Sources and Methods of Recruitment

Three critical relationships of recruitment with other HR activities are (1) human resource planning, (2) job analysis and design, and (3) training. In essence they determine who appropriate job candidates are. After that, an organization's HR information system helps to tie these activities together. Before an organization's activity starts recruiting applicants, it should consider the most likely source of the type of employees it needs. Some companies try to develop new or external sources, while other try to use the old or internal sources.

 

1. Internal Sources of Recruitment

Recruiting employees from inside the organization is called internal source of recruitment. They include present employees, friends of employees, former employees and former applicants. Promotions, demotions and transfers can also provide applicants for department or divisions within the organization. 

a. Promotions: It is the most important internal source of recruitment. It has several benefits to both of the parties. The simplest meaning of promotion is advance into positions with greater challenge, more responsibility, more authority, more rewards (in most of the case) then the employee's previous job. It is also called vertical movement. It helps to promote freedom and empowerment. Promotion is also a tool of motivation. 

Strengths: (i) Less costly, (ii) Less time consuming, (iii) Improves motivation and morale of the employees, and (iv) They are already known person to the organization. 

Weakness: (i) Fresh (outside), candidates are discouraged, (ii) Less change, innovation and dynamism in the organization, and (iii) Sometimes it is costly to the organization (often outside candidate can be cheaper than internal candidate).

b. Transfers: Another critical way to recruit internally is by transferring current employees without promotion. Transfers are often important in providing employees with the more broad-based view of the organization that is necessary for future promotions.  Transfers are often important in providing employees with the more broad-based view of the organization that is necessary for future promotions. In other words, transfer is the movement of an employee to a different job assignment in a different area of the company. It is also called horizontal movement.

Strengths: (i) Less time consuming, (ii) Less costly, (iii) Improvement in skills and motivation, and (iv) They are already a known people to the organization

Weakness: (i) Fresh candidate are discouraged, (ii) Organization may become static, and (iii) Possibility of over burden to the candidate. 

c. Former employees (Rehire and Recalls): Former employees are also an important source of internal recruitment.  It includes: (a) temporarily laid off staff and retired employees (b) People who left the company for some reason or the other who are now willing to come back and work again, etc.

Strengths: (i) Less costly (no need of selection tests and orientation program), (ii)Less time consuming, (iii) Provides known and trusted people (iv) Improves motivation and moral of past employees

Weakness: (i) Fresh candidates are discouraged, (ii) Organization may become static.

d. Previous applicants: Although they are not truly an internal source. They are the person who have previously applied/ interviewed can be contacted. It is a quick and less costly way to fill an unexpected opening or vacancy. 

Strengths: (i) Less costly (ii) Less time consuming, (iii)  Helpful source when few candidates has to be hired. 

Weakness: (i) Other than the previous candidates don't go chance, (ii) selection becomes less effective.

2.Internal Methods of Recruitment

There are many methods for internally advertising job vacancies. Candidates can also be identified by word of mouth, company personal records, promotion lists based on performance, potential ratings obtained from assessment activities, seniority lists, and lists obtained from skills inventory, in an organization's HRIS. Important methods are as below: 

a. Job Posting: It refers to the prominent (famous) vacancy display conveying over or several or job openings currently available. In essence, job posting is extending an open invitation to all employees in an organization to apply for a job vacancy. The means used for announcing the job vacancies are: 

• Notice on bulletin board,
• Memo to supervisors/circulars, 
• In-house newsletters, 
• Report in employee publication, and 
• Electronic mail to concerned employees, etc.

Merits: (i) Provides opportunity for employee growth and development. (ii) Provides equal opportunity for advancement to all employees. (iii) Creates a greater openness in the organization by making opportunities known to all employees . (iv) Communicates organization goals and objectives. 

