Are irish and europeans considered rather than non Eu people for jobs at this time?

decembersun77

A good friend of mine has been unemployed since march. He is from india he is very intelligent with good qualifications and experience. He has been applying to anything and everything since he became unemployed. He must of send 400 CVs at this stage. I really and truly dont understand it I know there is a recession I know everyone has been effected in one way or another but i am beginning to wonder now are irish and europeans considered first for jobs and non europeans out of the question because of the pressure on the welfare system or what ever other reasons. If that is the case that is really unfair a person should be judged by their qualifications and experience or their ability to do the job .My friend is a really nice guy and a gentleman if there ever was one. Is there anyone else in this situation and really struggling or anyone who is non european would you drop me a line

Nolanger

Two words - work permits.

leeroybrown

decembersun77 wrote: »

If that is the case that is really unfair a person should be judged by their qualifications and experience or their ability to do the job .

A person is judged by their ability to live and work in that jurisdiction followed by their qualifications, experience and ability. In order to get a work-permit for a non-EEA citizen you need to be able to show that there aren't sufficiently qualified people who are eligible to work without requiring a permit. It's become more difficult to hire someone who requires a work permit recently because there are a lot of qualified people out there in the market and the requirements to demonstrate that they're not available are becoming more strict.

In my workplace we tend to interview quite a few applicants who require work permits. We hire some of them as we're in scientific/technical field that requires a very high education level and there are a limited number of candidates available. Most of our staff are from various EU countries and we often struggle to find sufficiently good Irish interview candidates let alone hires. Right now if we had jobs on offer I'd expect that we'd fill them with candidates who don't require work permits as there are a lot more people available than usual.

In short, your friend will find it very difficult unless they're extremely qualified/experienced or working in a niche sector.

esharknz

A lot of employers don't like the hassle of applying for work permits and dealing with the govt departments (so I'm told). I know my firm (this was last year) wanted to hire someone from outside the EU (skilled position, BTW) but didn't feel they could give it to them as they weren't sure they could get a work permit for them. They couldn't locate any suitable EEA nationals at the time, but convincing the govt of that is another problem.

Does your friend need a work permit? (a lot of non-EU nationals don't, for one reason or another)

leeroybrown

esharknz wrote: »

A lot of employers don't like the hassle of applying for work permits and dealing with the govt departments (so I'm told).

There was a bit of a myth that it was difficult during the 'good times™'. It wasn't all that difficult so long as you knew the procedure and followed it correctly. Now it does appear to becoming more difficult and I can imagine companies having to be a lot more persistent if they need to get one.

Mrs OBumble

I'm a foreign-born-and-raised Irish national, which means I don't have an Irish accent, but do have a passport.

I've met and/or heard of quite a few American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand etc people who (for various reasons) don't need work permits. We're all having problems finding work.

I have a theory we're less likely to get jobs than the Irish, and less likely than Eastern Europeans as well because employers know better than to ask us to work for less than minimum wage. Just a theory of mine, no proof. But given my excellent English, I'd expected to have less difficulties than I've had.

decembersun77

thanks for your replies. well my friend is a student here on student status he is allowed to work part- time 20 hrs a week. he doesnt require a work permit for that. The fees for non EU students are crazy thousands to add to the pressure

leeroybrown

As a student he probably has around the same chance of picking up a part time job at the moment that anyone else does - fairly low.

decembersun77

i dont know how hes gonna live on fresh air. i dont know anymore

Eoin

Is he in IT by any chance?

decembersun77

yea he is an IT guy.