Degrees of Informality: Methods of Job Placement among Scottish School-Leavers

Young workers in the 1983 Scottish School Leavers Survey reported how they had found their jobs. Their reports cast doubt on a number of common beliefs concerning both the placement activity of the careers service and the role of 'informal' methods of recruitment. There was no tendency for informal channels to be used to fill the most attractive types of jobs, or for the careers service not to offer such jobs. Lower-qualified young workers were relatively likely to have found their jobs through informal channels, and employers recruiting through these channels apparently made less use of qualifications as a criterion for selection. Although the relative use of informal methods rose together with unemployment, this was only because special programmes increased the range of informal channels available to employers. The institutional complexity of the school-leaver placement process needs to be recognised; summary labels like 'formal' and 'informal' should be used with care.