Demerits: (i) It can lengthen the process of filling vacancies.(ii) Conflicts are sometimes created if an "heir apparent" in the department is passed over in favor of an outside candidate. (iii) The system may loss credibility if it appears that the successful candidate within the department has been identified in advance. (iv) The morale of the unsuccessful candidates may suffer. (v) Choices can be more difficult for the selecting managers if two or three approximately equally qualified candidates encountered. 

b. Employee Referral Programs (ERPs): These are essentially word-of-month advertisements. ERPs generally involve rewarding employees for referring skilled employment applicants to organizations. This method has proved to be a low cost-per-hire of recruiting applicants. This method is especially useful for finding skilled applicants who are in very short supply. For successful referrals, employees may receive extra-money. Money incentive tool is applied especially if present employees refer with a very critical skill or in an occupation high in demand. A major concern with ERP  is that similar types (e.g. race and sex) of individuals are likely to be referred as those who are currently in the organization. 

Strengths: (i) Less costly, (ii) Employees can earn extra-money (by referring candidate to the organization), and (iii) Useful method to rescue short-supply skills.

Weakness: (i) Similar types (race, sex, genders) of candidates are likely to be referred than the really capable one, (ii) It is costly than job posting, and (iii) There can be conflict and produce  competition among present employees to refer. 

c. Skills/HR Inventories: Examining employee records may help to discover potential employees. In other words, they are the employees who are doing jobs below their educational qualifications or skills levels. It may also help to track the persons who have the potential for further training. HR inventories helps to identify those who have the right background for the vacant positions. 

Strengths: (i) Stock is readily available, (ii) Less costly (or no cost), (iii) Less time consuming (a few minutes job) , (iv) Known person can picked up, and (v) It prefers candidates who are doing jobs below their knowledge/ qualification and skills.

Weakness: (i) It does not encourage outside candidate, (ii) Sometimes it can be expensive (outside candidate can be cheaper and champion). 

Advantage and Disadvantages of Internal Sources and Methods

It is better to look for the candidate first within the company by examining the list of personnel for jobs being considered. Suitable candidates from within the organization should be encouraged  as a source and method of recruitment. This source/ method contributes to building up good morale among workers. Existing employees should be given an opportunity to switch over to another job which they consider more suitable. A planned promotion policy will take care in many vacancies in the higher grade. Many progressive organizations follow this practice. Whenever there is a vacancy it is filled by promoting a suitable employee from the lower cadre/level. 

 

Advantages of Internal Sources and Methods	Disadvantages of Internal Sources and Methods
1.    It builds up morale;	1. It may lead to inbreeding;
2.    It encourages efficient people who have ambition;	2. Discouraging new blood from entering an organization;
3.    It is less costly than outside recruitment;	3. If promotion is based on seniority, the really capable hands may be left out;
4.    It improves the probability of a good selection; and	4. It gives chances to favoritisms.
5.    Employee turnover is reduced.	5. It reduces the area of choice.

3. External Sources of Recruitment

These sources lie outside the organization. Source outside the organization provide an organization with various benefits. Important sources of external recruitment are : 

a. Poaching/raiding: Raiding means attracting the employees working elsewhere to join the organization. Even though many hiring companies believe that it is unethical to directly contact the employees of other organizations, many companies do engage in such raiding. This is particularly true where the need to recruit is especially urgent. It is commonly used by both the public and private sectors. In other words, poaching means hiring a competent and experienced person has already working with another company, in the same or different industry. The company may even be competing one to your company. Strategy used in this source is " Buying Instant Talent" rather than developing it.

Strengths: (i) Less time consuming, (ii) No need of talent management or career planning and development, (iii) very helpful in urgent/contingent situations, (iv) many times it is cheaper then developing inside.

