Tuesday, February 16, 2010



British hairdresser not allowed to advertise for "junior" employee

We read:
"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.'

SOURCE

9 comments:

Use the Name, Luke said...

Apparently the people working in the Jobcentre are junior intellects.

Anonymous said...

It's a no-win scenario. Had she used terms like "lesser-experienced", "non-experienced", "novice", "green", or any other term indicating a lack of experience, she would have probably been considered discriminating against experienced applicants.

Why can't people just read something and take it at face value instead of imposing unintended meaning?

Bobby said...

Ridiculous, in my industry "junior" means that the person is new in the business and doesn't have much experience, my first two jobs had the "junior" title.

Anonymous said...

2:56 AM When can we stop hearing from YOU with your pathological hatred of Britain. Did your British nanny drop you on the head?

Anonymous said...

Britain is a nation that begs to be hated.

Anonymous said...

What is she'd advertised for a Junior Vice-President in charge of hirsutorial styling?
"CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet, Junior vice president Homer Simpson speaking"

Anonymous said...

Everyone nows that 99% of male hairdressers are gay.

What would happen if she had advertised for a "Qualified Quaff-Queen"?

Anonymous said...

4:19 PM - and clearly so do YOU!

Anonymous said...

Junior is a 1994 film directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a scientist who undergoes a male pregnancy as part of a scientific experiment.