Question

Explain briefly sources of recruitment

Answer 1

Following are the sources of recruitment-

1) The Internal Sources of Recruitment mean hiring people from within the organization. In other words, seeking applicants for the job positions from those who are currently employed with the firm.

a) Transfer: Transfer means shifting an employee from one job to another, typically of a similar nature, without any change in his rank and responsibility. The purpose of an employee transfer is to enable him to get well-versed with the broad-based view of the organization which is essential for the promotions in the future.

b) Promotion: Promotions are the most common form of internal recruitment wherein the employees are moved to the upper levels of the organization with more responsibility and prestige. When the higher level positions fall vacant companies recruit from within the organization

c) Employee Referrals: The present employees can refer their friends and family to the job. They are well aware of the organizational culture, working conditions and job requirements. If they find their friends or family suitable for such a position can recommend their names to the management for recruitment.

The organizations encourage employee referrals as the cost and time could be saved than from hiring people from the external sources. Some organizations, in order to motivate employees to pay “finders fees” in the form of incentives for each successful hire.

2) The External Sources of Recruitment mean hiring people from outside the organization. In other words, seeking applicants from those who are external to the organization.

a) Media Advertisement: The advertisement is the most common and preferred source of external recruiting. The ads in newspapers, professional journals, give a comprehensive detail about the organization, type, and nature of job position, skills required, qualification and experience expected, etc. This helps an individual to self-evaluate himself against the job requirements and apply for the jobs which best suits him.

b) Employment Exchange: The employment exchange is the office run by the government wherein the details about the job seekers such as name, qualification, experience, etc. is stored and is given to the employers who are searching for men for their organizations.

For certain job vacancies, it is mandatory for every organization to provide details about it to the employment exchange. It is the most common source of external recruitment that offers jobs to unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers.

c) Direct Recruitment: The direct recruitment also called as factory gate recruitment is an important source of hiring, especially the unskilled workers who are paid on a daily-wage basis. Here, the company puts up a notice on a notice board or on the factory gate regarding the jobs available, such that the applicant sees it and apply for the job directly.

d) Casual Callers: The casual callers, also called as unsolicited applications are the job seekers who come to the well-renowned organizations casually and either mail or drop in their job applications seeking the job opportunity.

This could be considered as an important source of external recruitment as the personnel department maintains the folder of unsolicited applications and call those who fulfill the job requirements, whenever the vacancy arises.

e) Educational Institutions or Campus Placement: Creating a close liaison with the educational institutes for the recruitment of students with technical and professional qualifications has become a common practice of external recruitment. Here, the companies, visit the technical, management and professional colleges to recruit the students directly for the job positions. The recruitment from educational institutions is also termed as campus recruitment.

f) Labor Contractors: This is the most common form of external recruitment wherein the labor contractors who are either employed with the firm or have an agreement to supply workers to the firm for the completion of a specific type of a task. This method is again used for hiring the unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The contractor keeps in touch with the workers and sends them to the places where their need arises. In doing so, the contractors get the commission for each worker supplied.

g) Walk-Ins: This is again a direct form of recruitment wherein the prospective candidates are invited through an advertisement to come and apply for the job vacancy. Here, the specified date, venue, and time are mentioned, and the candidates are requested to come and give interviews directly without submitting their applications in advance.

h) E-recruiting: The e-recruiting means searching and screening the prospective candidates electronically. There are several online job portals that enable the job seekers to upload their resume online which are then forwarded to the potential hirers. Such as naukri.com, monster.com, shine.com, etc. are some of the well renowned online job portals.

i)Management Consultants: There are several private management firms that act as a middleman between the recruiter and the recruit. These firms help the organization to hire professional, technical and managerial personnel, and they specialize in recruiting middle level and top level executives.