‘You don’t find any males working for nothing. It just doesn’t happen’

Women are still expected to work for free to get their foot in the door for certain roles, says recruitment expert Sheila O’Keeffe.

The vastly experienced driving force behind O’Keeffe Recruitment notes there is no equivalent expectation for men to work without wages in any sphere of working life.

Based in Billis, Drumalee, Sheila opened getthejobyouwant.ie in 2007 from where she helps to maximise the impact of clients’ CVs, and gives valuable guidance for interview preparation.

Countless people can point to Sheila’s advice as a key factor in obtaining their jobs or promotion.

She expanded the business in 2018 by opening a recruitment limb.

“You get to see it from both the employer’s side and the candidate’s side,” Sheila says of running the dual-purpose business.

O’Keeffe Recruitment primarily caters for County Cavan and surrounding areas.

“I don’t recruit for jobs in Dublin or anywhere else, they are all local jobs,” she tells the Celt .

“There’s really good people in Cavan and really good people from Cavan still working outside of the county who are trying to relocate, so they are the people who I would target.”

The regional economy is not without its challenges for both employers and employees.

“It’s a tight economy where professionals and good people are difficult to get,” assesses Sheila, who strives to make the challenge of job matchmaking that bit easier.

While Sheila assures that she has not encountered barriers as a woman in business personally, she is acutely aware of clients who have.

“The female workforce has different challenges than the male workforce, and that has all to do with the fact we have children and maternity leave,” Sheila explains.

She observes that the vast majority of those who work in childcare, or as special needs assistants (SNAs), or school secretaries are female. Such roles permit mothers to co-ordinate their work life in tandem with their children’s lives, and as such they are “premium jobs for them”.

“There’s huge barriers to getting those kinds of jobs simply because women will work for nothing to try to get experience,” explains Sheila. “And that kind of system is open to abuse.”

She adds: “There is a culture of schools taking in people for months and months on end and not paying them because they are offering their qualified services for free. Then there is that expectation: if you work for us for a year, when the next opportunity comes up you will probably get it.”

Sheila has encountered this most within the SNA sector where the candidates will have already achieved their QQI level 5 and 6 qualification, which will include a period of work experience.

“They work for nothing for maybe nine months, a year, maybe longer, and of course the school is delighted to have them and delighted to use them and the person will benefit from getting a job in a year or two’s time. But no man would do that.”

She asserts that “the system” does not respect women in the workforce as much as their male counterparts.

“People who are working for free - they are all females. You don’t find any males working for nothing. It just doesn’t happen.”

The issue extends beyond the classroom. She notes within the arts, care work, youth work, people “would nearly be expected” to offer their services in a voluntary capacity before getting a paid role.

“Are you not happy to work for nothing? We are giving you good job experience,” she says affecting the faux concerned tone of an employer.

“It’s possibly a woman’s lack of self confidence too, in that they don’t value themselves enough.”

Another “kink” in the system is caused by childcare restrictions. She estimates that 80% of crèches don’t take babies under 11 months; while about 60% of crèches don’t take children until the preschool year, when they are age two and a half or three.

“So what is a woman to do if she doesn’t have grandparents or someone local who is going to take her child in? It’s a huge barrier,” Sheila asserts.

While she welcomes improvements in paternity leave, it continues to fall mainly on women to put her career on pause to prioritise childcare.

Returning to work can then be difficult.

“You come back into the workplace and it’s different and the system is different and people have moved into your role maybe.”