Recruitment and Selection – the Great Neglected ... - Cardiff University

the most important weaknesses in our current research base, draw together two effects
of what we know of the current patterns of R&S and use this as a platform to posit
areas for future research
Who is being recruited?
There is a large volume of research literature concerned with this question, primarily
driven by a desire to probe one of two concerns:
1. Patterns of career choice and discrimination on the grounds of race, age,
gender (see Fuller et al, 2005 for an example of this body of work), or
sexual identity; and
2. The degree of class stratification in accessing certain types of employment
(Brown and Hesketh, 2004) and the levels (absolute, relative to other
countries, and relative to other periods) of inter-generational social
mobility as measured by either social class or income level. For recent
examples, see McIntosh (2004); Furlong and Cartmel (2005); Sutton Trust
(2005 and 2006), and Panel on Fair Access to the Professions (2009).
Goldthorpe and Jackson (2007) provide a good overview of this topic.
On the one hand, concern about selection criteria and potential biases in R&S
decisions has resulted in the generation of some of the best and most detailed
examinations of contemporary R&S strategies and processes that are available for UK
organisations (see, for example, Brown and Hesketh, 2004). On the other hand, the
mainstream education and training and economics literatures are predominantly
driven by policy concerns and are often based on two key assumptions:
1. R&S is operated under a meritocratic model, that is the best qualified gets
the job; and
2. skills are defined within the R&S process by qualifications and that in turn
qualifications are a good indicator/proxy for skills (Leitch, 2006)
both of which are open to serious question and lack the support of a base of solid
empirical evidence (aside from a few instances, see for example Miller et al, 2002).
The literature on career choice and its relationship with information, advice and
guidance is an important exception (for example, Hodkinson et al, 1996; Hodkinson
and Bloomer, 2001; Ball et al, 2000), and tends to underline the role played by issues
such as individual experimentation, parental social class and its associated
expectations in allocating young people to different educational pathways and into a
stratified labour market.
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