Question

What is recruitment? Discuss in detail the internal and external sources of recruitment.

Answer 1

• In general terms recruitment can be defined as, “The process of looking for probable employees and making them apply for the job.”
• In a broader sense “Recruitment is the process of acquiring at the right time, in the right number, in the right place, persons with the right qualifications.”
• Recruitment is not a one time job. It keeps on continuing in the organization.
• Recruitment takes place when a new enterprise is established, when an existing unit is expanded or when an employee resigns, dies or retires. Sources of Recruitment:

There are two sources of recruitment.

(A) Internal sources

1. Promotion
2. Transfer
3. Friends and relatives of employees
4. Recalling retrenched employees
5. Promotion with transfer
6. Waiting list

(B) External sources

1. Through advertisement
2. Through employment exchange
3. Through educational institutions
4. Through trade unions
5. Through contractors and jobbers
6. Recruitment at the gate
7. Modern methods

There are two main sources of recruitment,

(A) Internal sources arid
(B) External sources.

Depending upon the need of the organization and situation, recruitment is done from any of these sources.

(A) Internal sources:
1. Promotion:

• When a post in the organization becomes vacant, it can be filled by promoting an existing staff member after considering his work, ability, honesty, skill, loyalty and qualifications.
  Promotion of employees boosts morale and loyalty of the staff.
• Moreover, promotion also results in increased salaries, status, power and responsibility.

2. Transfer: In case of shortage of staff at a particular location or department, staff member from location or department having surplus staff can be transferred on the basis of his suitability and qualifications.

3. Friends and relatives of employees:

• Whenever a vacancy comes up in an organization, the management asks employees ask employees to recommend their qualified friends and relatives for the post.
• The applications are called from such interested candidates and are screened, interviewed and if all goes well, are recruited.
• This form of recruitment helps to boost the morale of the employees and make them feel proud to be a part of the recruitment process.

4. Recalling retrenched employees:

• Retrenchment of employees is the process of removing employees from the organization in case if they are surplus or to cut down organizational costs.
• The organization can invite former employees who were retrenched because of some or the other reasons or employees who have left the organization and joined elsewhere voluntarily to rejoin.

5. Promotion with transfer: Under this system, organization provides promotion along with transfer and transfers employees to a different location on the basis of their efficiency, experience and loyalty

For example, an employee can be transferred along with promotion to his native place or any other place of his choice. This will boost the morale and enthusiasm of the employees. Since, in many cases employees do not prefer transfer, giving them promotion and then transferring them is a way to keep their morale high.

6. Waiting list:

• Waiting list is the list of candidates who had applied in the past but were not appointed in the organization. Such a list is useful for future recruitment.
• Since, the applicant of the waiting list was thoroughly screened and tested, the organization can save time and money to spend again on advertisement and the entire recruitment procedure.
• The organization can pick the best candidates from the waiting list if they are still available and fill the vacant posts.

(B) External sources:

1. Through advertisement:

• Advertisement is an effective way for recruitment.
• The organization releases advertisements in newspapers, business journals and periodicals for specific posts and invites application from qualified candidates.
• The organizations also put such advertisements on internet, TV or websites. The candidates that come across such advertisements can apply online.
• Through advertisement, the organization can receive a very large number of applications that too from distant corners of the country.
• This helps to choose the right candidate form a large pool of applicants.

2. Through employment exchange:

• Unemployed people register themselves in public and private employment exchanges. These exchanges prepare a database of all such people.
• The database contains details such as name, address, qualifications, experience, skills, etc.
• The organizations can approach these employment exchanges and obtain the list of candidates that can fit into the job.
• The organizations then contact suitable candidates and calls for recruiting them.

3. Through educational institutes:

• In modern times many enterprises visit colleges and universities and ask them to arrange a campus interview.
• Campus interviews are held by colleges and universities themselves too wherein they invite various organizations to visit their campus and conduct interviews and select the student as a future candidate.
• Such placement camps are arranged every year at various institutes like Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Indian Institute of Technology (NT) and also at several colleges and universities.

4. Through trade unions:

• Most of the workers are the members of trade unions. Trade unions maintain the list of these employees working in the organization.
• The organizations can contact these trade unions and take the list of such employees that are either removed or have left the organization. They can then contact them if they are available for the job.
• The concept of trade unions is quite popular in textile industries, mining industries, etc.

5. Through contractors:

• There are certain employment contractors who mainly supply unskilled labourers to the organizations.
• The business enterprise makes a contract with such contractors where in the contractor takes the responsibility to supply the workers to the enterprise.
• The contractor is in constant contact with various types of labourers. He recommends these workers to the enterprise as and when the enterprise asks for.
• This practice is quite popular for workers working in construction industries, mining industries, tea plantation, etc.
• This is an informal channel of recruitment and so there are chances that the contractor or the enterprise or both together exploit the worker.

6. Recruitment at the gate: Workers can be recruited by business enterprises by placing a notice at the factory gate. This method is more suitable for daily wages.

7. Modern method:

• Modern method is mostly suitable for recruitment of skilled employees.
• In modern times a very large amount of recruitment is done through the internet.
• Search portals such as naukri.com, monster.com, etc. are internet companies that provide a facility to candidates to register their bio-data on these web-portals.
• This database is then shared with the business enterprises worldwide. Whenever the enterprise needs to fill a post, it contacts the candidates registered on these websites.
• Moreover, the candidates can also directly apply to the company from the company’s website.
• This tool is very fast, quite effective and has very wide reach.
• Under the modern method, various procedures of recruitment such as application, exams (tests), results and appointments can be done.
• If the candidate is well-versed with the computers, he can take tremendous benefit from this source of recruitment.