This page summarises Group GTI’s (‘GTI’) advertising handling policy. It explains how GTI moderates roles and company profiles before distributing them to candidates.
Employers can post roles and company profiles on targetconnect - employers.targetconnect.com. After moderation, this content is distributed to students and recent graduates at 70+ UK universities and targetjobs.co.uk. Each university has their own policy and reserves the right to question and potentially reject any role or company profile received. See Appendix C for common university rejection reasons.
GTI’s goal is to provide high-quality roles to the largest possible audience, following best hiring practises. This policy is maintained in collaboration with universities and employers to ensure it is useful, fair and legal.
2. Moderation Process
Our team moderate roles and company profiles. This process can take up to two working days for the majority of universities, but is usually much faster.
There are two possible outcomes:
Approval
Verified by GTI - these roles/profiles are automatically distributed to universities and published (if the university has not opted out auto-approval).
Flagged by GTI - these roles/profiles are distributed to universities for additional checks by the university moderation teams. If they pass these additional checks, they will be published immediately.
Rejection
Rejected by GTI - these roles/profiles are not distributed to universities. Employers may review our feedback and rectify any issues before resubmitting.
University Filters
Note that all approved roles/profiles are are also sent through university filters. These are instantaneous, automated checks that universities can set up to filter out unwanted roles/profiles. Universities can filter on:
Opportunity type;
Salary;
Location;
Occupation;
Sector (company profile).
Typically, universities will filter out roles/profiles that are not suitable for their students or do not pass their own advertising handling policies. For example, placements when the university doesn’t offer any courses with placements, or roles with an undisclosed or competitive salary where the policy states a salary must be provided.
Please contact universities directly for any questions around their filters or moderation checks.
3. Approval Criteria
GTI has a right to refuse any role or company profile but typically anything that meets the following Approval Criteria will be approved.
1. Role Approval Criteria
→ General Criteria
Role must be a supported role type (see Appendix A).
Role must meet our right to work policy (see Appendix B).
Must not request a photograph of the candidate as part of the application.
You must not request personal or bank details as part of the application process.
If posted by a recruitment agency, the agency must disclose the hiring organisation they are working on behalf of, either within the information or when requested for verification purposes.
→ Payment Criteria
GTI reserves the right not to approve:
Any unpaid work unless it is with a registered charity.
Commission-based earning structures without a base salary meeting the national minimum wage threshold.
Any opportunity with an unpaid trial period as part of the assessment.
Any opportunity offering payment-in-kind, such as event tickets, food, clothing, accommodation in lieu of wages or salary.
Any opportunity GTI considers represents a pyramid scheme.
Any partnership-only or equity-only opportunity without a salary.
→ Organisation or Opportunity Suitability Criteria
GTI reserves the right not to approve:
Any opportunity promoting or endorsing illegal activity.
Any opportunity GTI considers representing an undue health and safety risk.
Any part-time opportunity for students requiring more than 20 hours work per week during term time.
Any opportunity that requires the taking of medication or other forms of treatment such as participating in drugs trials.
Any opportunity that GTI believes might be exploitative or not genuine.
Any opportunity involving the sharing or undertaking of academic-related material for use by others.
→ Discriminatory Language Criteria
GTI will not publish any information that contravenes the Equalities Act 2010 and which may prevent applications on the basis of protected characteristics. GTI may contact employers, where appropriate, to clarify wording and details of information provided, or to obtain reassurance of exemptions from equal opportunities legislation.
Examples of language that is deemed discriminatory:
Specifying a ‘native’ speaker is required – instead this must be referred to as ‘fluent’.
Specifying an age requirement unless the relevant clause of the Equalities Act is stated.
Specifying a number of years of experience required, as this can fall under indirect discrimination on age. Instead, it is recommended to make more general statements to the same effect, such as ‘Some experience in sales required’. This reflects that it should be the quality rather than quantity of experience being assessed.
Any opportunity where the salary is dependent on experience – instead this must be referred to as ‘negotiable’ or ‘variable’.
Specifying a physical characteristic such as ‘energetic’ or ‘dynamic’, rather this should be attitudinal such as ‘enthusiastic’.
→ Other legislation that must be adhered to:
All content and use of targetconnect must comply with all applicable laws, regulations and codes including, without limitation: (i) the Data Protection Act 1998; (ii) the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003; (iii) the Employment Agencies Act 1973; (iv) the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003; (v) the Sex Discrimination Act 1975; (vi) the Race Relations Act 1976; (vii) the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; (viii) the National Minimum Wage Act (1998).
Any employer requiring successful applicants to work in their own home must have a Home Working policy that adheres to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
2. Company profile Approval Criteria
GTI reserves the right not to approve:
Any UK organisations that are not registered with Companies House, with the following exceptions:
Government Departments/Public Bodies - e.g. HMRC/Ministry of Defence;
Universities;
Local authority/charitable trusts run schools;
Sole traders;
Overseas companies without a physical presence in the UK.
Registrations with insufficient detail provided to support student and graduates in making informed career decisions.
Any registrations not providing a postal address, telephone number and email address.
Registrations where the contact email address does not match the company name.
Any organisations that work in the sex industry.
Employers that register as individuals rather than companies, for example where seeking a tutor or childcare in your home.
4. Verified Criteria
Roles and company profiles that meet the Verified Criteria will receive a “Verified by GTI” status, so they will be automatically published to universities with auto-publish enabled. These checks were created from university feedback as scenarios where they would like to perform a second, manual moderation step.
If they do not meet the Verified Criteria, they will receive a “Flagged by GTI” status and be sent to university moderation teams for additional checks.
