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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

as either a basis for determining eligibility or a basis for shortlisting. We cannotdiscount the possibility however, that some employers may refer to this whengiving feedback to unsuccessful foreign job applicants as a way of avoiding a morecomplex interaction.Interviewing: Both immigrant workers and employers recognize the difficultiesthat interviews can present for non-Irish job applicants. Immigrants howeverperceive that employers are not fully aware of all of the difficulties or makesufficient efforts to address them. Employers emphasise verbal communicationskills at interview and recognise that this can be a difficulty for immigrants, eventhose who have a good command of English. Awareness of cultural differences innon-verbal communication and presentation also exists – although it appears tobe less likely to cause difficulties for employers. From the immigrant’s perspective,verbal communication is also seen as challenging at interview, given the greaterformality of language and so on. But immigrant job seekers place a greateremphasis on the difficulties resulting from cultural practices and norms in termsof non-verbal communication. In general, immigrants believed that it was muchharder for them to convince an employer at interview stage that they were theright person for the job.Testing: A minority of employers use tests, but when they are used they assumea high level of significance in determining the outcome of the recruitmentand selection process. This is one instance in which employers and foreign jobapplicants are agreed: both groups see the use of tests that require writtenor spoken English to be a specific challenge for those whose first language isnot English. A small number of employers have tried to address this, but theyare prepared to accept that their efforts have been limited and that the morecomprehensive approach of translating tests into the language of candidateswould be too difficult and costly. In general, there is a view that tests are meantto introduce an element of scientific objectivity into the recruitment process andconsequently there is a reluctance to tamper with them.Vetting: It is at this stage of the process that employers encounter the externalreality of immigration when they are required to assess qualifications, ensureentitlement to work, check references, and on occasion seek police clearance.Here, most employers will acknowledge challenges that are outside of theircontrol. That said, employers indicate that they are well equipped in terms ofinformation on issues such as the legal entitlements of different categories ofimmigrant, on the provisions of the NQF system and on the existence of agenciesthat can provide assistance with the vetting process. For their part, immigrantjob applicants are fully aware of the difficulties deriving from the externalenvironment, particularly in relation to qualifications and entitlement to work, butalso believe that employers are poorly informed on these issues and will tend to70Issues and Challenges in the Recruitment and Selection of Immigrant Workers in Ireland
avoid the additional administration and paper work in employing an immigrant ifthey have a choice – something that was acknowledged by employment agencypersonnel. Immigrants also believed that as the legal provisions determining whohas the right to work is both complex and subject to ongoing change it is difficultfor employers to keep up with these.Promotion and advancement: Although only tangentially discussed in thisresearch, the issue of promotion and advancement is relevant in terms of boththe wellbeing of immigrants in employment and in terms of sending positivesignals to prospective foreign workers. From the employer’s perspective, therewere no particular barriers to advancement for immigrant employees and manyemployers could point to specific examples of promotion or to measures theyhad taken to support immigrant employees to advance within their company ororganisation. Immigrant workers did not share this view and many felt that theyfaced significant challenges in advancing in employment.Our research has highlighted a range of issues and challenges that arise in therecruitment and selection of immigrant workers in Ireland. In the final section ofthe report below we draw some overarching conclusions that emerge from theresearch and that point towards issues that can be taken into consideration onan ongoing basis in order to maximise both the equality and effectiveness of therecruitment and selection processes in play from the point of view of immigrantson the one hand and employers in both the public and private sectors on the other.4.3 Ways ForwardAs previously noted, the intention and design of this research was to open upthe issue of the recruitment and selection of immigrant workers in Ireland fordiscussion. The terms of reference for the research required: (i) the collectionof information on immigrants’ experience of seeking employment and theirknowledge of the Irish job market; as well as (ii) the collection of information fromemployers on how they approach the recruitment of immigrants. The terms ofreference also required the identification of issues and challenges arising as wellas the identification of innovative responses to same.However, since the research was commissioned in April 2008 the economic andemployment context in Ireland has significantly altered, with unemploymentreaching over 9%. Of particular relevance to this research is the prediction madeby the ERSI in its Quarterly Economic Commentary, Autumn 2008, that netmigratory outflow would increase, reaching an anticipated 30,000 in 2009 8 .8 In contrast, net inflow for 2006 was 72,000.71
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 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 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?