International Organization for Migration (IOM)

seeking personal recommendations from existing employees, direct approaches to
potential recruits, word-of-mouth and so forth. Each recruitment channel has its
own associated costs and benefits in terms of its coverage of potential recruits and
its effectiveness in identifying and selecting suitable recruits. In turn these translate
into direct costs of recruitment and indirect cost in terms of delays and errors in
recruitment.
As in the previous section, there is no data source providing comprehensive
information on the methods used by employers to recruit third-country migrants,
although there are some indicative insights from case studies (as discussed below).
The UK Employer Perspectives Survey 2010 provides useful insights into the
methods used by United Kingdom employers more generally, and so sets the context
for methods that may be used to recruit third-country migrants. The most commonly
used recruitment channel in the United Kingdom was the Jobcentre (vacancies
are advertised online), used by 39 per cent of employers trying to fill a vacancy.
Importantly, employers often use a combination of recruitment channels (Hasluck
and Hogarth, 2008); so, for instance, in 2010 around 24 per cent used the Jobcentre
in combination with some other method (Shury et al., 2011). Use of the Jobcentre
was more common amongst large employers than small. Whereas 53 per cent of
those employing 250 employees or more used the Jobcentre, the proportion was 32
per cent of businesses employing between two and four employees.
According to the UK Employer Perspectives Survey 2010, word of mouth was used
by 24 per cent of employers (Shury et al, 2011). Use of word of mouth and personal
recommendations was most common (31%) amongst those employing between two
and four employees, and was negatively associated with size, such that only 11 per
cent of the largest employers used this recruitment method. The importance of word
of mouth recruitment amongst small employers is supported by a survey of micro
businesses that found that just over half of businesses employing less than 10 people
used word of mouth or personal recommendations (BCC, 2011). To some extent
these differences by employer size are a reflection of more standardized approaches
and professionalized human resource practices of larger organizations. Skill levels
are important also in determining recruitment methods: 92 per cent of employers
recruiting to entry level jobs and surveyed by the Centre for Social Justice (2011)
were reported to have recruited at least a portion of their staff through word of
mouth and informal networks. The importance of word of mouth recruitment is also
highlighted in a study comparing hiring behaviour of organizations that do and do
not hire migrants (SQW, 2009, 2010), with both categories of organizations citing
this as the most popular recruitment channel amongst the mix of methods generally
used. The study indicated that differences in recruitment behaviour varied more by
sector than by whether employers employed migrant workers, 125 so indicating that
125 Sectoral differences included the greater than average propensity for hotels and restaurants to rely
upon recommendations from existing staff, the greater than average propensity for organizations in the
health and social care sector to use Jobcentre Plus and for those in food/beverage manufacture to use
online advertising. “The results tended to be broadly similar whether or not organizations employed
migrant workers” (SQW, 2010: paragraph 3.9).
country studIes – UNITED KINGDOM
203