4.1 Role Verified Criteria
GTI reserves the right not to verify roles that:
State a competitive or undisclosed salary.
Involve defence/weapons, gambling, tobacco.
Require upfront payment from candidates.
Use exit fees.
Are multiples of the same role with only the location being different.
4.2 Company profile Verified Criteria
GTI reserves the right not to verify company profiles that:
Are related to: defence/weapons, gambling, tobacco.
Use a hire/train/deploy model.
Have companies house discrepancies.
Require upfront payment from candidates.
Use exit fees.
5. Guidelines for creating high-quality postings
What should be included in the opportunity information?
Being detailed and informative about the company, role and qualities sought, helps support applicants in making informed choices. It also creates hiring efficiencies through boosting application relevancy and candidate motivation.
Provide candidates with:
An overview of company values and culture. What makes your organisation a great place to work?
A detailed and concise job description.
Details of the qualities you are looking for in candidates.
Information on the essential and desirable skills and experiences required to perform the role.
A website where candidates can learn more about your company and the opportunity.
Be specific about salary
We strongly encourage that all vacancies published include either an exact salary or salary range as lack of salary information is often a reason for opportunities being rejected by universities.
6. Further help
For further information please see the full Terms and Conditions for targetconnect.
If you have any questions about the application of this policy, or would like support in using the platform, please contact the GTI team on 02076 547200 or email us at help@targetconnect.com.
7. Appendix
A: Types of opportunity supported
We specialise in early careers, helping students realise their potential in the world of work through technology, content and tools. As such we are selective in the types of opportunity that can be promoted via targetjobs and targetconnect:
Graduate jobs: A graduate job is typically an opportunity for those who have recently completed their university education and hold a degree or higher qualification. Graduate jobs can be found across all industries and sectors, providing an entry-level route for graduates to begin their careers. These can be a fixed-term contract, full time or part time.
Graduate schemes: A graduate scheme is a structured programme designed by an employer to develop future leaders for its organisation. Graduate schemes tend to be one to three years long and can be in a fixed field or rotational.
Internships: Internships are temporary positions within an organisation that are typically offered to students or recent graduates who are looking to gain practical experience in a particular industry or field. Lasting up to 11 months, employers often use internships to source future graduate hires.
Placements: A placement is a 12-month period of work experience, which is integrated and assessed as part of a student’s degree. Placements require students to apply their learning from the course in the workplace and vice versa. Employers often use these to source their graduate hires.
Work experience: Work experience is a period during which someone works for a company or organisation to get experience of a particular type of work. It provides individuals with the opportunity to learn about the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities of a particular job or industry, as well as to gain transferable skills. This should always be paid.
Insight programmes: An insight programme is an opportunity to give a student an insight into an opportunity or a role. Insight programmes range from one day to a couple of weeks. These can be virtual or face-to-face. Travel expenses are typically covered.
Volunteering: Voluntary roles refer to positions or responsibilities that are not paid and are undertaken by individuals on a voluntary basis. These must be for not-for-profit organisations and charities that rely on volunteers to carry out their activities.
Casual work: A part-time role carried out while at university. Non-career related roles that offer the candidate experience and a salary. Suitable for an undergraduate audience.
Training Contract - Law: A law training contract is a two-year period of practical training that aspiring solicitors must complete at a law firm before qualifying as a solicitor.
Pupillage - Law: A pupillage is the final stage of training for barristers in England and Wales. It typically lasts one year.
B: Right to work policy
General employers (non-defence)
To protect against the potential for indirect discrimination, GTI will not promote any role purely specifying that candidates must have the right to work in the UK to submit an application.
In compliance with section 16.67 of the Statutory Code of Practice for Employers accompanying the Equality Act 2010: 'Eligibility to work in the UK should be verified in the final stages of the selection process rather than at the application stage, to make sure the appointment is based on merit alone and is not influenced by other factors […] Employers can, in some circumstances, apply for work permits and should not exclude potentially suitable candidates from the selection process.'
Any statements on this subject placed on adverts should be very carefully considered. If you feel that this is still necessary, GTI's recommendation would be to state: 'the successful candidate must have permission to work in the UK by the start of their employment'. This has the merit of being factually true (as anyone working must have permission) without risking discrimination by refusing to accept applications from those who may need sponsorship as well as covering all the potential complexities arising from individual circumstances.
If, as an employer, you are unable to sponsor a visa, or if the role does not qualify for sponsorship i.e. under the skilled worker visa route, it is acceptable to state this in the role description.
Important note: While the legal risk of discrimination claims is relatively low, the reputational risk of appearing to facilitate discriminatory recruitment practices may be significant, particularly for high-profile employers.
Defence employers
Defence employers are exempt from certain provisions of the Equality Act 2010 where national security is concerned. These employers are permitted to:
Verify eligibility to work in the UK at the application stage
Require applicants to be UK nationals
Restrict applications from candidates with certain nationalities
For defence employers requiring specific wording regarding nationality restrictions or security clearance requirements, please contact your legal/compliance team for appropriate guidance tailored to your specific circumstances.
C: Common university rejection reasons
Companies House number discrepancies i.e. the address/name listed does not match the registered address/name on companies house.
The role is not suitable for the courses offered at their university.
The role is not in a suitable location for their students.
The role requires up front or ongoing fees.
No salary disclosed.
The role/organisation is based overseas.
Any role that does not pay above minimum wage.
D: Nomenclature
GTI have two products called targetconnect:
targetconnect (for universities)
A white-labelled careers and student services platform.
Each university has their own instance of targetconnect.
