Practices of recruitment at the early stage of the migration trajectory include interviewing and selection of applicants, procedures which are meant to assess their durability, trainability and marketability. Recruitment also establishes “product segmentation” at this early stage, as applicants are slotted into different care-giving roles. This segmentation occurs along essentialised gender and racial lines which categorises ethnic identities and temperaments as either more or less suited to domestic work (de Regt, 2009; Loveband, 2004; Mahler & Pessar, 2006). Agencies routinely trade in ethnic stereotypes as they “position” and market their “products”. Certain groups could command higher or lower salaries, depending on specialised needs as well as perceived attitudinal dispositions (Lyons, 2005). Submissiveness and docility or assertiveness and initiative have their uses, depending on the task at hand. In this formal sense, they become human capital whose value is realised not only through their experience and skill, but also physical and non-physical traits.