The initial results of a controversial trial involving anonymous job applications in the Nijmegen area have proved favourable for people of foreign extraction. Results reveal that foreign workers have a better chance of being invited for an interview when their applications are anonymous. Due to its success, the trial is now being extended. Although employers believe that foreigners should have the same opportunities in principle, this does not appear to be reflected in practice.
Anonymous job applications
The initial results of a controversial trial involving anonymous job applications in the municipality of Nijmegen, situated in the east of the Netherlands close to the German border, have proven favourable for people of foreign extraction (NL0611019I). It seems that foreign applicants stand a greater chance of being invited for a job interview if details of their name, nationality, birthplace and country of origin are omitted from the letter of application. As it is likely that other factors also play a role, Nijmegen’s local authorities intend to extend the trial by six months. Once the trial has been finally completed, a decision will be reached on whether or not all letters of application should be made anonymous to avoid discrimination.
At the start of 2006, when the Mayor of Nijmegen, Guusje ter Horst, proposed launching a trial of this nature, she met with opposition within her own Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA). The party believed that people of foreign extraction should not have to renounce their origins. It considered that removing the names of foreign applicants would merely shift the problem to the wrong party. As a compromise, it was accepted that six-month trials would be run at a number of municipal services. The names and birthplaces of applicants would be removed from job applications at three of these services, while these details would remain unchanged at the other municipal services. Anonymous job applications are not only a politically sensitive matter in Nijmegen, but also in the context of national politics, and among employer organisations and trade unions.
Diversity measures
The Nijmegen municipal executive proposed a further trial in 2006, referred to as the ‘foreign employees’ pool’. In this instance, the municipality proposed compiling a list of suitable foreign candidates, which could be consulted when vacancies arise. However, questions raised in the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer der Staten-General) prompted the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Piet Hein Donner, to remark that a database of this kind would run contrary to the law. As a result, the municipal council of Nijmegen decided to bring the case before the Equal Treatment Committee (Commissie Gelijke Behandeling, CGB). Another of the council’s actions involves preparing young foreigners for a job at the municipality in the future. It is estimated that, within the next five-year period, around 400 positions will need to be filled.
In the course of the anonymous job application trial at the three municipal services – conducted between August 2006 and February 2007 – the Nijmegen council erased the names on job application letters submitted by 560 Dutch nationals and 103 foreign applicants. The results of the trial indicated that foreign applicants stand just as much of a chance of being invited to an initial interview as their native counterparts (10%) if their job applications are anonymous. Conversely, at the four municipal services that did not participate in the experiment, the percentage of foreigners invited for an interview was clearly lower (9%) than the number of Dutch nationals who were invited (16%). Nevertheless, after the first interview, it appears that foreign applicants and Dutch nationals stand largely the same chance of getting the job in the end.
Extension of trial
In order to confirm the evidence regarding the effectiveness of erasing applicants’ names, the trial is being repeated from 1 May to 1 November 2007. Accordingly, those municipal services that originally served as the control group during the first trial period will now remove the names on job applications, while the other departments will serve as the control group.
People of foreign extraction account for about 7% of the workforce at the municipality of Nijmegen. The aim of the trial is to show how making job applications anonymous can increase the chances of non-Dutch nationals being invited to an initial job interview. Many people in this group complain about discrimination in relation to the job application process. They believe that they are not invited to an interview because of their foreign-sounding name or origin.
New study findings
A recent study conducted among employers confirms these findings. The study, carried out by the weekly newspaper Volkskrant Banen and the consultancy company GITP, aimed to gauge the opinions of employers in this respect. Results of the extensive survey, in which 497 employers and 415 highly qualified employees were interviewed, indicates that two thirds of the employers believe that their organisation should reflect the make-up of society, in the sense that foreign employees should be proportionally represented in the workforce. However, only a fifth of the employers comply with this self-imposed standard, namely whereby one in six employees should be of foreign extraction. Under-representation of this kind is evident in both the business community and among government bodies. Employers themselves cite the lack of urgency as a reason for the poor efforts made to employ and retain more foreign workers.
Marianne Grünell, Hugo Sinzheimer Institute (HSI)