Why the hidden job market?

Eu não gosto de escrever em inglês aqui no Blog, mas já tem um bom tempo que li este comentário e achei que em traduzindo-o eu poderia mudar o sentido ou não transmitir a mensagem corretamente. Eu sempre tenho a impressão de que perdemos muito em uma tradução, mesmo quando feita por excelentes profissionais. Enfim!

"I worked for five years with newcomers to Canada as a pre-employment coach, and earlier in life I participated in an employment program. I'm sure many Canadian Immigrant readers are familiar with these goverment-funded programs, designed to provide information about Canadian employment practices and standards, resumé and interview preparation, and how to deal with the "hidden job market."

It all lloks reasonable and certainly many have benefited.

But why is there a hidden job market? And how did it become so institutionalized?

Employment programs tend to offer the explanation that companies have discretion in how they publicize jobs, that advertising is expensive and that process - from when the position is created to when it is filled - is time-consuming, in part because publicized jobs generate too many applications. And so many jobs are offered through limited channels.

For hteir part, governments do not want to interfere unduly in business practices.

I have never been able to reconcile the question of why, in a country that values democracy and free market, does there exist such a thing as a hidden job market? Should it even be called a "job market" if a significant part of it is hidden?

Try to imagine a similar tolerance for a hidden clothes market, a hidden car market or even a hidden food market. You know there would be no tolerance but rather a swift public response. The comparison is apt.

Governments expend a lot of effort attracting international investment and business precisely because they generate employment and tax revenues. Jobs are the lifeblood of the national economy. Employment rates are a measure of national economic health.

Business tax regimes, minimum wage levels and land use decisions are designed to optimize the ability of companies to generate more jobs. These factors are exclusively decided by government, usually after consulting with business leaders.

I would suggest that these incentives, these obligations governments readily make to the business community, create a corresponding obligation on business to be responsible to the Canadian public.

Everyone would agree that the nature of an employment position is 100 per cent within the power of the company. The company owns the position, but information about the position should be in the public realm. If a company is not prepared to publicize positions, it should fergo any advantage provided by government for the purpose of creating jobs.

What about the flood of applications companies will get? I suggest this occurs precisely because a large number of applicants are competing for the relatively few jobs that are actually advertised. This creates a situation where people apply speculatively for positions, taking a broad-stroke approach, submitting applications even though the may not be qualified for the particular position. This is not good for the applicant, and expensive for the company. If all jobs are advertised, applicants would be able to focus on those jobs that suit their skills, and companies would receive a higher quality batch of applicantions.

Furthermore, when jobs are hidden, does this not create a more fertile ground for discrimination? In the situation we have now, the old adage that I heard when I first came to Canada still applies, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." That can often result in hiring practices that can appear to be racist. It is not appopriate in a country as great as Canada. The development of an open job market will not address all newcomers' concerns and problems in fiding meaningful work, however. Perhaps it is enough if most business leaders begin to see that they are working agaist their own best interest by subscribing to the continuance of the hidden job market. They miss a lot of the available talent!"

D.D Miles Morton, Vancouver

www.canadianimmigrant.ca - September 2008.