We take a look at the actual job offer. Before this offer is committed to paper, the employer must make certain that his expectations and the employee’s expectations are agreed.
There is no point in making a job offer to a candidate who has revealed at the interview that his expectations differ from those of the employer – or that he has expectations that the employer cannot provide. Such an employment relationship will never last.
Expectations must agree for several reasons, and one of the important reasons is employee retention. No employer desires a high staff turnover. The idea is to have a stable workforce, and the employer needs to employ people who are going to stay – “job-hoppers” are of no use to anybody – not even to themselves.
If a candidate rejects a job offer, the employer should solicit the cooperation of that candidate and conduct an “exit” type interview to try and establish the reasons for the rejection of the offer. Obviously, the candidate must have been interested, or he would not have applied for the job.
The information obtained in this “exit” type interview could be of immense importance to the employer. It is essential that it is made clear to the candidate what the employer’s expectations are.
Employers are expected to keep copies of all documents used in the recruitment and interview/selection process for a “reasonable” period of time.
As is expected, in keeping with established good practice, the Code does not define the meaning of “reasonable.”
It is important to keep these records in case another employee or indeed the candidate himself should, at a later stage, challenge the fairness of the recruitment and selection processes.
Reference checking is another area that requires special attention. The idea of this function is to verify information provided by the applicant on the job application form or during the interview process. Reference checking must not be carried out in a manner that unfairly discriminates. The same checks must be done on all short-listed applicants.
An employer should only conduct integrity checks if it is relevant to the job. Such checks would include credit references or checking of credit records, checking criminal records, checking of driver’s license validity, and so on.
Although we take great care to ensure that the information on our website is accurate and up to date, readers are advised to always consult with a Labour Law Practitioner before acting on the information. The information on this website does not constitute legal advice.
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