A complaint against a job advert placed by GRI Team International has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The advert for a business development manager entitled: ‘Salary £35,000 - £60,000 OTE (performance driven)… Job Type Permanent jobs… Permanent positions, Chance of International, travel, car and profit sharing programmes’ was challenged by a reader who attended an interview and found there was not a permanent position available.

The firm said it was not advertising a job but a business opportunity calling for five people to work on a self-employed basis.

The ASA ruled that while acknowledging that the text further down in the ad referred to a ‘self-employed contract’, marketers need to distinguish clearly between offers of employment and business opportunities and was therefore likely to mislead, so the advert must not appear again in its current form.