Exclusive: Recruitment consultant in discriminatory ad shocker
04 November 2011
A recruitment consultancy has been caught posting job adverts which appear to directly flout anti-discrimination laws.

LAW Absolute posted an advert on behalf of its client, a "huge household name", which is on the lookout for a corporate/commercial lawyer to join its legal team. The ideal candidate, who'll pocket between £45-55k a year, not only appears to need leonine muscle power (a "strong" lawyer with "strong" drafting skills and a "strong" background) but also needs to be "Antipodean".


A quick squint at the Race Relations Act of 1976 - which makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate on the basis of, inter alia, nationality - suggests that specifically seeking antipodean candidates may well be a wee bit on the discriminatory side. A spokeswoman for LAW Absolute said this was not the intention: "LAW Absolute operates a strict Equal Opportunities policy and rolls out rigorous and regular training in this area. We are investigating the circumstances in which the advertisement was published and regret any misconceptions it may have caused.

Still, this is the latest in a line of recent job ad blunders. Slaughter and May's recruiters announced that they would lower themselves to consider antipodean thickos, whilst Orrick decided it was too young and dynamic for any oldies, and only wanted candidates under 30.

Luckily for LAW Absolute there are clearly plenty of athletic antipodeans out there. The website proudly states that the vacancy has now been filled.

A strong Antipodean yesterday