Posted By Bryn Maidment This may not be politically correct but whatever happened to the "person best suited for the job"? I'd rather be dealt with by a competent person whatever race, creed, religion, sex etc, than by a incompetent second best. You could contact any one of the London Borough Personnel Depts for further advice though.

Posted By Zoe Barnett I used to work for an organisation in which the number of Asian employees could be counted on the fingers of one hand, despite our being based in an area with a very large Asian community. No matter where or how we advertised, there were very few applicants from that background. To my mind this spoke volumes about the way the organisation was regarded by people from the ethnic minority communities, and unless you can change that perception about your authority, not all the initiatives in the world will improve your recruitment figures. If it will help I can put you in touch with my current employer's Black Workers' Forum who I'm sure would be pleased to try and help, as may most Trade Unions. I also agree with Bryn and Jim that it should be the person who's best that gets the job and not the person who improves the statistics. As a woman in what is still a male-dominated profession I would rather get the job because I'm a reasonably competent safety adviser and not because I was the only one who turned up for the interview in a frock. Hope this helps a bit! Regards, Zoe

Posted By Phil Roberts As someone who has been looking for a new position for the past two years due to poor pay and lack of support I am appalled at job adverts that gaurantee an interview to ethnic minorities or disabled. I have had fourteen interviews in the last six months only because I did not disclose my age (59). In the previouse six months when I did disclose my age I only had one interview and that was with a local authority just going through the motions as the vacancy was filled the day of my interview by an internal candidate who had been told of the appointment two hours befor my interview. I have contacted all of the employers who have interviewd me to assertain what I am doing wrong and without exception it was just growing old. So to all those do gooders looking to be fair to everyone so long as they are ethnic or disabled "WHAT ABOUT AGE DISCRIMINATIO"?.