Gender equality guidelines for staff recruitment

Advertisement (section 30 of the Affirmative Action Plan for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality)

• Advertisements that do not have a sufficiently narrow qualification profile because they are formulated too broadly are not permissible:

→ e.g. "completed degree programme in the field of XY" without a note that the applicant must have outstanding achievements in a certain discipline.

• Advertisements that specify a qualification profile that is too narrow are not permissible, in particular if they request qualifications for which there is no apparent objective reason:

→ e.g. required proficiency in a foreign language with no clear benefit for the advertised position; publications in a narrow subject area or comparable requirements that might raise the suspicion that the advertisement is 'tailored' to a specific person.

Section 42, para. 6 of the 2002 Universities Act

The Equal Opportunities Working Party must be immediately notified of:

• 1. texts of all advertisements for positions and functions prior to their publication. The Equal Opportunities Working Party is entitled to give its opinion on the advertisement within two weeks upon receipt;
• 2. the list of applications received;
• 3. the list of candidates invited for interviews.

Re-advertisement (section 33 of the Affirmative Action Plan for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality)

If no applications have been received from women who fulfil the recruitment requirements, the vacancy must be advertised again before the selection procedure starts, unless

• 1. the advertiser took suitable targeted measures to search female candidates who are deemed to fulfil the requirements of the advertisement already before the end of the application period or took such measures again immediately after the end of the application period, such as
  • Dissemination of the advertisement using suitable lists
  • Targeted dissemination to female graduates
  • Personally contacting potential female candidates who are deemed to fulfil the requirements of the advertisement.
  • The sole publication of the job advertisement, for example, or the invitation of a 'random' woman whose qualification for the job is not apparent, are NOT considered suitable measures.

• 2. and the responsible member of the Equal Opportunities Working Party has been informed about these measures and has waived the re-advertisement.

Please note: The vacancy has to be re-advertised by the Human Resources unit if no applications have been received from women.

Selection decision (section 35 of the Affirmative Action Plan for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality)

The selection decision must be based on the qualification profile specified in the job advertisement. If the criteria specified in the advertisement do not suffice, auxiliary criteria must be used, which have to be defined based on objective factors.

It is not permissible to exclude female candidates who fulfil the criteria specified in the advertisement due to additional criteria.

→ Auxiliary criteria must be objective. For example, professional experience may only be required if it is necessary to fulfil the tasks. Suspicion of discrimination can also arise from a deviation from a practice that has been followed over a long period of time ("Until now, we always did this, but now we want to ...").

It is also not permissible to disregard the criteria specified in the advertisement because "actually" other qualifications were meant/needed.

Conclusion of the employment contract:

• The Equal Opportunities Working Party has a three-week appeal period to acknowledge the recruitment decision. If the Equal Opportunities Working Party does not acknowledge the recruitment decision, the candidate can only be employed 3 weeks after the decision was sent to the Working Party.
• In case of suspected discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion, belief, age or sexual orientation, the Equal Opportunities Working Party can lodge an appeal to the Arbitration Committee within 3 weeks (sections 42 and 43 of the 2002 Universities Act). The Arbitration Committee has to take a decision within 3 months. The position must not be filled until the Arbitration Committee has decided on the matter.
• In case of violations against the Affirmative Action Plan for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality, an appeal can be lodged to the federal minister (section 45 of the 2002 Universities Act). The position must not be filled prior to the conclusion of this procedure (section 45, para. 5 of the 2002 Universities Act). In such cases, a decision is usually not expected before 6 months have elapsed.

Further information for institutions advertising a position can be found on the website of the Human Resources and Gender Equality service unit and the Job Center.