In recruitment, almost any offer can be made to look cheaper. The real question is who pays the difference.
A low headline price can exclude costs that appear later. Part of the expense can be shifted to the candidate. Labour can appear less expensive on paper when part of the employment relationship remains outside official records.
To ARA, this is not genuine efficiency. It is an incomplete picture of what recruitment actually costs. That is why ARA opposes hidden fees and unofficial employment. Recruitment ethics are not a corporate slogan. Employers should understand the real economics of a recruitment project, while workers should not have to finance access to employment through opaque charges.
Ethical Recruitment Starts with an Honest Price
Transparent recruitment does not mean free recruitment. International hiring requires sourcing and selection, professional expertise, documentation, coordination, travel arrangements and support. These activities have a cost. What matters is whether that cost is clear before cooperation begins.
Consider two proposals for the same staffing need. The first starts with an attractive figure, but additional charges appear once the project is under way. The second may look more expensive initially, but clearly explains what is included, what may cost extra and who is responsible for each expense.
For a business, the second model is easier to compare, budget and defend internally. An honest price is not necessarily the lowest number on the first page of a proposal. It is a price whose structure can be explained.
Workers Should Not Have to Pay for Access to Employment
The question of who bears recruitment costs becomes particularly important in cross-border hiring.
The International Labour Organization states in its principles for fair recruitment that workers and jobseekers should not be charged, directly or indirectly, recruitment fees or related costs. These principles provide an international benchmark, while applicable national legislation must always be taken into account.
For ARA, the underlying principle is clear: a worker should not have to buy access to a vacancy through an opaque chain of payments.
This matters to employers as well. If part of the real cost of recruitment is quietly transferred to candidates, the client is no longer seeing the full economics of the project. A low commercial price may reflect cost shifting rather than greater efficiency. The useful question is therefore not simply, “Which recruiter is cheaper?”
It is, “Why is this recruiter cheaper, and who is paying the difference?”
Undeclared Work Is Another Form of False Economy
The same logic applies when labour costs are reduced through fully or partly undeclared employment.
The European Commission defines undeclared work as paid activity that is lawful in nature but not reported to public authorities. It may also be only partly undeclared — for example, when part of a wage is paid informally or fewer working hours are officially recorded than are actually worked. The Commission also identifies unfair competition for compliant businesses as one of the consequences.
In the short term, such a model may look less expensive. At market level, however, it rewards companies that reduce their apparent labour costs by moving part of those costs outside the formal system.
ARA does not regard this as a legitimate source of commercial advantage. Recruitment should help companies build capable teams. It should not make labour appear cheaper by hiding part of its real cost.
Ethics Reveal the Quality of a Recruitment Partner
For an employer, integrity becomes visible through very practical questions.
Can the recruitment partner explain the cost of the project? Are possible additional expenses identified in advance? Is an attractive commercial offer being subsidised by charges imposed on candidates? Is employment formally declared? Does the model still make business sense when all real costs are included?
The answers say more about a recruitment partner than a promise to provide people at the lowest possible price.
Transparent costs make budgeting easier. Declared employment supports fair competition. A commercial model that can be clearly explained is more suitable for a relationship expected to continue beyond a single recruitment campaign.
Principles Matter Even More at Scale
ARA operates at a scale where ethical recruitment cannot remain an abstract promise.
According to ARA’s official information, the Association places approximately 1000 workers in EU employment each month and brings together more than 160 recruiters, managers and other specialists. ARA’s stated mission also explicitly refers to ethical standards and worker welfare.
At this level, principles become part of the operating model.
A recruitment system cannot build durable relationships with international employers if project costs cannot be explained or if its commercial attractiveness depends on hidden charges or undeclared employment. Scale makes integrity more important, not less.
Strong Businesses Do Not Need the Illusion of Cheap Recruitment
Price matters. But an unusually low offer should prompt one useful question: what makes it possible? Sometimes the answer is genuine efficiency. Sometimes part of the cost is simply missing from view.
For ARA, the boundary is clear. Commercial advantage should not depend on a hidden bill that will eventually be paid by the worker, the employer or the formal labour market. Professional recruitment should be able to explain its price, support declared employment and build its reputation on practices that remain credible when examined closely. That is not a restriction on business. It is the foundation for recruitment partnerships designed to last.
