A large company I was associated with had an agreement with the unions since the early 1970's that the entry qualifications for a particular classification of job was a few "D"'s at leaving cert level. They were recruiting before the current boom period when good jobs were not that easy to come by. It was an (eventually) well paid job which required not a great deal of particular upfront skill.
To cut a long story short, open days were arranged, Surnames A-F one day etc. The net result was a queue from O'Connell Bridge to the Gresham Hotel (half a mile?) with HR people walking down the road with megaphones telling people to go home if they hadn't got a degree.
