Recruitment Process

Recruitment or Hiring is the process of searching and attracting the right candidates for hiring them for vacant jobs in an organization. There are two sources of recruitment, internal sources and external sources. Recruitment refers to the process of searching for potential employees and influencing them to work for their organization.

The purpose of the recruitment process is to find talented and qualified individuals for the growth and development of their organization. It is part of the human resource management(HRM) department.

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Meaning of Recruitment Process

Edwin B. Flippo defined the recruitment process – ‘Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.’

In the words of Dale S. Beach ‘Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labor upon whom the organization can draw when it needs additional employees.’ The recruitment process leads to a collection of candidates for any vacancies an organization might have.

What all are the Features of HRM?

Sources of Recruitment

There are many sources of recruiting potential employees but all of them can be grouped into two categories, namely.

Internal Sources of Recruitment 

Internal sources of recruitment consist of employees who are already on the payroll of a firm. It also includes former employees who have returned to work for the organization. Recruitment from internal sources is done to fill up vacancies through promotion, re-hiring and transferring employees within the company.

Browse more Topics Under Human Resource Management

• Features of HRM
• Importance and Limitations of HRM
• Role of Personnel Manager
• Qualities of the HR Manager
• Managerial Functions of HR Manager
• Operative Functions of HR Manager
• Recruitment Process
• Selection Procedure
• Training and Development
• Methods of Training
• Performance Appraisal
• Traditional Methods of Appraisal
• Modern Methods of Appraisal
• HR Forecasting

Advantages of Internal Sources of Recruitment 

• Selecting and transferring existing employees is a simpler process.
• The managers are aware of the talents and abilities of already existing employees.
• Internal recruitment serves as a tool to boost the morale of employees as internal hiring creates job and promotion opportunities for existing employees.
• Internal hiring promotes a feeling of loyalty amongst the employees.
• Existing employees are already aware of the company’s working methods and don’t take a long time to adjust to new positions.

However, there is a potential drawback to the internal recruitment process. It can lead to a stagnation in the company’s workforce. No introduction of new employees or fresh ideas.

Often employees who are not suitable for a higher position are given promotions just because they have been at the organization for a long time, not because of their skills and qualifications.

What are the Importance and Limitations of HRM ?

Characteristics of Internal Sources of Recruitment 

• Quick process.
• Cheaper than the external recruitment process.
• Works as a tool of motivation for the staff.
• The company’s choice is limited to existing employees of the company.
• Hiring fresh employees is a lost prospect.

External Sources of Recruitment

External sources of recruitment refer to the sources that lie outside or exist external to the organization.

Sources of external recruitment include:

1. People joining an organization, specifically through recommendations.
2. Employment agencies( e.g. naukri.com) or employment exchanges.
3. Advertising
4. Institutes like colleges and vocational schools (e.g. campus selection)
5. Contractors
6. Hiring unskilled labor
7.  List of applications
8. Temporary workers.

These are the Traditional Methods of appraisal ?

Encouraging existing employees to recommend suitable candidates can thus lead to the hiring of the right individuals for the right jobs. A higher level of teamwork and synchronization among employees would, therefore, be achieved.

However, it might also lead to employees picking their close friends and family members who are unfit for the jobs. Thus, talented individuals might lose out on good opportunities.

Whereas, external recruitment provides a wider collection of potential employees with the necessary skillset. It has proven to be a successful recruitment process when hiring for managerial and technical positions.

Characteristics of External Sources

• Long and time-consuming process.
• It is an expensive process.
•  When external people are given opportunities over them, then existing workers lose morale
• Hiring new employees can lead to the introduction of new blood and thus the introduction of a new set of skills and ideas.

Solved Question on Recruitment Process

Question: A company hired a software engineer through a reference. Which of the two types of recruitment process does this come under?

Answer – This type of recruitment is part of an external source of the recruitment process because the software engineer who has been hired was not an existing employee of the organization. He was hired through an external source, specifically by the recommendation of an existing employee.