The option linked to recruitment in the employability criteria are concerned with improving policy and procedures to increase accessibility for people from priority groups and developings between the employer and Jobcentre Plus.

To advise and support employers effectively in this area you need to be familiar with:

• The range of services provided through Jobcentre Plus.
• Best practice in policy and procedure.
• Where to signpost employers for additional information and advice.

Your starting point with an employer should be to understand their current recruitment practice and identify areas that could contribute to the Healthy Working Lives Award. If they already have practices in place that could contribute to the award, you could encourage them to build on these and increase the accessibility of their recruitment.

For Example:
An employer who currently advertises vacancies through Jobcentre Plus might be open to meeting with a Jobcentre Plus Disability Advisor to explore the options for increasing the recruitment of people with disabilities.

Many SMEs do not have formal procedures for recruitment and often rely on informal recruitment methods to fill vacancies, such as word of mouth and recommendations from existing employees .

If this is the case, you should try to identify some simple and straightforward steps that an employer could take to increase the accessibility of their recruitment processes. This could include advertising vacancies through Jobcentre Plus and developing as approaches to advertising, job descriptions, shortlisting and interviewing.