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

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Perceive written andlanguage based tests aspresenting difficultiesand sometimes beingculturally biased.Little or noaccommodation toimmigrants for exampleby providing more time.TestingLimited use of testsamongst employers , buta lot of emphasis on suchtests as do take place.Few examples ofinnovation in respondingto immigrant issues.Perception that employersdo not understand thelegal situation or thequalifications frameworkand that many employerswill not take theextra time to processpaperwork etc on theseissues.VettingEmployers reasonablyfamiliar with legal systemand with NQF framework.Experience mixed in theextent to which they usethem. The more soughtafter or scarce the skillset, the more likely theemployer will undertakethe necessary work to vetimmigrant applicants.Perception of limitedpromotion oradvancement prospects.Some sense that theiropportunities aredeliberately blocked.Some hesitancy to goforward for promotion.PromotionNo barriers toadvancement perceivedby employers.68Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of Immigrant Workers in Ireland
Job Descriptions and Job Titles: This is an area where there is a clear dichotomybetween the views of immigrants and those of employers. A perceived lack ofclarity in job descriptions and, in certain cases job titles, can reflect culturaldifferences in what types of training or experience are required for specificjobs or it can reflect a lack of understanding on the part of immigrants of whatcertain jobs in Ireland entail. Public sector occupations, and particularly theless specialised ones, were particularly referenced in relation to overly vaguejob descriptions or titles which were difficult to interpret from an immigrantperspective.Advertising: Advertising job vacancies contains an implicit element of ‘outreach’in that the advertising avenues used can imply the target audience. Manyimmigrants perceive that employers use limited advertising avenues andemployers themselves agree that they rarely use immigrant-specific channels inadvertising job vacancies. In addition, many employers noted that they do notspecifically state on their advertisements that their equality practices providefor equal treatment for immigrants. This can contribute to a situation wherebyimmigrants are unclear whether their applications are welcome or not.Application: This is one area where there is broad agreement between employersand immigrant candidates regarding difficulties. Some employers have madechanges to application forms to better accommodate foreign workers, but theynote that poorly presented CVs and applications are a barrier to advancement inthe recruitment process. For their part, immigrants are aware of this and also citethe cultural differences at play.Screening: The process of screening applications is complex for employers andparticularly those dealing with large volume applications. While employers areadamant that no anti-immigrant bias operates at this stage, some acknowledgethat the basis for screening out applications can be very pragmatic and evenspurious. From the immigrant’s perspective, repeated difficulties in getting pastthis stage tend to be interpreted as bias. As noted above, employers had notaudited their recruitment practices with regard to immigrants.Shortlisting: In small volume applications it may be quite difficult (and evenartificial) to separate out the process of screening from that of shortlisting butvery different considerations do generally apply in relation to the two aspects ofthe process. From the perspective of immigrants, a key barrier to being shortlistedis the requirement to have Irish experience and Irish referees. This informationis derived from feedback from employers when applicants query their lack ofsuccess. For employers, however, the issue of Irish work experience and referenceswas not significant: very few of those interviewed considered it important andfewer than a quarter of those surveyed used Irish experience or Irish references69
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2Issues and Challenges in the Recru
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Chapter 1Exploring the Recruitment
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persecution. Economic migrants enco
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• The third group is the so-calle
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• Green Cards, which have replace
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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 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 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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