Advertising a job vacancy

Is there some legal obligation that an employer must notify existing employees of any job vacancies as well as advertising the position externally. Or can they just hire Joe Bloggs without telling anyone that the position was available. I have looked at the government website but I have not found anything.

Cheers.

Where I work, the jobs are advertised internally and if not successful, they advertise externally then; in the case of higher management positions, the jobs are advertised both internally and externally straightaway. I am not sure how legal this is; I would have thought that everybody should get a crack at a job whether they work at that company already or not.

I think that your employer is mad not to try to fill the position with an existing employee as a lot more time and money would need to be spent bringing a new person up to speed. Of course, it depends on the job.

In a private company unless stated otherwise you can hire anyone you like and don't have to tell anyone else in advance.

Purple is right here - the only reason for having to advertise internally first is union agreements with the employer.

Gordanus said:

the only reason for having to advertise internally first is union agreements with the employer.

Click to expand...

Technically, this is correct - but there are lots of good reasons for advertising internally, such as;

- providing development opportunities for existing staff
- fostering an environment of open communications
- demonstrated fairness and equity in management processes

Any employer opting not to advertise would want to be sure that they are not discriminating against persons based on any of the nine grounds specified in the Equal Status Acts. I'm curious to know why an employer might be reluctant to advertise internally?