The FINANCIAL — “In the service sector women have a monopoly, and a great advantage as the number of recruited women is four times larger than the number of recruited men,” explains Davit Narmania, Executive Director of the Caucasus Institute for Economic and Social Research, CIESR.
“There are several reasons that influence the tendency of recruiting woman as sales consultants, one of which might be considered the salary, as in world practice, male sales consultants are paid more than woman, however, there is still a shortage of men consultants” says Vaza Dvalishvili, Director of the supermarket chain Ulevi.
However Narmania thinks that the main point is the sphere and the job that does not involve physical labour.
“Novo group was one of the companies who first introduced male sales consultants, however, it was not a success, the reason for the failure was the Georgian mentality,” Alexander Kevlishvili, HR Manager of Novo Group, told The FINANCIAL.
Novo group which is famous for its brands United Colors of Benetton, Mexx, Sisley, Mango and Lacoste, employs the staff for its popular brand outlets. In its 9 stores the company recruits 62 people, all women.
“As a result, at present we do not have any men consultants, however, the market tendencies are leading toward changes and we hope that in 2010 more men will be involved and interested in this position,” Alexander Kevlishvili says.
“In general there are fewer women recruited in the IT spheres, due to the fact that women have less experience and education in technology. Out of our 134 employees approximately 87 are men, moreover, from the published vacancies 70% of applications are men,” says Natia Gorjoladze, Head of the Human Resource Department of UGT.
The issue of sexual orientation is still a most controversial topic in the Georgian reality and one of the criteria for getting a job. Gays and Lesbians face more difficulties while looking for a new job. Although many companies prefer not to speak about that issue openly.
Ekaterine Lomidze, Head of the Human Resource Department at Hotel Radisson Sas Iveria says, “We do not discriminate against anyone for any reason, while recruiting for us the main focus is a service oriented attitude and the ability of a person to perform the job’s responsibilities, the sexual orientation of each of our employees is a private matter and should be treated with respect.”
Gorjoladze makes the comparison with the attitude of European countries, where everyone openly speaks of their orientation as opposed to in Georgia. “Attention to a person’s sexual orientation depends on the position that person will perform, and how visible it will be. However, if the orientation does not influence the performance of the work we probably won’t have any issues with this factor in the recruitment process.”
As for Kevlishvili, he says “Theoretically speaking about a case you have not experienced is difficult. However according to the Georgian reality and the fact that the consumers would not be pleased to see people with a different orientation as a consultant, we probably wouldn’t recruit them.”
Another aspect that attracts a lot of scrutiny when recruiting is the criminal record of the person. Lomidze says that for service oriented companies, the safety of the consumers and staff has a huge impact on their business performance. Novo Group in its application form includes a topic about the criminal record of the individual. Kevlishvili says, “The fact that we include this topic in the application form indicates that great attention is paid to it. Moreover, in this case the factor of trust plays a vital role.”
Gorjoladze, UGT, explains, “As we offer our clients 24 hour service, the main argument for why we wouldn’t hire a previously convicted person is due to the probable lack of experience and knowledge in the IT sphere that we require from our staff.”
The aspects of an applican’t personal file attracting the least amount of scrutiny include the person’s marital status, political views, and residence in Georgia.
Marital status is not considered a defining factor in recruitment. Dvalishvili and Gorjoladze say that they are in support of the marriage of their staff.
“We offer them presents or honeymoon trips, moreover, a certain monthly bonus when they have child,” says Dvalishvili. “At present we have 2 women on maternity leave, we are paying thm their full salary and are sure that they will be back at work soon” says Gorjoladze.
Lomidze says that marital status has nothing to do with the willingness and the ability of a person to fulfil his job’s responsibilities.
Gorjoladze says, “There are still some difficulties when recruiting foreigners, as there might be barriers in language and communication with the rest of the staff. The majority of residents of foreign countries that we recruit are consultants in different spheres who provide us with experience and share their knowledge in a specific area.”
Gorjoladze says that they had not had any case of a person actually involved in politics applying for a vacancy at their company “The IT sphere is so complicated and so interesting that staff can’t have time for politics, we are a totally non-political organization. However everyone is free in the opinions they hold and the discussions they have when not at work.
Political views do not have any influence on the recruiting process at the Radisson SAS Iveria and in Novo Group, according to their representatives.
Ulevi, UGT, Novo and Radisson are representing different fields of business. Each of them recruits staff with their own special criteria. Each position implies a variety of tasks to be accomplished and services to be provided.
Novo Group and Ulevi say that nice appearance, good communication skills, good manners, loyalty to the brand and self-motivation are praised. “We seek staff who fit these standards and have a presentable appearance, however if a person has great interpersonal skills then that will overshadow the importance of their appearance,” says Kevlishvili. UGT and the Radisson SAS Iveria demand an educational background, knowledge, skills, experience, interest in the business and the ability to rise through ranks, all of which play a vital role.
According to Georgian legislation, discrimination is strictly prohibited, however the Labor Code does point out that the employer has the choice of who to recruit and is free in their opinion. “To be objective, the labour code considers the interests of the employer more than the employee.” Narmania says, “There are cases of dispute for not being hired for a job, but it is quite rare.”
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