Acceptability, Suitability and the Search for the Habituated Worker: How Ethnic Minorities and Women Lose Out

In this article I intend to investigate the meaning of recruitment for managers in the manufacturing, retailing and public service employment sectors in the West Midlands. In particular I shall examine two specific problems. First, what are recruiters looking for in selecting candidates for manual and routine clerical jobs? Secondly, why do organisations persist in the use of informal, word‐of‐mouth recruitment strategies? In closing I shall discuss the consequences which the answers to these questions have for particular groups of job‐seekers.