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

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