Employer approaches to migrant hiring
The wealth of knowledge, skills and experience that migrants bring to Ireland makes a vital and vibrant contribution to our society, to our businesses, to the delivery of our public services and to the overall competitiveness of the Irish economy.
We have a long history of emigration and migration in Ireland, and we instinctively understand how important access to good employment is in establishing a new place in a new country. In parallel, good employers know how critical it is to a thriving business to have a diverse, creative workforce, with talented, vibrant, and inspiring people from all backgrounds shaping their organisation.
Pathways to Progress is a new programme from the Open Doors Initiative (where Ibec is a supporting partner) that aims to harness the creativity and energy of both migrants and businesses in Ireland to mutual benefit and to support the building of an inclusive, cohesive Ireland. The new service aims to support all migrants in finding a decent job as they prepare to enter the Irish workforce, and to support employers as they seek to build an inclusive culture in their workplaces
The Pathways to Progress migrant hub provides current information on education, work permits, workers’ rights and other information and signposting which a future employee or entrepreneur will need to establish themselves in Ireland. It has been directly translated into seven languages with a further facility to access in over 100 other languages and is fully accessible for people with disabilities. Centrally, it links to all open positions with Open Doors member companies. We offer mentoring, seminars and training to migrants and connect them with suitable job offers.
The migrant hub also supports employers as they ensure that their workplaces are equipped to recruit new staff who are migrants, including recruitment aids and supports on developing an inclusive workplace and through the listing of available positions, which offers the chance to include migrants in recruitment drives.
Migrant workers in Ireland:
The routes to Ireland for migrants is different. Some come directly for work, others come as refugees, some are living in Direct Provision and some will have their status newly regularised. Many migrants are marginalised, underemployed or find it difficult to access quality employment.
A recent study by Deloitte and Oxford University looked at the experience of refugees from Syria across several countries in Europe. While not including Ireland, the study findings and the barriers identified are transferrable both to Ireland and to the experiences of many migrants. These include difficulties with qualifications transfer – there’s often a lack of awareness amongst employers about the equivalence of professional qualifications. (Naric Ireland, part of QQI, provide advice in this area.) Lack of work experience or references in their new country can put some employers off. There can be gaps in CVs that can relate to periods fleeing home countries to a place of safety or while in the asylum process. Some seem overqualified for the role but it’s not uncommon to look for a lower skilled job while gaining confidence or perfecting language for instance. There is a lack of awareness among many employers of the, admittedly complex, immigration and work permits system (Ibec’s guide to employing non-EEA nationals is very helpful here) or a reluctance to seek a work permit for skilled and needed migrant potential employees. Migrant job seekers often face a big challenge with job application and interview processes which vary considerably across work cultures, even within the EU.
Considerations:
Employers when recruiting are making an investment and creating what could be a long-term relationship and want to ensure that they get the best workers available. Adopting a more inclusive approach means access to a more diverse pool of skilled and qualified candidates. Building on existing approaches, the following are some issues worth considering:
- Experience elsewhere has shown that social networks in host countries are the most useful channel of information for potential employees. Develop contacts with NGOs and migrant community social networks to ensure a wide access to talent pools.
- Consider paid internships, for a minimum of six months with a mentoring or buddy scheme, which with progression support can enable a migrant staff member to move into permanent employment.
- Ensure that the job ad is clear. Use a job title that is specific to what the job entails. Avoid jargon or abbreviations that make it hard to understand what the job is; explain the requirements of the job in plain English and include all relevant information such as job description, location, salary, benefits and opportunities for advancement. Indicate an openness to people from diverse backgrounds.
- Applications: be aware of a possible unfamiliarity with Irish work cultures and ways of presenting a CV in applications for a role. Design your assessment and selection process to help you determine if the person can do the job regardless of cultural background.
- Interviews: Give candidates time to prepare for interviews. Remember that a candidate may be nervous during a job interview and that his or her language skills may appear worse than they are. They may be proficient in English but speak with an accent or express themselves differently. Make allowances. Focus on the content. A good candidate’s language skills can be improved through training or on-the-job experience.
- Ensure candidates are fully aware of process and types of interviews questions e.g. competency-based interviews, strength-based questions. Guide interviewers on how to conduct interviews in a fair way to a person who may not be fully fluent in English. Ensure experience outside Ireland is adequately understood.
- Good quality induction is essential to make the relationship work. Do not assume a familiarity with an Irish work environment. Induction should include organisational norms and practices, work culture, how to engage with managers, appraisals. Ensure internal communications are suitable for the language abilities of all employees. Consider pairing new employees with an existing staff member.
- Build an inclusive workplace. This benefits everyone. Your workplace is likely already diverse: from age, gender and sexual orientation, to religion, political views and favourite music. Remind staff of the existing diversity in your workplace. This will encourage them to welcome additional diversity.
Consider intercultural and unconscious bias training for all staff, including a gender dimension. Implement a buddy or mentoring system for new employees, if possible, with people from the same cultural background. Consider establishing an internal cultural awareness network to celebrate and raise awareness of different culture and faith backgrounds.
You will find much more information on the Pathways to Progress Migrant Hub and we are always open to collaborate with employers to learn and share experiences, to support the building of inclusive workplaces with strong opportunities for migrant workers.
Pathways to Progress