Weakness:  (i) To be very honest, it is unethical (though it may be legal),  (ii) It kills the policy of hiring from inside source (iii) Existing employees may be frustrated and demotivated (iv) If not motivated and used properly they can be a burden to the organization. 

b. Executive searching/ Head hunting: Very senior managers are sometimes recruited by a process known as 'executive search or headhunting.' Its advocates believe that the best candidates are not only those who reply to advertisements or look for new jobs. There are also the candidates who are successful in their present jobs are not thinking of moving elsewhere.  This sources tries to  explore that types of candidates also. On receipt of a commission (from a client) the  headhunter wills search for potential candidates. They can explore the candidate (i) from competing businesses, (ii) in the membership lists of professional bodies and newspapers, and (iii)through confidential headhunting network, Selected candidates are then approached discreetly and one or two of them are introduced to client firm. Some of the importance aspects of headhunting are:

• Headhunting is highly disruptive (troublesome) to successful business. The organization may loss expensively trained senior managers. 
• A headhunted individual might subsequently be motivated by other headhunters to leave his new firm after a short period. To avoid this, some companies attach golden handcuffs (chains) to senior management position. That is , they pay large cash bonuses which are only  available to executives who stay with the firm for a certain number of years.
• An unsuitable candidate might bribe the headhunter to recommend  him for the vacant job.

Advantages: (i)Bringing in people with new ideas, (ii) It is often cheaper and easier to hire an already trained professional skilled manpower, and (iii) Temporary employees can provide the organization with much more flexibility than permanent employees. 

Disadvantages: (i) Better morale and motivation associated with internal recruiting is denied to the organization, (ii) In general, this is costly source, and (iii) Adjustment of new employees to the organization culture takes larger time. 

c. Casual applicants: Casual applications are unwanted applications. Candidates send applications for jobs on their own initiative or after learning about vacancies from reliable sources. The HR manager should see all such casual callers. Because sometimes a most desirable type of employee could be discovered in this way. This source is clearly inexpensive. It can fill vacancies, particularly of the clerical variety. Unsolicited applications (both at the gate and through the mail) , constitute a much used source of personnel. These sources can be developed through provision of attractive employment office facilities and prompt replies affecting the desirability of this method. This source is dependent upon image and reputation of the organization. A poor reputation organization will find a less volume of unsolicited applicants at the employment office and vice-versa. 

Strengths: (i) This source is inexpensive, (ii) It is basically suitable to fill the need of clerical/lower level staff, (iii) Less time consuming, (iv) Highly reputed companies can get benefits of this source.

Weaknesses: (i) It is not suitable for less reputed companies, (ii) Selection has to be done from a pool of limited candidates, and (iii) The organization cannot really attract deserving candidates by this source.

d. Candidates of present employees: Candidates introduced by present employees may be a good source from which employees may be drawn. Many firms  recruit such persons because their background is known. Moreover, if the candidate of an existing employee gets preference in this matter of recruitment, it is sure to develop a sense of belonging amongst workers. Many organizations actively  encourage "employee referrals."  This, however, is likely to encourage nepotism i.e., persons of one's own community or caste may only be employed. This may create problems for the organization in the long-run.

e. Educational institutes: Educational institutions are an important source of recruitment. For technical, managerial and professional jobs, specialized institutes and university departments are used. The specialized institutes have a placement officer. They normally provide help in attracting employers and arranging for campus interviews. College recruitment is one of the important sources of recruitment in developed countries. But it is completely neglected in Nepal. This may be due to excess of supply over demand for college graduates. Schools and colleges offer opportunities for recruiting their students . They placement services where complete bio-data and other particulars of the students are available. The companies that need employees maintain contact with the counselors of employment bureaus (committee) and teachers of business and vocational subjects. The prospective employers can review credentials (qualifications) and interview candidates for management trainees. 

Strengths: (i) Basically it is a very cheaper source of recruitment, (ii) It consumes less time and energy, (iii) The selection ratio is much higher than other methods, (iv) It gives opportunity to the fresh and talent candidates, (v) The hiring company can create brand loyalty.

