A recent survey looking at discriminatory phrases used in job adverts found that 64% of accountancy and finance professionals did not believe the term ‘newly qualified’ to be a discriminatory phrase.

This is despite many employers and recruitment agencies reluctantly eliminating the term from job specs for fear of breaking age discrimination laws.

GAAPweb, the specialist financial job site, questioned nearly 200 accountancy and finance professionals to gain a better understanding of what they consider to be either discriminatory or exclusive use of language in job adverts.
 
The survey found that nearly three quarters of finance professionals (70%) consider ‘newly qualified’ as a specific stage in their career and did not think that it necessarily related to age. Whilst some terms such as ‘young’ and ‘mature’ clearly refer to a particular age group, the jury is still out on whether omitting the phrase ‘newly qualified’ helps encourage inclusion or simply makes life more difficult for employers who now receive piles of unsuitable job applications. GAAPweb is calling for the Government to urgently review discriminatory terms in job specifications.