Untangling search for staff

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Put yourself in the picture. You have been asked to help find someone to become general manager of a large firm. An explicit part of the client's brief is that the manager must be a woman. How do you respond?

Here's another scenario. You're trying to fill a post for which there is a shortage of candidates. The only people who fit the bill are foreigners who have trained and worked overseas rather than in New Zealand, but many of them seem to be good bets.

Problem is, the client says he wants someone with local experience, and adds: "I don't trust the night schools these people say they have gone to overseas."

What does he really mean - and what do you say?

Both scenes are played out daily in New Zealand. The latter is probably the most common, say recruiters, despite a shortage of talent in some areas and an influx of under-employed immigrants.

It's to combat ignorance or wilful discrimination by employers that the EEO Trust has launched a free, six-part training kit available off the internet, Tools for Tapping into Talent.

It was developed in response to the 2000 study Recruiting Talent, which found that the groups most likely to suffer illegal discrimination were older people, those with a non-Kiwi accent, the disabled and people from a different culture.

But it's not just about staying on-side with the Human Rights Act, which has 13 personal characteristics, such as sexual orientation, which can't be used against people.

Discrimination might mean the best candidate is overlooked, says trust director Trudie McNaughton.

The kit's six modules take about 30 minutes each and provide trainers with clear guidelines to prompt discussion. Subjects include the law and how to give candidates useful feedback.

Opal Consulting's Manukau office tried the kit and found the section on managing clients who intended to discriminate the most useful part. Manager Julie Cressey says training gave staff "tools to encourage their clients to look beyond people's cultural background at their actual skills", and offered managers the chance to say they would back up consultants who needed to be hard-line with clients.

A quick poll of Auckland recruiters found that the most common discriminatory request is for "people with NZ experience" - often a cover for pure racism.

Reasons offered for excluding non-New Zealanders are communication difficulties, cultural differences and fear about different work practices.

Says one consultant: "Questioning the extent of that 'experience' usually reveals that they have no idea about the New Zealand experience required."

And employers' "experience of 'difficulties' with non-New Zealanders is usually anecdotal rather than personal," he says.

"Although discrimination by employers is usually subtle, excluding potential applicants in the first sweep rather than with a shortlist ... the tragedy is that some employers are open about their prejudices."

For "many" manufacturing and technical roles, he adds, "there is often an expressed preference for males - with reasons for exclusion of females similar to those for non-New Zealanders".

Another hirer reports that control-freak clients are most likely to try to reject candidates without European surnames. "This is easily controlled by a recruitment company," he says, "as these candidates can be discussed individually and presented professionally.

"However, I suspect it is a different matter when candidates apply directly."

Often employers are having a hard time finding the right words to describe their staffing must-haves.

David Doyle, who heads executive recruiting at TMP, says employers who specify age - say, an under-25, bright young thing for a funky office - might be simply struggling to define experience.

The kit outlines 12 ways to deal with this and employer bias, such as:

* Identifying the issue behind the attitude. For example, an employer saying they can't employ a woman with kids might be saying that the job involves a lot of travel.

* Focusing on the skills. An employer saying they need someone with English as their native tongue might be asking for someone with effective communication skills.

* Reflecting back what they are saying. "Are you telling me that you don't want to employ anyone who isn't white?"

* Employing rational argument. "If you get all the same people, you may get all of the same strengths and weaknesses."

* Selling the advantages. "This person may have the skills you need to tap into the Asian market."

But on an upbeat note, says McNaughton, sectors such as IT have been more open to cultural diversity, much of it driven by the excellence of programmers of Asian background.

And TMP senior consultant Paul Stevenson reckons shortages in areas such as accounting, business analysis and some parts of marketing will force employers to look beyond ignorance or prejudice.

And when it comes to experience, says Stevenson, older people are suffering less discrimination: "There is a growing regard and desire for experience."

So test yourself.

A sexual violence counselling agency wants to hire a gay, Polynesian, male counsellor and wants you to advertise. Can you accept?

Answer not too clear? The website, EEO Trust, provides the answer.