What will they do?

What won’t they do!  Your wedding planner is there to do anything they can for you that is remotely linked to your big day.  And you’re the boss.  If you want them to skip round a park smelling flowers with you, then so be it.  But remember, they are professionals and will probably offer some decent advice rendering the skipping phase unnecessary.

These people are true experts.  It would take the average person days, weeks even to narrow down the choice of venue.  But a wedding planner is well versed in local venues and can immediately provide you with a shortlist of places that suit your needs.

When should I get one?

Really as early as possible.  Once you’ve set the date, you should set about finding the perfect planner.  They will appreciate being involved from the beginning as bringing them in half way through planning can cause all kinds of mess.  Generally, planners will ask you for a small down payment on various costs and then ask for the balance on your wedding day meaning that your payments are organised and manageable.

Make sure you do your research.  Ask married friends if they’re used a planner and whether they would recommend them.  If you don’t have any joy, turn to the internet.  There are countless forums out there for brides-to-be and someone will be able to point you in the right direction.

How much will it cost?

While it’s certainly not cheap to hire a good wedding planner, it’s also not as expensive as Hollywood likes to make out.  Costs vary hugely depending on the reputation of your planner, the amount of planning required and the number of available planners in your area.  Generally, a planner will ask for a percentage of the total wedding cost.  This figure usually hovers around 10%.

It’s worth bearing in mind that while hiring a wedding planner is an additional cost, it’s a cost that should pay dividends.  They really know their field and as a result, they know how to cut corners and save you money where they can, such as in hiring your wedding photographer or party band.  Take marquee hire for example.  A wedding planner is likely to have their favourite rental place and therefore probably provides them with a lot of business.  This means the rates they are offered are probably much better that the rates you might achieve on your own.

For employment agencies, typically recruitment consultancies that not only place applicants in new full-time positions but also employ staff on a temporary basis to fill temporary vacancies, have their own set of laws to content with.  Namely, the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations broadly lays out the responsibilities of the agencies and their applicants.

Employment Law for Companies

Advertising & Recruitment

Job advertisement is the first area where one needs to be careful.  The advertisement needs to provide clear information regarding what the job entails, the type of skills needed and other relevant information.  Areas one needs to be particularly careful with are to do with not breaching employment laws by being too specific as to your exact needs.  This might not be immediately obvious right away.

One example would be a role that has typically been filled by a man because it involves some heavy lifting and yet some women would have the necessary strength to fulfil the job requirements.  Therefore, one could not advertise that one is looking for a man for the position.  This would be sexual discrimination and leave the business open to prosecution.  An employer is only allowed to narrow down the suitability if it can be shown that only that category of person could perform the role to an acceptable standard. Remember to always consult a corporate solicitor or HR specialist if you are unsure about anything.

Disabilities are a tricky area and need to be handled carefully.  Could adjustments be made to enable someone with a disability to perform the role satisfactorily?  One is not allowed to discriminate against people with disabilities.  Age, sex, sexual orientation and race are all protected against in terms of discrimination too.

Other more obvious legal breaches would be requesting a working week that exceeds the maximum allowable workable hours or offering a wage that is below the current national minimum wage for the applicant’s age group.

Job interviews

With interviews, one needs to be careful in both conduct during the interview and the types of questions asked of the applicant.

To be safe, it is best to look dispassionately at the requirements of the role to be filled and ask only relevant questions as to the qualification and experience of the applicant.  One is not allowed to discriminate for the same reasons as with advertising available positions.  Therefore, one cannot suggest that a person is too old to take on the role.  Better instead to pose questions to the applicant to inquire how they think they would personally perform in the position.  This protects the employer from appearing unfavourably biased.

Employment Law for Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment agencies are required to have enough information about an applicant before sending their CV to the company with a position to fill. The necessary details include:

•    The identity of the job seeker.
•    Whether the job seeker has agreed to be put forward for the role.
•    Whether the job seeker given permission for their CV to be submitted to appropriate companies.
•    The job seekers education, experience and training, along with any permissions necessary to work in that field or industry.

In turn, employment agencies have the responsibility to ensure they have appropriate information about the company and their role before putting forward an applicant for consideration.  These include:

•    Company name and type of business.
•    Job commencement date.
•    Job details, including the role, the hours, work location and any issues regarding health and safety to be concerned with.
•    Minimum acceptable salary and benefits, and payroll arrangements.
•    The notice period in the employment contract.

Remember that for proper legal advise you must consult an appropriately qualified solicitor. So you need to find a corporate lawyer or even a specialist in recruitment and HR law. Using your local no win no fee solicitor, clinical negligence lawyer or personal injury solicitor will not be good enough, as you must find someone with the appropriate skills to deal with your enquiry and act for you in court should a case arise.

So if you are looking for office administration work, solicitors and related businesses could be a good place to look. If you send your CV out on spec to a few solicitors, you may just find that you are invited in for a chat or an interview. It doesn’t really matter what they specialise in (and you will most likely find that most do) it could be criminal law, corporate, medical claims, accident specialists etc.

I’m not saying it will work any better than a lot of other professional office jobs, such as administration in an Accountants, but it’s worth a try. I suppose the only one who is probably unlikely to be recruiting are the chartered surveyors.

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