Weakness: (i) High training cost because they are untrained. (ii) They lack practical skills/ experience. (iii) It is not a good source for short-term and urgent staffing requirement,  (iv)  It discourage internal source; existing employees may generate dissatisfaction. 

f. Employment agencies: Now-a-days special agencies or consultants are emerging for searching out suitable candidates for their clients. Employment agencies are used by companies to select suitable candidates for vacancies. Very often these agencies also recruit on behalf of the organization without necessarily disclosing the identity of the organizations. The examples in Nepal are Rolling plans, Merojob.com, People 2 People Pvt. Ltd., etc. 

Strengths: (i) It reduces advertising cost, (ii) Increases choice of candidate for a give job. (iii) Saves valuable time of the managers, (iv) It motivates the candidate who have not seen the advertisement. 

Weakness: (i)  The fees charged by agencies are generally very high,  (ii) Loss of time and money if company is not able to get a suitable candidates,  (iii) It can damage existing employees  moral and motivation, (iv) Takes more time and money to train external candidates.

g. Labour unions: They also provide manual and skilled workers in sufficient numbers. Under agreement, they may agree as to who is to be given  preference. But in case of adverse industrial relations, this technique may create difficulties. To take benefits from this method the organization  must have better relation with trade unions. This source is very suitable for the  non-officer level vacancies. Many organizations make an agreement with labour unions to give first preference to candidates referred by labour unions. It has both advantages and disadvantages. 

Strengths: (i) It is an easy and reliable source (ii) It helps to maintain good industrial relations, (iii) Saves time  and money in recruitment process.

Weakness: (i ) Selection is limited to narrow field. (ii) Non-members are disadvantaged, (iii) Chances of union dominations over management.

h. Professional organizations: These organizations maintain a complete information records about employed executives. These consulting firms recommend persons of high caliber for  managerial posts. These organizations publish rosters of job vacancies and distribute these lists to members. It is also common practice to provide placement facilities at regional and national meetings. It is a good platform for both individuals looking for employment and companies looking for employees. They can find each other in a given place and time. Examples of such organizations in Nepal are Management Associations of Nepal-MAN, Public Administration Association of Nepal-PANN, Institute of Chartered Accountants-ICAN, Engineers' Association of Nepal, Lawyers Association, Doctors' Association and other private/ public institutes or associations. 

Strengths: (i) It is very suitable source for managerial jobs. (ii) It is relatively a cheaper method, (iii) It is less time consuming. 

Weakness: (i) Not suitable for non-managerial jobs, (ii) Limited field to select best candidate, (iii) It is highly dependent upon honesty of professional organization. 

i.  Miscellaneous sources: In addition to the  usual candidate sources and search methods organizations rely on a variety of more specialized variety/approaches to attract employees. They are : job fair, leasing, contract recruitment, etc.

 

Strength and Weakness of External Source of Recruitment

External sources of Recruitment has the following Strengths and Weakness. 

Strengths of External Sources	Weakness of External Sources
Outside candidates can be cheaper and champions.	It is costly than internal sources
Better selection opportunities are offered.	It may discourage and dissatisfy existing employee.
It helps to promote change, innovation and dynamism in the organization.	It is more time consuming than internal sources.
Helps to blend experience (old employees) and new knowledge (fresh candidates).	It may lead towards lower level of motivation and morality of existing staff.
Less chance of favoritism.	Chances of selecting wrong candidates.
Helps to create check-and-balance situation in organization (among  the employees).	It demands more HR activities like orientation, socialization and training after being selecting the candidates.

Conclusion: Which particular source is to be adopted will depend on the policy of a firm, the position of laobur supply, government regulations and agreements with labour organizations. However, the human resource manager must be in close touch with these different sources. They must use them in accordance with their needs. The best management policy regarding recruitment is to look first within the organization. If that source falls, external recruitment must be adopted.

4. External Methods of Recruitment 

External methods of recruitment are used to utilize the external sources of recruitment. Many organizations  looking for all types of applicants engage in extensive advertising. Examples of them are radio advertising, television advertising and local to international newspapers. We discuss them separately as below:

a. Radio/television advertisement: These methods are expensive. So, they are used very less. But coverage of them is very good and they  are used when there  is less time to fill the vacancies. Still today, they are used by organizations for specific posts. Their use is limited in Nepal due to:(a) high unemployment rate, and (b) increasing use of internet facility. 

