Sources of Recruitment

1. What are the different sources of recruitment?

Recruitment sources help an organization in locating, attracting, and

simulating the potential employers to apply for a job. In addition,
recruitment sources may imply the techniques, such as internal or
external recruitment, employed. The recruitment techniques can be
distinguished into two categories based on their sources, such as:

 Internal Sources of Recruitment

 External Sources of Recruitment

2. Explain Internal sources of recruitment.

The HR department invites applications for a job position from the

present employees of the organization. Internal recruitment is performed
by means of promotions, transfers, employee referrals, hiring former
employees, offering previous applicants, inside moonlighting, and
informal communication channels.

3. Explain the various internal recruitment techniques.

The various internal recruitment techniques are discussed as follows:

a. Present Employees – Provide the organization a good reliable

source of recruitment. The promotion or transfer of employees is
one of the best sources of internal recruitment for any organization.
Promotion means shifting an employee to a higher position,
involving higher responsibilities, facilities, status, pay, and
perquisites. It involves filling vacancies in higher jobs by
promoting existing employees, who are considered to fit and
appropriate, for such positions by the top management. Promotion
can be a very useful source in raising the morale and motivation
 level of employees. In addition, since the employees are aware of
the rules, regulations and culture of the organization, there is no
need of induction and training to them. This saves the training
costs as well as the time and effort required by the organization.
Transfer refers to the movement of employees from one job to
another, one department to another, one shift to another, or one
plant to another. It involves filling vacancies by transferring
employees from overstaffed departments, plants, or shifts to the
understaffed ones. The records of employees affect promotions and
transfers as they help the HR department in knowing which
employees are performing their jobs in a better way.
b. Employee Referrals – Involve references or recommendations of
candidates given by the present employees, trade unions, or
business friends for filling a vacancy. Employees already working
in the organization recommend their friends or relatives for a
vacancy. The advantage of employee referral is that it helps in
reaching numerous prospects at a very low cost. Some
organizations give monetary incentives to their employees in the
form of finders’ fees for every successful referral. The examples of
companies following this practice are Wipro, Microsoft, Satyam,
and Infosys.
c. Former Employees – Provide a good source of internal
recruitment for an organization. Former employees include retired
employees or the ex-employees of the organization. Such
employees may be interested to work for the organization on a
part-time or full-time basis. The advantage of this method is that it
is a low cost method.
d. Previous Applicants – Refer to the candidates who had previously
applied for a particular position in the organization. The previous
applicants can be contacted by phone or e-mail to fill an
unexpected opening. This may not be a true internal source of
recruitment as the recruitment efforts were carried out earlier and
the applicants who could not be called for the final selection might
be called some other time to fill vacancies in the organization.
e. Inside Moonlighting – Enables the present employees to take up
an additional responsibility that is suitable rewarded. Inside
moonlighting can be used when there is a temporary shortage of
 workforce and no great deal of additional work is required to be
done. In this situation, instead of hiring new employees, the
organization may encourage the employees on the payroll of the
organization to accept additional work in return for a bonus. When
current employees of the organization are used to take care of the
additional work that arises occasionally, it is called inside
moonlighting. These policies are expected to address various issues
regarding prevention of conflict of interest, and protection of
proprietary information.
f. Informal Communication Channels – Disseminate information
about the current or anticipated job vacancies within the
organization through the grapevine or informal hierarchy. For
instance, employees of the organization may be informally
communicated about the vacancy within the organization.

4. What are the merits and demerits of internal sources of recruitment?

The merits of internal sources of recruitment are as follows:

i. Promote greater loyalty and morale among employees

ii. Provide the employee’s performance data readily
iii. Involve less cost and efforts
iv. Create a sense of belongingness and security among
employees
v. Act as a motivational tool
vi. Benefit an organization by shifting surplus employees to the
department in which there is a shortage of workforce, as in
case of transfers.

The demerits of internal sources of recruitment are as follows:

i. Lead to internal politics and bias

ii. Demoralize the employees who are not promoted
iii. Reduce the scope for fresh and new talent
iv. Make the employees lethargic, as they are sure of time
bound promotion.
5. Explain External sources of recruitment.

An organization cannot meet all its recruitment needs from only internal
sources of recruitment. In fact, it should use a combination of both the
internal as well as external sources to fulfil its requirements. Direct
applications, employment agencies, advertisements, campus recruitment,
and management consultants are some of the external sources of
recruitment.

