EU Talent Pool: deal on facilitating international recruitment in shortage occupations 

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

A political agreement has been reached today to set up the EU Talent Pool, a digital platform to make it easier to recruit third-country nationals for work in the EU.

On Tuesday afternoon, negotiators from the Civil Liberties Committee reached an agreement with the Council on the creation of an EU Talent Pool platform. This digital platform will facilitate recruitment for work in the EU member states and will be open to voluntary participation by member states. Vacancies falling within the list of EU-wide shortage occupations, with possible national and regional adjustments and those contributing to EU competitiveness will be matched with non-EU jobseekers. The process will be free of charge for jobseekers and for employers.

Participating employers

Member states will have to ensure that all participating employers and entities – such as temporary work agencies or labour market intermediaries – are lawfully established in a participating EU country and comply with the relevant EU and national laws regarding fair recruitment, adequate working conditions, non-discrimination, protection against adverse treatment and trafficking in human beings. Breaches of these laws could lead to employers being suspended or removed from the platform.

All vacancies published should include at least the name and contact details of the employer, a job description and the place of work. In addition, information such as initial pay or a description of the employer’s operations may also be included.

Jobseekers’ profiles

Jobseekers interested will be able to register and create profiles that will be visible to employers, indicating relevant skills and qualifications. In their negotiations, MEPs secured an agreement that skills developed or validated in the framework of an EU Talent Partnership or bilateral arrangements will be flagged in the jobseekers’ profiles and that additional information, such as availability to start work or preferred member state can also be included. Jobseekers will have to be at least the age of majority under the national laws of the country of employment.

Accelerated immigration procedures

Participating EU countries will be free to accelerate immigration procedures to allow for faster recruitment of jobseekers selected from the EU Talent Pool. However, neither registration nor selection for a vacancy through the EU Talent Pool platform will guarantee the delivery of work and residence permits, which will still be subject to immigration procedures in the individual member states, including security checks.

Communication campaigns

The Commission will raise public awareness about the EU Talent Pool through communication activities and information campaigns, in cooperation with the Union delegations in non-EU countries.

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After the meeting the rapporteur Abir Al-Sahlani (Renew, Sweden) said: “Today’s agreement on the Talent Pool is a big victory for European companies and our economy. We have now taken another step towards ensuring that our companies do not fall behind because of labour shortages. The Talent Pool legislation is also a tool to create more safe and legal pathways to the EU while ensuring protection for jobseekers against exploitation. Overall, it is a huge step in the right direction and instrumental in framing a more positive discussion on migration: it is not necessarily a negative thing, but can be harnessed to help us regain our competitive edge as a Union.”

Next steps

The agreement needs to be formally adopted by Parliament and Council before it can enter into force.