BJSW Advance Access published online on September 24, 2008
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn131
People in Places: A Qualitative Exploration of Recruitment Agencies' Perspectives on the Employment of International Social Workers in the UK
Shereen Hussein is a statistical demographer who has conducted research related to elder abuse, protection of older people, advocacy and people with learning disability and students' progression in higher education. She has previously worked in the Middle East with the United Nations, the Population Council and the league of Arab States, contributing to research projects related to child health, family planning, marriage and decision making within the family. Shereen's current research interests are focused around demographic factors, including internal and international migration, which relates to the dynamics and stability of the social care workforce in the UK both in the short and long term. Jill Manthorpe is professor of social work and director of the social care workforce research unit at King's College London. She has conducted several studies of social care and social work, particularly in the areas of risk, adult safeguarding, dementia and education. Martin Stevens is a research fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. He has worked on studies of social care and social work, including studies on adult and child protection, personalization, learning disabilities. Martin worked for several years in residential work with adults with learning disabilities before moving into research, first with a local authority and, for the last three years, at SCWRU.
Correspondence to Dr Shereen Hussein, BSc, MSc, Ph.D., Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London, Franklin Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK. E-mail: shereen.hussein{at}kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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Social work and social care vacancies in England have partly been filled by international labour migration. Some staff are recruited from their home countries; others are recruited post arrival in the UK. The business of recruitment is often undertaken by commercial employment agencies; however, there is little literature on the workings of this sector. This article reports the first phase of a study of international recruitment in social care in England. It outlines the findings of a scoping review of the literature and of semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of twenty recruitment agencies undertaken in 2007–08. The interviews revealed new information on employers' reported needs and preferences, on changing profiles of people seeking work in England, and staff motivations and ambitions. This article concludes that social care migration is a multifaceted phenomenon and that the position of intermediaries in the employment relationship, such as recruitment agencies, is largely but mistakenly ignored.