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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3.2.7 VettingThe vetting of candidates takes place when a job offer is imminent or immediatelyprior to the final decisions being made. Vetting includes checking references,validating qualifications, medical (and sometimes physical) exams, and for someoccupations, police clearance. For immigrant workers, there is the additionalprocedure of ensuring legal entitlement to work. While vetting of all candidatestakes place, organisations acknowledge the additional burden of time and effortin relation to vetting immigrant candidates. However, there is some consensusacross organisations that the more highly skilled the job in question or themore scarce the skills set, the more willing the company will be to overcome anydifficulties. Some differences between public and private sector approaches arealso evident, with the private companies displaying a greater tendency to beexpedient in areas where they have discretion.• Checking references: Organisations take different approaches to thisbut one area of consistency is that Irish referees are not required. Somebelieve that the practice of providing references (other than verifyingactual periods of employment) is declining and invest minimal effort infollowing up on foreign references. Others will follow up and will havereferences translated if necessary.• Validating qualifications: Some organisations tried to anticipate issueswith qualifications at the application or screening stage, but manyfrequently had to invest time and effort in establishing the validity andcomparability of foreign qualifications prior to job offer. Some, but not all,of the organisations are familiar with the NQF (National QualificationsFramework) and the NQAI (National Qualifications Authority of Ireland)and use these to validate qualifications prior to job offers. Among thecompanies surveyed, almost three quarters were aware of the variousorganisations that are in place to clarify the status or relevant standing ofthe qualifications of an immigrant candidate, but less than five percenthad actually approached these bodies for assistance. Some organisationsare prepared to make job offers subject to the candidate undertakingto validate their qualifications within the Irish system. Validatingqualifications is perceived as time consuming and difficult althoughmost note that there have been improvements in recent months. It is alsoseen as delaying the process of recruitment while the validating takesplace: notably, where recruitment is the responsibility of a dedicateddepartment or team, these are prepared to wait to see the processthrough, but recognize that the line managers may be very anxious tospeed things up.58Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of Immigrant Workers in Ireland
• Police clearance: A wide range of occupations require policeclearance and where immigrants are concerned this may introduce anadditional delay. As some countries will not provide police clearanceoutside of the context of a criminal investigation, some Irish employerswill accept police clearance within Ireland only.• Establishing legal entitlement to work: Establishing a candidate’s legalentitlement and other administrative requirements (e.g., PPSN) is a costlyand time-consuming exercise for employers. For some employers, havingto wait for one month to recruit non EEA workers can also be harmful tobusiness, others note the delay in the visa process. In many instances,and particularly where very skilled workers are involved, companies willprovide assistance in dealing with all the legal requirements. It is alsocommon practice for companies to make a job offer subject to legalentitlement being established subsequently. Employers consulted withclaimed a high level of awareness of the various legal entitlements towork. Among those surveyed, also, almost seventy per cent said they hada good or very good understanding of the various distinctions in the legalstatus of immigrants.In general, the greater the difficulty in getting Irish workers, the more likelycompanies are to overcome all problematic issues to secure the employment ofsuitable foreign candidates, particularly where these are highly skilled. Someorganisations believe that most employers would opt for the worker whoserecruitment required no legal paper work if they had the choice, a view alsoexpressed by recruitment agencies.3.3 Post Recruitment Supports / Retention andAdvancementAlthough this research is not concerned with the employment experience ofimmigrants, the post recruitment supports provided to immigrant workerswere briefly explored. This was for two reasons: firstly to discern to what extentorganisations actively tried to retain immigrants who had been recruited andsecondly to explore the advancement opportunities available to immigrantworkers.With regard to retention, companies differed with regard to how much prioritythey gave to this. At one extreme, were companies which perceived that anongoing supply of foreign workers would be essential and these were at pains toensure that they retained their existing immigrant employees and sent positivesignals to potential immigrant employees. At the other extreme were companies59
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 30 and 31: In terms of public sector 6 employm
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 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
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?