Strengths: (i) It has wide coverage, (ii)Helps to fill vacancies in critical situation (less time consuming), (iii) A large pool is created-selection is easy.

Weaknesses: (i)  These methods are relatively expensive, (ii) It is not a durable method (immediately perishable), (iii) Suitable only for big organizations.

b. Newspaper advertisement: It is the most widely used method for attracting qualified and experienced candidates. When qualified and experienced persons are not available through other sources, advertising in newspapers and professional (and trade/technical) journals is used.  Things to be considered in it are: 

• All types of advertisements can be made in newspapers. 
• Only particular types of posts should be advertised in the professional and technical journals.
• For example, only accounting jobs should be advertised in journals  published by ICAN (in Nepal).
• Important newspapers like Gorkhapatra, Kantipur, Nayapatrika, Nagrik, etc. publish classified advertisements with fixed days and/or page number. 

Strengths: (i) It can be used for all types of jobs, (ii) A large pool is created so selection becomes easy, (iii) AD is durable and can be seen anytime, (iv) It is the most popular and commonly used method.

Weakness: (i) It is relatively an expensive method, (in case of national newspapers), (ii) This method can create unnecessary crowd of applications, (iii)An organizations Ad. can be lost in a jungle of various ads (see Kantipur  daily).

c. E-recruiting/ Computerized method: The electronic recruitment (e-recruitment) is also called as online recruitment which has become very popular in the last decades. E-recruitment is the process of hiring the potential candidates for the vacant job positions using the internet. Now-a-days companies use the internet to reach a large number of job seekers. Companies can hire the best talent at a low cost, as compared to the physical recruitment process as explained above. E-recruiting evolves

 screening candidates electronically. It directs potential hires to a special website for: 

• Online skill assessment,
• Conducting background checks over the internet,
• Interviewing candidates via videoconferencing, and 
• Managing the entire process with web-based software, etc. 

Strengths: (i) Cheapest among all other methods (for large companies). (ii) Its speed is very fast (less time consuming), (iii) International coverage (create a large pool), (iv) Offers all advantages of high-tech. 

Weaknesses: (i) Exclusive volume of responses (difficult to manage), (ii) Demands high logistical support, (iii) The company has to suffer from poor (slow) websites, (iv) Lack of in person or face-to-face contact. 

Recruitment has been affected by the computer revolution: Due to that development a number of leading private firms have adopted it to take advantage of the new technology. Originally, its use was confined basically to high technology companies that recruited large number of regular computer users-for example, scientists, engineers, and programmers. Other types of companies are now following high-technology firms and the use of computerized services is expanding. 

On-line Job hunting involves three situations

1. The position wanted advertisement, which solicits resumes from candidates and invites employers to search the files (this is a passive method).
2. The "on-line classified" where the job hunter (seeker) searches list of jobs directly from employers or newspapers, trade journals, and so on, and 
3. The " two-way street" where both the employers and the job seekers are looking for each other. In some case, companies pay to register their jobs. In others, job seekers pay to put their  electronic resumes (bio-data) on file. And in still others, both parties contribute to the cost.

Merits and Demerits of External Methods

External methods of recruitment have the following merits and demerits. 

Merits of External Methods of Recruitment	Demerits of External Methods of Recruitment
It brings young blood in the organization.	Decrease in moral of existing staff.
Wide field of choice (selection becomes easy).	Chances of selection of poor candidates.
Less Chance   of  biasness and favoritism.	It is an expensive method.
It is helpful to bring innovation, change and dynamism.	It may help to increase employee turnover.
Offers the chance to blend old and new employees (automatic check and balance).	It may harm the  labour-management relationship.
Helps to create image and goodwill in the society.	It is a time consuming method.