6. Explain the various sources of external recruitment techniques.

The following are the various sources of external recruitment techniques.

i. Recruitment at Factory Gate/Direct Requirement – Involves

placing a notice for a vacancy on the notice board of the
organization stating the details of the available job. This mode of
recruitment is also known as Recruitment at Factory Gate.
Generally, this method of recruitment is used to fill vacancies
requiring unskilled workers, known as casual workers, who are
hired on a daily-wage basis.
ii. Labour Contractors – Provide casual workers on a daily or
hourly wages basis. Labour contractors are themselves employees
of the organization. Organization generally does not prefer this
source of recruitment. Even in the public sector units, the
recruitment through labour contractors is banned. The reason
behind it is that if the labour contractor would leave the
organization, all the workers employed by them would also leave.
However, construction industry still recruits largely through labour
contractors.
iii. Direct Applicants/Unsolicited Applicants/ Casual Callers –
Refer to those potential candidates who apply to an organization
directly through phones, letters, or in person. If the organization is
not actively recruiting at that particular point of time, these
applications may not be immediately useful for the organization.
However, such applications form a part of the organization’s
database for future reference. This is an inexpensive source of
 recruitment and saves the cost of recruiting workforce from other
sources.
iv. Professional or Trade Associations – Represent several
occupational groups, such as engineers, doctors, and accountants.
Indian Medical Association (IMA), Indian Institute of Chartered
Accountant of India (ICAI), Bar Council of India (BCI), and The
Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) are
some professional associations that are actively working in India.
These associations provide placement services and access during
regional and national conventions to their members. They also
publish and even sponsor regular newsletters, journals, or
magazines for their members. These publications also advertise job
vacancies and are particularly useful in attracting highly educated,
experienced, or skilled candidates.
v. Advertisements – Constitute a popular method of seeking
applicants for a job. For instance, the Wednesday edition of The
Times of India includes a special recruitment edition, Ascent,
which provides information about the job vacancies in different
sectors. These days, vacant positions are also advertised on
televisions. The detailed requirements of the job, along with the
profile of the organization in which the vacancy exists, are
publicized. The disadvantage of this method is that it generates a
flood of responses where the probability of getting applications
from unsuitable candidates is high.
vi. Employment Agencies – Maintain a database of all the job seekers
and act as a link between job seekers and job providers. Job seekers
register themselves at the employment agencies. Organizations
searching for candidates can access the employment agency
database and obtain a list of eligible candidates, or specify their job
requirements and request a list of appropriate candidates by paying
a specific amount of fees. The employers searching for the
candidates are required to fill a requisition form for the
notifications of vacancies in the employment exchange. Branches
of employment exchange have been set up all over the country in
accordance with the provisions of the Employment Exchange Act,
1959 (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies). As per the act, an
organization with a workforce equal to or more than 25 workers
 needs to notify certain vacancies with the regional branch of the
employment exchange.
vii. Management Consultants – Refer to the recruiting agencies that
maintain a database of resumes of prospective job seekers.
Management consultants are also known as Head Hunters. The
organizations that are in need of technical, professional, and
managerial candidates can contact the recruiting agencies with
their required profile of a candidate. These agencies provide a list
of potential and suitable candidates, who match the given profile of
the organizations in the best way. In addition, they advertise jobs
on behalf of their clients to recruit right type of candidates. There
are numerous agencies that are gaining popularity at a very fast
pace.
viii. Campus Recruitment – Functions as a main source of recruitment
for entry-level positions. It is the most expensive method of
recruitment. Big organizations or reputed industrial houses contact
educational institution such as colleges, universities, and technical
and management institutes, for a list of prospective candidates.
Educational institutions give the information to the organization
about the detailed profile of students, their functional
specialization, and the courses offered on campus. In return, the
organizations provide information to the candidates relating to their
vision, business, products and services, plans, work culture, nature
of job, career growth opportunities. Through campus recruitment,
the organizations can meet all the candidates at one place and save
time and effort.

7. What are the merits & demerits?

The external sources of recruitment offer the following merits

i. Provide a wider choice to the organization as vacancies are

open for a large number applicants. .
ii. Facilitate generation of new ideas or perspectives by
bringing new people in the organization.
 iii. Help decrease the feelings of resentment or jealousy among
team members.
iv. Cultivate the spirit of healthy completion and better
performance as present employees have to compare with the
external candidates for higher jobs.

The external sources of recruitment offer the following demerits –

i. Requires more time and money of the organization.

ii. Disrupt and delay the functioning of the organization, as
external candidates are not familiar with the organization’s
culture and may take time to socialize and adjust
iii. Discourage the employees of the organization if the key jobs
are filled by external sources rather than giving promotion
opportunities to the existing employees.