Chapter 6 argued that while collective agreements do provide some beneficial
constraints for shaping current job quality outcomes (i.e. particularly for earnings and working time quality), the majority of the ICT firms’ job quality outcomes result from firm level production strategies and policies. Through an analysis of initial job quality outcomes, as well as the job quality dimension internal progression and prospects, the previous chapter argued that the pathways for recruitment were lengthier among the IRM and SPL firms, thus providing a readily available supply of flexible labor among certain occupational segments within these firms. Indeed, closely mirroring Chapter 5, a distinction was made between the IRM and SPL firms and the IRS, SPS and SPM firms.
This chapter aims to add an additional layer of analysis to Chapter 5 and 6, by
examining these similar recruitment and training strategies among these two groups of Spanish and Irish ICT firms, while also considering the dynamics of the internal
recruitment pathways or ‘entry tournaments.’ Specifically, this chapter aims to explain why these entry tournaments were adopted using ALMP internships and the extent to which the intersection of institutions and firm level features explains the two groups of ICT firms’ distinct pathways.
First, the segmented and extended entry tournaments among the IRM and SPL firms and the unsegmented and shorter entry tournaments among the SPM, SPS and IRS firms are examined. Second, the intersection of Ireland and Spain’s industrial relations
systems and education and training systems are examined for their impact on the specific entry tournaments adopted among the two groups of Irish and Spanish ICT firms. Last, three firm level features are argued to occupy increased importance in the context of uncoordinated and fragmented national Spanish and Irish institutions, particularly for explaining the segmented and extended entry tournaments adopted among the SPL and IRM firms and the unsegmented and shorter entry tournaments adopted among the SPM, SPS and IRS firms.
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Internal Entry Tournaments
In the Spanish and Irish ICT firms, ALMP internships were used as a flexible recruitment strategy to prolong the probation period and to develop internal extended ‘entry tournaments’ (Marsden 2010) to recruit new labor market entrants. Specific to the ICT sector is the idea that less institutionally structured and more project-based forms of employment developed in response to industry’s need to quickly respond to changing technology, growing needs of production, and service provision (Ibid). This argument points to the concept of extended ‘entry tournaments’, where individuals particularly in the beginning of their careers, are faced with few pre-established structured entry channels. These channels are characterised by competition for occupations among many firms over a much longer time period during which these individuals must acquire skills and develop their necessary networks to shift upwards in terms of job quality. As argued in Chapter 6, these extended entry tournaments are also evident internally in the recruitment behaviour of the Spanish and Irish ICT firms with market and firm-driven production strategies often contributing to varying degrees and durations of flexibility, with evidence of flexible work practices being adopted among particular segments of the workforce in some of the ICT firm case studies while not in others.
Recent research within Ireland suggests that within the ICT sector, a sector generally noted for its ‘good’ jobs, there are two types of work experiences emerging: 1) Those of experienced participants, and 2) New entrants (Wickham and Boback 2016). Wickham and Boback (ibid) argue that experienced workers have more career progression opportunities, higher salaries, and more contract security, given their increased
bargaining power on the market. In contrast, new entrants have decreased bargaining power, lower career progression opportunities, and less contract security. In addition, new entrants are also increasingly expected to have particular soft skills in addition to high level technical abilities (Marks and Scholarios 2008). Indeed, Chillas et al. (2015) found that internships among young graduates increasingly are used by ICT firms to assess candidates’ soft skills.
Thus, for young workers entering the ICT sector with little work experience, a lengthier and ever shifting employment trajectory may be expected. ALMP internships and other
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demand side ALMPs can enable entrance into a firm, particularly in cases where other barriers (i.e. diplomas/degrees, long-term unemployed, etc.) would limit access.
However, as was found in Chapter 6, a young person’s entrance to employment through an ALMP internship automatically extends the employment trajectory and can delay increases in earnings, career progression, training and opportunities for work life balance. Therefore, all of the Spanish and Irish ICT firms can be said to have extended the entry tournaments for ALMP participants, despite the varying durations. However, Chapter 5 and 6 also argued that the trajectories of these entry tournaments vary by duration with ALMPs adopted for particular occupational segments in some of the Irish and Spanish ICT firms. Thus, the following section aims to examine the underlying dynamics of these entry tournaments, as well as why segmented and lengthy entry tournaments were adopted among the IRM and SPL firms, but not the IRS, SPS and SPM firms.
‘Slow’ and Unstructured Internal Entry Tournaments
Within the SPL firm, the ALMP internship program was used as a recruitment strategy to extend the entry tournaments for young, new entrants into non-technical occupations, primarily within the corporate occupation family of the firm. In total, the SPL firm recruited four ALMP participants through the ALMP internship program for the mid-level non-technical jobs. The entry tournaments used through ALMPs involved less structured and ‘slow’ career tracks (Mardsen 2010). For the talent acquisition job a
‘slow’ career track was used, one that consisted of a university internship, an ALMP internship, temporary contracts and internship contracts through a temporary agency and finally a permanent contract. This entry tournament lasted approximately three years. Accordingly, ‘slow’ entry tournaments were adopted for the majority of new hires within the Human Resource Department.
The truth is all of my colleagues passed through the same [process], we were interns, later we were outsourced [through a temp agency] and then the company internalized everyone.
Former ALMP intern, Talent Acquisition, SPL firm 2016