Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of ...

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In terms of public sector 6 employment, there appears to be a wider range offactors influencing decision making as follows:• There is a view that public sector work is unlikely to be consideredbecause it is somehow seen as outside the bounds of what immigrantsshould aspire to. This view, expressed in particular by East Europeans, islinked to a perception of being guests in Ireland and of not wishing tooccupy too much of the host country’s space, in terms of ‘encroaching’on civil society, political life, or the public sector. This was seen by someof those consulted with as reflecting a lack of assertiveness on the partof Eastern Europeans which in turn was seen as linked to their lack ofunderstanding of their entitlements as EU citizens;• The idea that public sector employment was not something they shouldaspire to was not helped by the perception among some focus groupparticipants who pointed out that every state agency they encounter hasnothing but Irish workers. One East European participant said: “the Irishwant to keep things green and Irish”. This perception is compounded bythe apparently widespread misconception that proficiency in the Irishlanguage is required for all public sector jobs, although again this wasnot reflected in the survey where only one quarter of service providersindicated that immigrants believed Irish to be a requirement across thepublic sector.• There is also a view that many public sector jobs are offered at a gradeand salary level that makes it difficult for older immigrants, or those withfamilies to apply for. This is particularly the case when recruitment occurspredominantly at entry level with promotion from within. This gives riseto a type of catch 22 situation, noted in particular by Africans (who wereon average older than other focus group participants). Many Africans feltthey were over-qualified for entry level grades, but the bulk of the moresenior or managerial positions, for which they believe they are qualified,are recruited internally. Some focus group participants expressed theview that public sector employment is low paid. However this was notcorroborated by the majority of organisations surveyed, which did notbelieve that this view was prevalent among immigrant workers• At a different level, there is also a view that some immigrants – andparticularly non-EU immigrants – may have experienced complexinteractions with state institutions which may inhibit them applying forpublic sector work. This can be particularly an issue for those who have6 There is a requirement that general grade Civil Service positions be filled exclusively by EEACitizens. Much of the discussion here relates to the broader public sector.30Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of Immigrant Workers in Ireland
had experience of the asylum process in Ireland. In addition, immigrantsmay have had a bad experience of the State in their home countrieswhich makes them wary of interaction with state organisations in Ireland.Overall, there is an element of consensus that an aspect of immigration ingeneral is that those involved do not wish to attract the attention of theState.In summary, when it comes to deciding what jobs to apply for immigrant workersconsider:• their own competencies and capacity to have these recognised;• the information provided to them by personal networks; and,• the signals, intentional or otherwise, emitted from employers.The implication of the latter, as was pointed out by participants in the AfricanCommunity focus groups, is that employers need to use better mechanisms toattract immigrant workers or to make it clear to them that their applicationsare welcome. As discussed in the following chapter, this is not an area thatemployers tend to think about. There was a view also, most marked amongst EastEuropeans, that whereas some private sector employers may make an expliciteffort to attract migrant workers for commercial reasons, the public sector doesnot have to respond to business pressures and does not experience pressure tochange in this regard.2.3 Information and awareness of the Irish LabourMarketThe level of labour market information amongst immigrants and their job searchskills have been identified in previous research as contributing to their difficultiesin seeking work. These issues were also apparent amongst those engaged withfor this research. In general, knowledge of how the Irish labour market operatesor how best to go about looking for work appears to be varied across differentgroups of immigrants. At the focus groups for example, and at the risk of someover-simplification, East Europeans were the most aware of how to go aboutlooking for work while the Asian community appeared to have least informationon this issue. This may be partly attributable to the fact that most of the Asianfocus group participants were on student visas and entitled to work part timeonly. Respondents to the survey also believed that whereas immigrants werereasonably well informed with regard to private sector labour markets, they werepoorly informed of opportunities in the public sector.There was a general perception, most marked amongst East Europeans thatpersonal connections matter greatly in Ireland and the more established31
Page 2: 2Issues and Challenges in the Recru
Page 7: Chapter 1Exploring the Recruitment
Page 10 and 11: persecution. Economic migrants enco
Page 12 and 13: • The third group is the so-calle
Page 14 and 15: • Green Cards, which have replace
Page 16 and 17: Employment Services (LES) although
Page 18 and 19: Unemployment is not the only issue
Page 20 and 21: Overall, both official statistics a
Page 22 and 23: issues from the perspective of thes
Page 24 and 25: and facilitate integration and, equ
Page 26 and 27: Chapter 2Looking for work in Irelan
Page 28 and 29: and longer term aspirations with th
Page 32 and 33: immigrant communities have come to
Page 34 and 35: on courses they do not want to do a
Page 36 and 37: 2.6.1 Communication issuesAmong the
Page 38 and 39: • There was also the view that Ir
Page 40 and 41: • Freedom of movement for the cit
Page 42 and 43: • what they see as the reluctance
Page 44 and 45: are employed. By the end of the sec
Page 46 and 47: large organisations are more likely
Page 48 and 49: other occupations such as youth wor
Page 50 and 51: at 24 per cent (and just 22 per cen
Page 52 and 53: Other mechanisms to recruit foreign
Page 54 and 55: In large volume recruitment campaig
Page 56 and 57: Innovation in the use of testsIrish
Page 58 and 59: 3.2.7 VettingThe vetting of candida
Page 60 and 61: that considered foreign workers to
Page 62 and 63: Chapter 4Conclusions and Discussion
Page 64 and 65: of recruitment should be more integ
Page 66 and 67: Table 4.1:Divergent views of Employ
Page 68 and 69: Perceive written andlanguage based
Page 70 and 71: as either a basis for determining e
Page 72 and 73: It is reasonable to assume that in
Page 74 and 75: Of more specific relevance to the c
Page 76 and 77: public sector employers) as well as
Page 78 and 79: BibliographyBarrett, A and Y McCart
Page 80:
O’Connell, P and F McGinnity (200
Page 84:
Public Appointments ServiceChapter
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