Sources of Recruitment

The sources of recruitment can be classified into two groups:

  1. Internal Sources
  2. External Sources

1. Internal Sources: 

The sources within the organization are internal sources. For examples; promotion, transfer, rehires, job rotation etc.

  1. Promotion: Through the information from the HR inventory and succession planning, the potential candidates that can be upgraded or promoted can be determined. Since it is a vertical upward movement effective recruitment can be ascertained through this source.
  2. Transfer: Potential candidates that can be transferred are determined; this serves as an important source of internal recruitment. It is a horizontal movement, which helps the employees to expand their knowledge related to place, working method, working condition etc.
  3. Rehires: Rehiring the process of reemploying the old employees having the skills and experience on related subject matters. It will be easy for an organization to handle them because they already know about the organization’s culture, style and the ways of doing jobs.
  4. Job rotation: Job rotation is moving an employee in different job under hi/her level. It helps employees to acquire different skills which enhance motivation towards works.

Advantages of internal sources are:

  1. It helps to build good public relation.
  2. It builds morale(confidence).
  3. It encourages good individual who are ambitious.
  4. It improves the probability of a good selection, since information on the individual’s performance is readily available.
  5. It is less costly than going outside to recruit.
  6. Those chosen internally already know the organization.
  7. When carefully planned, promoting from within can also act as a training device for developing middle and top level managers.

Disadvantages of internal sources are:

  1. It can be dysfunctional to the organization to utilize inferior internal source only because they are these, when excellent candidates are available on the outside.
  2. Management may lack new ideas, knowledge and enthusiasm of outside world.
  3. There may be possibility of nepotism and favoritisim.
  4. Internal conflict may arise to get the promotion and favorable transfer within the employees.
  5. Seniority based promotion may hamper the process of keeping right people at right job at right time.

2. External Sources: 

The source outside organization. It includes employment exchanges, private employment agencies, professional association, education institution, trade unions, and unsolicited applications.

  1. Employment exchanges: Employment exchanges are usually non profit or public agencies which register and gather the list of semi skilled or skilled prospective Through these agencies government gets information about the potential employees and proceeds selection process. E.g. Public service commission, education service commission etc.
  2. Private employment agencies: These agencies are the potential employees data bank which not only keep the information about the prospective employees but also advertise the position, screen applicants against the criteria specified by the employer and also provide guarantee covering six months or a year as protection to the employer against the unsatisfactory performance of applicants. This type of agencies charge fees to either to applicants or employers or both against the services provided to them.
  3. Professional Association: These associations have maintained the personal and professional information of their members. Usually for higher level jobs or for technical jobs like accountants, engineers, lawyers etc this source is used by the organization.
  4. Education Institution: It is a source of talent and enthusiastic individuals, who generally lacks work They provide a large pool of potential employees at one location.
  5. Unsolicited application:
  1. Walk In: Job seeker who visits the organization in search for job.
  2. Electronic: Job seeker provides their personal and professional information through mail to the organization HRD.

Advantages of external sources are:

  1. It provides a large pool of qualified candidates which facilitates in selecting suitable candidates for a job.
  2. New ideas, knowledge, skills, enthusiasm revitalize the organizations’ functioning.
  3. It discourages favoritism and nepotism.  

Disadvantages of external sources are:

  1. It may incur high cost.
  2. Current employees get discourage by external recruitment.
  3. Problems may occur in socialization of new employees.
  4. Possibility of wrong selection.