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

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large organisations are more likely to be contracted out to third party agencies,while more specialist recruitment tends to be handled by the organisation itself,but sometimes with assistance in the early states from specialist recruitmentagencies. Recruitment agencies were also much more likely to be used by thosewho recruit directly from abroad: among respondents to the survey, 94 per centof those who recruit directly from abroad use recruitment agencies, comparedto just two thirds who use recruitment agencies to recruit in Ireland. Informalrecruitment methods were most likely to be used in smaller companies for allpositions. The principal distinction arises however between large organisationswhere recruitment follows a formal and highly structured process usuallyimplemented by specialist HR teams and with little input from managers,and small companies where informal and more personalized approaches areimplemented by the employer. In general this enables smaller companies to bemore flexible in recruiting but also means that they tend to use more subjectivejudgment.While all of the employers consulted with had recruited foreign workers, theirreasons for doing so varied from purely commercial factors to the desire topromote social inclusiveness in the work place. The following objectives forrecruiting foreign workers were identified:• Difficulty in getting Irish workers in sufficient numbers;• Difficulty in getting specific skill sets among Irish workers;• View that a multi-cultural workforce enabled a better product / service ina global market;• Need for staff with specific foreign language competences;• View that public service providers should reflect the community theyserve;• No specific attempts to recruit foreign workers – recruitment, in as muchas it occurred, simply emerged from the normal process.3.2 Implementing the Recruitment ProcessThe recruitment process – and particularly that implemented by largeorganisations – is comprised of a number of key elements or stages. These can besummarised as follows:46Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of Immigrant Workers in Ireland
Box 2: Elements of Recruitment Process1. Pre-recruitment• Developing job description• Establishing eligibility criteria• Advertising2. Identifying the most suitableapplicants• Screening• Short-listing3. Assessment/Selection• Interviews• Testing• Reference Checking/Vetting4. Post recruitment• Induction programmes• Other supportsIn the following discussion we look at how the organisations consulted withimplement these various elements and the implications of these for therecruitment of immigrant workers.3.2.1 Job descriptionThe development of detailed written job descriptions featured in the recruitmentprocess of large employers in both the public and private sectors. Smalleremployers who tended to have less diversity of function within the company wereless likely to use a detailed job description. Job descriptions attempt to make veryclear the type of qualifications, experience and any other competencies requiredand in all cases employers believed that these requirements were essential forthe job. Very detailed job descriptions were seen as an important mechanism toprovide appropriate information to potential applicants and to deter applicantswithout the right experience, although this frequently did not prove to be entirelyeffective.No special efforts were made to attune the job description to the particularcircumstances of immigrants or to accommodate cultural or national differencesin the professionalisation of some occupations. One employer believed jobdescriptions were unnecessary in his specialised line of business as anyone withthe right skills or previous experience of the occupation, would know what thework involved. He did not see this as a disadvantage for immigrants as ‘the workwas the same the world over’. However, this is not always the case. For example,whereas the skills required by software developers are internationally uniform,47
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
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Page 26 and 27: Chapter 2Looking for work in Irelan
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Page 30 and 31: In terms of public sector 6 employm
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Page 34 and 35: on courses they do not want to do a
Page 36 and 37: 2.6.1 Communication issuesAmong the
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Page 40 and 41: • Freedom of movement for the cit
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Page 44 and 45: are employed. By the end of the sec
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
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