Internal and External Recruitment – Q.2.

Online Recriutment:

In the fast changing and competitive business environment, where employees

are considered as the main source of competitive advantage it is very essential
for the company to recruit the best people in the business. And hence,
Recruitment and selection is now considered as very important process of
human resource management. Recruitment is the process of attracting a pool of
qualified job candidates from which the organisation can select the appropriate
candidate to fulfil job requirement (Maxwell.G, 2002). There are three main
issues that have increased the importance of the selection decision of the
organisation. They are: demographic trends and changes, desire for multi-
skilled, flexible workforce and increased emphasis on team-working and the
emphasis between corporate strategy and people management. It is very
necessary to consider various sources in the process of recruitment (Beardwell.J,
2007). There are two main sources of online recruitment. 1. Internal and
External.

Internal recruitment

Internal recruitment can be conducted in several ways:

Employee database: Every company has a database of their employees, which is

maintained by human resource department. The company can use this data to
fill the job requirement.

Job posting: In this system the employer provide notices to the existing
employees about the job openings within the organisation. And the employees
respond it according to their needs.

Promotions and Transfers: Promotion and transfer is another way of internal

recruitment. In this process the employee gets rewarded in the form of
promotion to the next level of the job. Employees feel motivated through
promotions. Transfers are normally given to the employees who want to shift
from one place to another and there are vacancies in that place.

Current employee referrals: Referral from an existing employee is another major

source of internal recruitment. In this system, friends, family members,

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 Internal and External Recruitment – Q.2.

acquaintances of existing employees are considered as the reliable source of

recruitment.

External Recruitment

External recruitment is another way of recruiting people for the job. Let us study
in detail what are the different sources of external recruitment.

Labour unions: Labour unions are the good source of recruiting labours in the
factory. Unions have traditionally supplied workers to the employers. A labour
pool is generally available through Unions.

Recruitment agencies: These are the most common source of external

recruitment. There are certain HR agencies works for recruitment purpose. There
are both private and government recruitment agencies. The companies
outsource their personnel management needs to these companies and then
these agencies find out the right candidate for the respective jobs.

Media: Media is the most popular source of external recruitment. This includes
advertisement in newspaper, business magazines, radio, TV channels etc. This
source is comparatively costlier than other sources.

Job fairs & events: The Company organise job fairs events at different locations
to attract the pool of candidates for the respective jobs. This method is used
when the company needs immediate employees.

E-recruitment: This is considered as the modern way of recruitment. As

technology is improving, most of the companies have their own “Career“website
through which they recruit people. This is known as E-recruitment. Company
update their websites from time to time according to the personnel needs of the
company.

Internal Recruitment

1. Advantages

 Better assessment of abilities

 Lower cost for some jobs
 Motivator for good performance
 Lower costs

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 Internal and External Recruitment – Q.2.

2. Disadvantages

 Danger of inbreeding
 Possible morale problems of those not promoted
 ‘Political’ infighting for promotions
 Need strong management development programs.

External Recruitment

1. Advantages

 ‘New blood’, new perspectives and fresh ideas to problems

 Fast way of changing tired or outdated culture
 Cheaper than training a professional
 May bring industry insights
 More dynamic workforce

2. Disadvantages

 May not select someone who will ‘fit’ in culturally

 Longer ‘adjustment’ or orientation time
 More education and development required
 Can be expensive

(Robert L. Mathis, John H. Jackson) and (Robert Compton, William Morrissey,

Alan, Nankervis).

The choice of internal and external recruitment is usually based on:

 Organisational strategies – such as cultural or structural change, customer

or product diversification.
 Human resource policies – head count freeze or staff development.
 Employee morale or financial reasons – cost reductions or redployment.

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 Internal and External Recruitment – Q.2.

External recruitment would be appropriate in situations when an organisation

reviews all its internal candidates and no one is found suitable. Also, it is used in
situations when the organisation decides that fresh blood is required from
outside. Internal recruitment would be appropriate when cost is a major issue
for an organisation. Also if the attrition rate is higher, organisations can choose
internal recruitment to retain employees.

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