Posh accents are 'a plus for job-seekers'
Saturday November 14 2009
YOUR accent and your address are key factors in deciding whether or not you get that job you applied for, one third of Irish people believe.
If a company is hiring someone and has the choice of two candidates with equal skills and qualifications, your Dublin 4 accent and postcode give you a definite advantage, a new survey of Irish people's attitudes to discrimination has found.
Some 36pc of Irish people believed that the candidates' accents, put one candidate at a disadvantage. This was above the European average of 30pc.
And a staggering 31pc thought that a person's address was important when being recruited, way above the European average of 9pc.
However, age was less of a problem here than in Europe hiring someone: only 33pc of Irish people thought it a disadvantage, while the European average is 48pc
The job candidates' skin colour or ethnic origin, general physical appearance, expression of religious belief and sexual orientation was less important in Ireland than in our European neighbours.
But Irish people believe that public discrimination is less of a problem than for their European neighbours, the Eurobarometer survey on Discrimination in the EU 2009, found.
When it comes to reporting discrimination, Irish people seem to be more comfortable going to their trade unions: some 45pc in Ireland (compared to 27pc in Europe) mentioned these as organisations to report discrimination to, followed by the police (Ireland 43pc, EU 55pc).
Levels of personal discrimination in Ireland were also lower than the EU average where only one in nine Irish people experience discrimination, while in Europe the figure is one in six people.
Just 20pc of Irish people feel gender discrimination is widespread, the lowest in the EU and way behind the UK where 43pc of the population cite this as an issue. The EU average is 40pc.
Other key findings include:
Meanwhile, 64pc of Europeans are concerned that the recession will contribute to more age discrimination in the job market.
mlavery@herald.ie
- Michael Lavery
