR will think the person is a bit reactionary.

I have also seen ads from agencies which run for ages. There was one in particular which was very specific in the wording and had a relatively good salary which I applied for a number of times before eventually working out it was the same ad all the time. The agency must have had it on the website (Monster I think) for well over a year. There is no way an employer would leave a position with an agency for that long and it wasn't just an ad for a repeating position because I know from the context they could only have been looking for 1 person. so agencies do make mistakes and agencies do post positions to keep their profile up.

z
 
Some agencies will also try and continue to gather CVs for what may be regularly replaced positions.

They can then use these CVs to approach different companies and tout for business. Could be that this job spec applies to a number of companies and they are reusing the old ad to do just that?
 
Sometimes companies place ads to get an idea of what the market is like out there, and to see whether there are any good candidates that might be interested. They aren't looking to fill a particular position. If someone applies that they think is really good, they will hire them. The company my dad worked for did that, and got in a CV from one of his existing engineers.
 
Any time I applied for a job advertised by an agency, they always told me "that one's gone but here's another similar job". So sun_sparks might be right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top