Vacancy Advertising Policy

The Open University’s Careers and Employability Services aims to work in partnership with employers to advertise job opportunities to our students and graduates via OpportunityHub. This policy outlines the basis on which employers or organisations may advertise job vacancies onto the OpportunityHub website. Careers and Employability Services asserts full editorial control over the vacancies submitted to OpportunityHub’s website and reserves the right to refuse to advertise a vacancy which does not conform with this policy and also without giving a specific reason (a list of some common reasons for rejection is provided below).

Careers and Employability Services aims to establish that organisations registering with us are legitimate organisations offering genuine work opportunities for our students and graduates; if we are unable to gather sufficient evidence for this purpose vacancies may be removed from the site.

Adherence to current legislation

It is the responsibility of the organisation submitting the vacancy to ensure that each advertisement placed is fully compliant with current employment legislation, including:

• The Equality Act 2015
• The Code of best practice in recruitment by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Service (AGCAS)
• The National Minimum Wage
• The Working time directive legislation including holiday entitlement
• Payment of National Insurance contributions and tax
• The Agency Workers Regulations
• Health and Safety Regulations
• The Children’s Act

Supporting Sustainability

The Open University is committed to supporting sustainability and is working to equip both students and staff with the skills to build a more sustainable working environment as well as supporting student career choices in working with employers who are making a positive contribution to the safety of our planet.

Whilst we welcome vacancies from all sectors that fall within current  legislation, we are especially keen to develop links with organisations who are explicitly committed to reducing the negative impact they make to the environment.

Guidelines on submitting a vacancy

All vacancies must include the following information:

• Full details of the vacancy including a detailed job description, qualifications and skills required,location, salary details (which comply with the National Minimum Wage legislation).
• Full details of the organisation/agency.
• Closing dates for the vacancy If there is no closing date, we will advertise the vacancy on the website for 4 weeks. This can be extended if required by emailing careers-service-employers@open.ac.uk. Please note that we operate a minimum advertising period of nine working days from the date the vacancy is submitted to us to provide you with the best prospect of attracting interest in your opportunity and to allow applicants appropriate time to view it and prepare a proper application.
• Full contact details including postal address, email address and phone number. You will only be contacted for admin purposes and your details will not be published or shared.
• Clear instructions on the method of application (including a link for online applications).

General information

This service is offered at the discretion of The Open University’s Careers and Employability Services and we reserve the right to:

• Assess each vacancy on its appropriateness and likely relevance to students.
• Edit or amend adverts for clarity and brevity purposes.
• Refuse multiple vacancy postings.
• Refuse to advertise vacancies where the organisation does not comply with this policy or where Careers and Employability Services considers the vacancy to be inappropriate.
• Request further information to ensure that the organisation is compliant with relevant legislation.

Careers and Employability Services will not advertise the following:

• Vacancies that do not pay in accordance with the National Minimum Wage.
• Vacancies that pay commission only.
• Generic adverts for recruitment agencies.
• Vacancies where students are employed by a private individual or household (with the exception of opportunities under Private Employment).
• Vacancies that require students to make any form of payment.
• Unpaid vacancies, unless we consider them to fair and valuable sources of work experience (see Unpaid Vacancies below).

Common reasons for rejecting an advertisement:

• No business email address is provided (e.g. gmail or Yahoo address is given).
• No website address is provided (this makes it difficult for the University and its students to research and verify the organisation).
• The closing date supplied (i.e. the minimum advertising period) is less than nine working days from the date of the vacancy submission.
• We believe that the vacancy contravenes this policy.

Timeframe for processing vacancies

Vacancies submitted via OpportunityHub will not automatically appear on the website. Organisation registrations and vacancy postings are proofread and approved by a member of staff. Careers and Employability Services aims to process vacancies within three working days of receiving them.

Student data protection

The Open University’s Careers and Employability Services takes student data protection and privacy issues very seriously. Careers and Employability Services will respond to any reports that the privacy rights of users have been infringed and may refuse to advertise future vacancies. All organisations or employers submitting a vacancy must:

• Comply with the Data Protection Legislation and only process personal data in accordance with the seven Data Protection Principles.
• Not pass students' details to third parties unless you have explicitly stated in your vacancy advertisement that you are planning to do so. To pass on a student's personal data without their consent will most likely breach Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998.
• Not use students' details for any purpose other than recruitment, as to do so will breach Principles 1, 2 and 3 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Unpaid vacancies (including Placement Opportunities)

Careers and Employability Services receives a high volume of vacancies every day, most of which are paid and offer at least the adult minimum wage. Whilst we appreciate organisations regularly look to offer "work experience" for our students, either a short-term project or a few hours a week for example, Careers and Employability Services has the responsibility to ensure that any unpaid opportunities we promote to our students are fair and valuable sources of work experience and not just "unpaid work". All unpaid opportunities are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Careers and Employability Services reserves the right to refuse the promotion of unpaid opportunities which are:

• Promoted by anyone other than registered charities or voluntary groups.
• Vacancies which would normally be filled by a permanent or temporary paid member of staff (e.g. data input, telesales, administrative work, filing, market research).
• Ongoing opportunities with fixed hours (e.g. 20 hours a week for 3 months or longer).
• Require students to make any form of payment.

Private employment

We can only advertise home based support for individuals in receipt of direct payments or a personal budget from the local council, for which organisations must provide evidence by way of a recent letter from a direct payments / personal budget team worker. For further details see https://www.gov.uk/apply-direct-payments. The roles advertised by direct payment holders may include personal assistants, carers, tutors, cleaners and gardeners. If organisations cannot provide evidence, we will not be able to advertise the vacancy.

Recruitment of non-EEA students and graduates

The Open University’s Careers and Employability Services does not accept advertisements that contain a blanket ban on the recruitment of non-EEA students and graduates, unless the vacancy is exempt from discrimination provisions under the Equality Act. If Careers and Employability Services receives a vacancy containing this type of ban, it will remove any statements containing the phrase "candidates must have permission to work in the UK" (or similar) before publishing.

Careers and Employability Services recommends that employers treat all candidates the same and assess their applications on merits and suitability for the job alone. In order to fulfil your obligations as an employer, organisations should provide information to all candidates called for interview regarding the documentation that is required to assess their eligibility to work in the UK. Organisations should also give potential employees the option of indicating whether they need assistance from the employer in applying for immigration permission to work in the UK.