Advertisements of vacancies

A vacant post with the government shall be advertised according to Government employees act No. 70/1996.

There are certain exceptions from the obligation to advertise vacancies, those exceptions will be explained further in this section.

Municipals have no legal obligation to advertise vacancies, but it is seen as good practice to do so. Furthermore, most trade unions of municipal employees have it written in the collective wage agreements that vacancies within local governments shall be advertised. The is no compulsion for the private sector to advertise.

This means that only the state and local governments need to announce vacancies while other parties member unions of BSRB have labor contracts with need not do so.

Both the state and local authorities are obliged to reveal the names and title of applicants when the application deadline has passed according to the information act No. 140/2012. The act also applies to the private sector entities which are in public ownership and /or which public project are assigned to.

In the 2^nd paragraph, 7^th article in the Act on Government Employees it states that a vacant post within the state shall be advertised. Other jobs shall be officially advertised in accordance with Regulation 464/1996. A director of an agency is permitted to set special rules for advertisements of vacancies at their agency if such changes are made public and confirmed by the Minister. Public access to information on the names and occupation of applicants is obligatory once the deadline for application has passed. Therefore, it is not permitted to grant an applicant to a public post anonymity.

In regulation No.1000/2019 on advertisements of vacancies elaborates on the process. The regulation has to do with public employees that are not civil servants.

A vacant job shall be advertised and the deadline for applications shall at least be two weeks from the date of publication.

Vacancies that need not to be advertised:

• Temporary jobs that last for 2 months or less.
• Temporary jobs because of leave of absence, sickness, maternity/paternity leave, training/educational leave, work for an international institution if the term of employment doesn’t exceed 12 months.
• Jobs that have already been advertised and where it was stated in the ad that the application would be valid for six months.
• Jobs that are temporary labour solutions on behalf of the government and the labour market.
• Part time jobs meant for individuals with impaired ability to work and is a part of labour market measures.

Vacancies advertised:

It is sufficient to advertise vacancies at the governmental run website http:starfatorg.is.

The advertisement shall contain job title, name of the agency and location if any. It shall also include:

• The kind of job offered and in which field. The job description needs to be thorough and include important information about the responsibilities, qualifications, working conditions and skills to give as clear a picture as possible to applicants.
• Employment ratio.
• Level of management within the institution or organization.
• Educational requirements and qualifications.
• Other skills and experience that are required for the job.
• Terms of employment.
• When it is preferable that the employee starts.
• Further information.
• Notice period.
• Where and how to send the application.

In the 7^th article of the Act on Government employees it states that a vacant post shall be advertised in the Legal Gazette, and the deadline for applications shall at least be two weeks from the date of publication. It shall, however, be permissible to make a permanent or temporary appointment to a post without an advertisement:

• When five years fixed term appointment is extended by five years.
• When the appointed person is absent for an extended period.
• When a person is transferred between posts/positions.

There are no rules on the content of advertisements for civil servants. Other jobs shall be officially advertised in accordance with regulation 464/1996.

The state and other public authorities are obliged to provide information held by them, upon request, to the public and the media. This covers both names and titles of applicants once the deadline for application has passed.

Local governments are not obliged to advertise their vacancies but many of them see it as good practice to do so. Some of BSRB's member unions have negotiated a clause to the collective wage agreements which states that there is an obligation to advertise job vacancies.

In the collective wage agreement between Sameyki and Reykjavik City there is a clause where the city is obliged to advertise all job vacancies with at least 14 days’ notice. It is however permitted to fill temporary vacancies without advertising when the vacancies are due to maternity/paternity leave, sick leave, and summer jobs for youths, if the employment doesn’t last longer than 12 months.

According to the wage agreement the following items must be in the advertisement:

• Job title, type of job or even/and a job description.
• Employment ratio if it is not a full-time job.
• Requirements for the job.
• Terms of employment according to relevant collective wage agreement of public servants.
• Where to find further information.
• Where to send the application.
• When to start the job.
• Whether there is a special application form for the job and if so, where to find it.
• Attached files required for the job.
• Deadline for applications.

In the local governments collective wage agreements where the Municipal Wage Committee has been the main negotiator there is a clause on advertisements of job vacancies. Article 11.2.1 states:

Other employees that have negotiated with BSRB have no obligations to advertise vacancies. Some of the unions affiliated with BSRB have added a clause on job vacancies in the collective wage agreement. An example is a contract between Orkubú Vestfjarða (OV) and Kjölur, union of public servants where all vacancies at OV must be advertised within the company before being advertised for other prospective employees.