External Sources

External sources lie outside an organization.Here the organization

canhave the services of: (a) Employees working in other organizations;
(b)Jobs aspirants registered with employment exchanges; (c) Students
fromreputed educational institutions; (d) Candidates referred by
unions,friends, relatives and existing employees; (e) Candidates
forwarded bysearch firms and contractors; (f) Candidates responding
to theadvertisements, issued by the organization; and (g)
Unsolicitedapplications/ walk-ins.
Merits and Demerits of ‘Recruiting people from ‘within’
Merits
Demerits
1)Economical: The cost of
recruiting internal candidates is
minimal. No expenses are
incurred on advertising.
2)Suitable: The organization
can pick the right candidates
having the requisite skills. The
candidate can choose a right
vacancy where their talents
can be fully utilized.
3)Reliable: The organization
has the knowledge about
suitability of a candidate for a
position. ‘Known devils are
better than unknown angels!’
4)Satisfying: A policy of
preferring people from within
offers regular promotional
avenues for employees. It
motivates them to work hard
and earn promotions. They will
work with loyalty commitment
and enthusiasm.
1)Limited Choice: The
organization is forced to select
candidates from a limited pool.
It may have to sacrifice quality
and settle down for less
qualified candidates.
2)Inbreeding: It discourages
entry for talented people,
available outside an
organization. Existing
employees may fail to behave
in innovative ways and inject
necessary dynamism to
enterprise activities.
3)Inefficiency: Promotions
based on length of service
rather than merit, may prove
to be a blessing for inefficient
candidate. They do not work
hard and prove their worth.
4)Bone of contention:
Recruitment from within may
lead to infighting among
employees aspiring for limited,
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higher level positions in an
organization. As years roll by,
the race for premium positions
may end up in a bitter race.
The merits and demerits of recruiting candidates from outside an
organization may be stated thus:
Merits and Demerits of External sources of Recruitment
Merits
Demerits
Wide Choice: The organization
has the freedom to select
candidates from a large pool.
Persons with requisite
qualifications could be picked up.
Infection of fresh blood:People
with special skills and knowledge
could be hired to stir up the
existing employees and pave the
way for innovative ways of
working.
Motivational force: It helps in
motivating internal employees to
work hard and compete with
external candidates while seeking
career growth. Such a competitive
atmosphere would help an
employee to work to the best of
his abilities.
Expenses: Hiring costs could go
up substantially. Tapping
multifarious sources of
recruitment is not an easy task
either.
Time consuming: It takes time to
advertise, screen, to test and test
and to select suitable employees.
Where suitable ones are not
available, the process has to be
repeated.
De-motivating:Exis ting
employees who have put in
considerable service may resist
the process of filling up vacancies
from outside. The feeling that their
services have not been recognized
by the organization, forces then to
work with less enthusiasm and
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 Long term benefits:Ta lented
people could join the ranks, new
ideas could find meaningful
expression, a competitive
atmosphere would compel people
to give out their best and earn
rewards, etc.
motivation.
Uncertainty: There is no
guarantee that the organization,
ultimately will be able to hire the
services of suitable candidates. It
may end up hiring someone who
does not fit and who may not be
able to adjust in the new setup.
METHODS OF RECRUITMENT
Internal Methods:
Promotions and Transfers
This is a method of filling vacancies from internal resources of
thecompany to achieve optimum utilization of a staff member's skills
andtalents. Transfer is the permanent lateral movement of an
employeefrom one position to another position in the same or another
job classassigned to usually same salary range. Promotion, on the
other hand isthe permanent movement of a staff member from a
position in one jobclass to a position in another job class of increased
responsibility orcomplexity of duties and in a higher salary range.
Job Posting
Job Posting is an arrangement in which a firm internally posts a list
ofopen positions (with their descriptions and requirements) so that
theexisting employees who wish to move to different functional areas
mayapply. It is also known as Job bidding. It helps the qualified
employeesworking in the organization to scale new heights, instead of
looking forbetter perspectives outside. It also helps organization to
retain itsexperienced and promising employees.
Employee Referrals
It is a recruitment method in which the current employees
areencouraged and rewarded for introducing suitable recruits from
amongthe people they know. The logic behind employee referral is that
“ittakes one to know one”. Benefits of this method are as follows:
•
Quality Candidates
 •
Cost savings
•
Faster recruitment cycles10
 •
Incentives to current employees
On the other hand it is important for an organization to ensure
thatnepotism or favoritism does not happen, and that such aspects do
notmake inroads into the recruitment process.
External Methods:
External methods of recruitment are again divided into two categories-
Direct External Recruitment and Indirect External Recruitment
methods.
