UK Job sites on the line if law gets go-ahead

The future of the online recruitment industry in the UK is under threat unless the Government carries out a last minute U-turn and excludes jobsites from new regulations.

That is the view of the Association of Online Recruiters (AOLR) and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which are lobbying the DTI to try and have jobsites excluded from the Employment Agencies Act.

They warn employers could lose a fast and cost-effective recruitment resource if the Government does not exempt online recruiters from the legislation.

Under the Act, due to go before Parliament next month, jobsites such as Totaljobs, Monster and Workthing will be forced to comply with stringent new rules, which they argue would force them out of business.

These include having to organise a face-to-face meeting with all candidates using their services and being forced to have copies of all qualifications in submitted CVs. Chairman of AOLR Bill Shipton told Personnel Today that if the Act is applied to jobsites it would effectively mean the end of the online recruitment industry in the UK.

He stressed that jobsites are a vital resource for employers, with 3.3 million jobseekers using the eight biggest internet recruitment sites every month.

The REC''s director of external relations Marcia Roberts said the Act could ''decimate'' online recruitment firms unless the Government grants an exemption.

It would be ridiculous to include job boards in the Act - they are no different from newspapers, she said.

Joe Slavin, managing director of Monster.co.uk, said employers would suffer increased advertising costs if online recruiters are put out of business.

And Paul Ivory, a spokesman for Totaljobs, said: It will set the UK back 20 years.

By Ben Willmott
Personneltoday.com