According to a statement, released by the ASA today, the complaint was raised against an ad that appeared on careers site CV-Library.co.uk on 5 January.

The ad stated: ‘IT Trainee £17,000-£24,000/annum + full training for MCSA/Security + … Netcom are recruiting for a 1st Line IT support Technician. If you are a natural problem solver and have experience within IT or professional services this could be the perfect opportunity for you. Main duties of 1st Line Support Assistant: Excellent customer service over the phone … Providing desktop hardware and software support including Windows 7.’

The complainant in this case, who understood the ad was for a training course and not a job opportunity, challenged whether the ad was misleading.

The ASA agreed with the complainant ruling the ad was misleading because:

• that while the ad referred to the position as being at trainee level and indicated that full training would be provided, the ASA considered it gave the overall impression that Netcom was recruiting for a specific trainee job role as an IT support technician and not for a training course.
• that while in their response Netcom had claimed that the ad made clear this was a dual application, the ASA considered consumers were likely to understand from the ad that successful candidates would receive prior training from the prospective employers as part of their employment.
• that while Netcom claimed that the vacancy was for an agency that had those roles available, the ASA had not been provided with any documentary evidence, demonstrating the vacancies advertised were genuine or that successful applicants had been placed in those roles.

For these reasons the ASA ruled the ad was misleading and must not appear in its current form again. The ASA also told Netcom to ensure future ads did not imply they were recruiting for specific roles on behalf of specific clients, unless they held enough evidence to demonstrate these roles were genuine vacancies.

Recruiter approached Netcom Training for comment but had not heard back by deadline.

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