You can't hire junior stylists...it's ageist: Jobcentre refuses to display hairdresser's advert

Published 16th Feb 2010

As an experienced hairdresser, Michelle Hilling has employed scores of junior stylists at her busy high street salon.

Their age has varied and the key quality required has been keenness to master the skills of the profession.

But when Mrs Hilling tried to find another willing recruit, she ran into a problem in the form of jobcentre officials.

They refused to place her advert for a new junior stylist - because the word 'junior' discriminated against older applicants.

The salon owner was warned that she would have to drop the offending term if she wanted the vacancy to be displayed.

Yesterday she accused the Government of stifling small businesses with political correctness.

'This country has gone completely mad,' she said. 'Businesses are having to tread more and more carefully to avoid offending anyone. It is really quite offensive to suggest that someone older would be bothered by this.

'I have never come across anyone who was bothered about a job title like this.

'All I wanted was a junior stylist and even that proved to be wrapped in red tape. It doesn't matter what age they are. I've had a 45-year-old junior stylist before. The term has been used for years in hairdressing.'

Mrs Hilling, who has owned U Hairdressing in Newcastle's upmarket suburb of Gosforth for the last three years, phoned Jobcentre Plus last week to advertise the post.

'The lady told me I couldn't use that term because it discriminated against old people,' said Mrs Hilling who has 14 employees, all of different ages.

'I explained that within the hairdressing industry the term was widely used and known. People working in the industry would know you didn't have to be a teenager to be a junior stylist - it refers to your level of qualification.'

But the jobcentre worker remained adamant that the term could not be used, even after consulting her manager.

She suggested using the word ' apprentice' instead, even though Mrs Hilling said that would attract unsuitable candidates who have very little hairdressing experience.

'I need someone who is nearly qualified but still in training,' she added.

Unable to get the jobcentre to see sense she finally agreed to drop 'junior' from the job title. But Mrs Hilling now fears being swamped with over-qualified applicants.

The Department for Work and Pensions yesterday insisted the measures are essential to ensure that employers don't fall foul of Employment Equality Regulations - which ban discrimination on the grounds of age when recruiting workers.

Mrs Hilling is the latest employer to have difficulty advertising at a jobcentre after recruitment agency boss Nicole Malmo's advert for a 'reliable worker' was refused because staff claimed it discriminated against the unreliable.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

View All Nonsense News