Is it common and acceptable for lack of transparency in public service competitions in Ireland?

jj_24

I applied for a competition for which I met all the requirements, and only after inquiring about my selection for the next stage did I receive an email stating I wasn't selected, with no specific details. In a public competition, shouldn't there be clear, objective criteria?

Shouldn't they provide feedback like 'you didn't meet these criteria, and you ranked at position X, with only those up to position Y moving on to the next stage'? As a foreigner, I find this lack of transparency confusing.

The competition booklet doesn't even specify how many people will move on to the next stage.

Should I file a formal complaint to request more details?

Jim2007

Recruitment processes in Ireland are no different to most in other countries. Job advertisements list the minimal acceptable criteria to do the job and for any given position there could be 50 to 100 people that meet that criteria. Out of that group of people the employer will probably look as say 5 or 6 people and those will in all likelihood far exceed the minimum requirements. So just because you meet the minimum criteria for a position it does not mean that you are in the running for the job. You might have been number 99 or number 7 on that list, but it does not matter, the 5 or 6 at the top of the list were better qualified than you were - it's a competition.

It would be completely impracticable to provide feedback to all the people who apply for a position - it could be up to 500 people depending on how popular the position was. And it would be legally unadvisable to do so as it would just lead frivolous law suits.

I have recruited people in Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland and Ireland and I have never encountered a process that would meet your expectations.

leanbh

For public jobs, you can contact the state body and ask them for feedback on your application. They're usually quite good about this.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121332754#Comment_121332754

For some public jobs campaigns, they do provide information like the OP expects. But that's the largest campaigns where there are literally 000s of applicants nationwide, which have resources dedicated to them.

For smaller campaigns, there are issues with workload and also with privacy, if there are small numbers.

BrianD3

OP is correct to expect transparency and objectivity (as much as possible) regarding the shortlisting and selection process for PUBLIC jobs. There will be someone or more likely a team of people shortlisting based on defined criteria. If there are a lot of applications they may not provide scoring and feedback to everyone automatically but should do if requested. "We're too busy to do that" is not a valid excuse. Anyway, if they expect a huge number of applications, it's their responsibility to whittle down the numbers first using aptitude tests etc. And then provide scores to each candidate before moving successful ones on to the next stage.

There can still be skulduggery with interview boards being "leaned on" to select a preferred candidate but this is much less common than it used to be and should not be an issue for civil service competitions or anything run by the PAC. It might still be an issue for competitions for public service jobs that are run by the organisations themselves, HSE, local councils etc.

Anyway it's different in the private sector and it is irrelevant to bring it up but as per usual certain posters have to stick their oar in. The private sector can hire who they like as long as they are careful not to be seen to discriminate on any of the grounds under equality legislation.

MaxPayneXL

I find the campaigns held by PublicJobs are transparent and straight forward. They also provide feedback upon request.

But in my experience (and also others) with County Councils like Dublin County Council they are not at all transparent. Favouritism, Partiality etc prevail there. Same is with many internal HSE roles, the managers have someone in their mind and they would go for that person.

Moving all recruitment to Local Authority / Public Sector roles, to a common body like PublicJobs would bring same treatment to all candidates. These institutions work on public money that the people like me and you pay as taxes. So fairness in selection process is required.