Avstanden mellom et ja og et nei : En kvalitativ studie av kriterier for ansettelse i offentlige og private virksomheter

Abstract

The main objective ofthis thesisisto studythe criteriathat are emphasized whenemploying people in public and private organizationsandtoillustrate the similarities and differences between the sectors. Age discrimination is a well-known contemporary theme and I have therefore chosen to look into the political and regulatory context in which the organizationsare committedto. My purpose has not been to reveal whether my participants can be linked to age discriminationor not, but instead to study whichattitudes existin the Norwegian job market.The way I chose to retrieve data is through semi structuredinterviews. Overall, I have interviewed eight businesses, four participants from each sector. I have selecteda structural presentation of the analysis, in which I first present empirical findings derived from the interviews, then comparing the public and private sectors, and ultimately linking this to relevant theory and procedures.My studyconfirms that there are both similarities and differences between the public and private sectors. One of the main findings is that the public sector is more concerned with formal competence than the private sector is. Despitethe fact that formal competence is also important in private sector selection, my datashows that there is greater emphasis on application texts in the private sector than in the public sector. While formal competence is one of the most important criteria when selectedfor interview, personal chemistry between employer and job seeker is essential for employment. Both sectors claim to be concerned with diversity, but the study points to some stereotypical attitudes whichpotentiallymaylead to age discrimination.