LANGUAGE AND ACCESS TO WORK: THE ROLE OF ENGLISH IN RECRUITING

Abstract

The present dissertation is an ethnographic study that looks at the role of English skills in access to junior- and senior-level jobs in Barcelona. It focuses on the internal operations of recruitment agencies and examines the rationale behind their construction of the English skills criteria for open positions, as well as the way recruiters carry out screening and evaluation of English skills during the recruitment process. English skills are the sine qua non of modern work, they are an asset for companies and an indispensable work tool. The Spanish labour force however, is known to lack the high level of English required by businesses that offer new jobs in the Spanish job market. As the Spanish economy continues to be internationalized, both public and corporate discourses keep insisting that Spanish workers need to improve their English skills. Recruitment agencies are labour market intermediaries whose main commitment is to finding the best profile of worker for the companies that hire them. They develop mechanisms of selection that predict candidate fit, and this allows these agencies to thrive in a highly competitive business environment. This thesis shows how recruitment agencies have inflated the English requirement by requiring spoken English for jobs that do not actually need it. As the Spanish labour market is experiencing an excess supply of available workers due to high unemployment, English skills are operationalized by recruitment agencies as a résumé screening tool. Furthermore, the evaluation of candidates’ English skills is carried out by means of oral conversations, in which fluency is the main indicator of a candidate’s language competence. This parameter is highly problematic and it opens space for recruiters’ subjective biases. The Spanish workers who invest in acquiring English skills are often unable to reach a level that would be sufficient to pass such an evaluation. Recruitment agencies have established a selection pattern based on the English skills requirement, which has negative consequences for Spanish workers who are having difficulty in accessing jobs. This requirement is only exacerbating inequalities inherent to the Spanish labour market.

Date of Award	28 Feb 2022
Original language	English
Supervisor	Melissa Moyer Greer (Tutor)