Direct External Recruitment Methods
Campus Recruitment
In Campus Recruitment, Companies / Corporate visit some of the
mostimportant Technical and Professional Institutes in an attempt to
hireyoung intelligent and smart students at source. It is common
practicefor Institutes today to hire a Placement Officer who coordinates
withsmall, medium and large sized Companies and helps in
streamlining theentire Campus Recruitment procedure.
Benefits of Campus Recruitment
•
Companies get the opportunity to choose from and select the
best talent in a short span of time.
•
Companies end up saving a lot of time and efforts that go inadvertising
vacancies, screening and eventually selectingapplicants for
employment.
•
College students who are just passing out get the opportunity
topresent themselves to some of the best companies within
theirindustry of interest. Landing a job offer while still in college
andjoining just after graduating is definitely what all students
dream of.
On the negative front, campus recruiting means hiring people with
little
or no work experience.
Indirect External Recruitment Methods
Advertisements
Advertisements are the most common form of external
recruitment.They can be found in many places (local and national
newspapers,notice boards, recruitment fairs) and should include some
importantinformation relating to the job (job title, pay package,
location, jobdescription, how to apply-either by CV or application form,
etc). Wherea business chooses to advertise will depend on the cost of
advertising
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 and the coverage needed i.e. how far away people will consider
applying for the job.
Third Party Methods
•
Walk-ins: Walk-ins is relatively inexpensive, and applicants
may be filed and processed whenever vacancies occur. Walk-
insprovide an excellent public relations opportunity because well-
treated applicants are likely to inform others. On the other hand,walk-
ins show up randomly, and there may be no match withavailable
openings. This is particularly true for jobs requiringspecialized skills.
•
Public and private employment agencies: Public and
private employment agencies are established to match jobopenings
with listings of job applicants. These agencies alsoclassify and screen
applicants. Most agencies administer work-sample tests, such as
typing exams, to applicants.
•
E-Recruiting: There are many methods used for e-
recruitment, some of the important methods are as follows:
a. Job boards: These are the places where the employers postjobs and
search for candidates. One of the disadvantages is, itis generic in
nature.
b.Employer web sites: These sites can be of the company owned
sites, or a site developed by various employers.
c.Professional websites: These are for specific professions, skills
and not general in nature.
•
Gate Hiring and Contractors: The concept of gate hiring is to
select people who approach on their own for employment in
theorganization. This happens mostly in the case of unskilled and semi-
skilled workers. Gate hiring is quite useful and convenient method
atthe initial stage of the organization when large number of
suchpeople may be required by the organization
STEP 2: DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT
STRATEGY EVALUATION OF SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
Time-lapse data: They show the time lag between the dates of
requisition for manpower supply from a department to the actual date
offilling the vacancies in that department. For example, a company's
pastexperience may indicate that the average number of days from
application
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to interview is 10, from interview to offer is 7, from offer to acceptance
is10 and from acceptance to report for work is 15. Therefore, if the
companystarts the recruitment and selection process now, it would
require 42 daysbefore the new employee joins its ranks. Armed with
this information, thelength of the time needed for alternative sources
of recruitment can beascertained - before pinning hopes on a particular
source that meets therecruitment objectives of the company.
Yield ratios: These ratios indicate the number of leads/ contacts
needed
to generate a given number of hires at a point at time. For example, if
acompany needs 10 management trainees in the next six months, it
has tomonitor past yield ratios in order to find out the number of
candidates tobe contacted for this purpose. On the basis of past
experience, to continuethe same example, the company finds that to
hire 10 trainees, it has toextend 20 offers. If the interview-to-offer ratio
is 3:2, then 30 interviewsmust be conducted. If the invitees to
interview ratio is 4:3 then, as manyas 40 candidates must be invited.
Lastly, if contacts or leads needed toidentify suitable trainees to invite
are in 5:1 ratio, then 200 contacts are made.
Surveys and studies: Surveys may also be conducted to find out the
suitability of a particular source for certain positions. For example',
aspointed out previously, employee referral has emerged as a popular
wayof hiring people in the Information Technology industry in recent
times inIndia. Correlation studies could also be carried out to find out
therelationship between different sources of recruitment and factors
ofsuccess on the job. In addition to these, data on employee
turnover,grievances, and disciplinary action would also throw light on
the relativestrengths of a particular source of recruitment for different
organizationalpositions. Before finally identifying the sources of
recruitment, the humanresource managers must also look into the cost
or hiring a candidate. Thecost per hire can be found out by dividing the
recruitment cost by thenumber of candidates hired.
SELECTION
Introduction
The size of the labour market, the image of the company, the
placeof posting, the nature of job, the compensation package and a
host ofother factors influence the manner of aspirants are likely to
respond to therecruiting efforts of the company. Through the process
of recruitment thecompany tries to locate prospective employees and
encourages them toapply for vacancies at various levels. Recruiting,
thus, provides a pool ofapplicants for selection.
Definition