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After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of recruiting from
within the organization.
2. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of external
recruitment.
3. Explain the steps in preparing to recruitment.
4. Explain the recruiting within the organization.
5. Explain the recruiting outside the organization.
6. Differentiate between Internal versus external recruiting.
7. Identify and explain the Career Advertisement Checklist.
8. Discuss the issues in recruitment.

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4.0 INTRODUCTION

Recruitment is a process of locating potential individuals who might join an

organization and encouraging them to apply for existing or anticipated job opening.
During this process, firms make an effort to inform the applicants fully about the
qualifications they need for particular jobs and the career opportunities their
organization offer employee. In the recruitment process, effort is put into informing
applicants about the qualification requirements in performing a job, as well as job
opportunities that are offered by an organization to its workforce.

4.1 DEFINITION OF RECRUITMENT

Mondy and Noe (2009) defined recruitment as the process of attracting individuals on
a timely basis, in sufficient numbers and with appropriate qualifications, and
encouraging them to apply for jobs with an organization. According to Snell and
Bohlander (2010) recruitment is the HR function concerned with locating and
encouraging potential applicants to apply for existing or future job openings. There
are two (2) types of recruitment namely internal recruitment and external recruitment.

4.2 INTERNAL RECRUITMENT

Internal recruitment is locating and encouraging internal potential applicants to apply
for existing or future job openings. Internal recruitment is done through searching
qualified job candidates internally or within the organization. It is also known as
recruiting or promoting within the organization. The effectiveness of internal sources
is able to be further strengthened by giving the opportunity to employees who feel
that they are qualified to apply for the position offered. Internal candidates who are
suitable can be detected through among other methods such as the human resource
information system and job posting and bidding. When a particular offered post filled
up by internal staff, then it is referred to as internal recruitment.

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 Internal recruitment methods
There are few methods available to conduct internal recruitment such as:
 Job Posting and Job Bidding
Organizations communicate information about job openings through a process
referred to as job posting and bidding. Notice of jobs opening in the firm are
posted to internal employees through email, internal circular, employee
publications, special handouts, bulletin board etc and outlining the requirements
of the jobs and the contact person details. Internal employees who believe that
they meet the requirements can apply.

 Succession Planning
Succession planning is the process done by top management to ensure
suitable supplies of successors are available for current and future senior of
key jobs.

 Promotion
Recruitment through promotion involves movement of employees from lower
level position to higher level position with changes in duties, responsibilities,
status and value. The candidates’ talents normally are indentified through
performance appraisal.

 Employees Referral
Employee referral is a recommendation made by a current employee
regarding a potential job applicant through a word of mouth. It means using
personal contacts to locate job opportunities.

 Transfer
Internal recruitment through transfer can be done by relocating the employees
with similar job duties and responsibility. A transfer is a lateral movement
within the same grade from one job to another. It leads to changes in duties
and responsibilities, working conditions but not necessarily salary.

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Human Resource Information System (HRIS)
HRIS is well developed, up-to-date system of personnel records where HR manager
can check through employees’ files to identify any potential candidates. The existing
data can also be used to forecast employees’ career path and predict when and
where the opportunity for promotion will be announced. However, the data has to be
updated and there has to be a systematic method to up date the data.

HRIS is also known as management talent inventory whereby it allow firms

electronically capturing the qualifications of each of their employees and using this
information to identify potential candidates for available jobs. Talent inventory is an
important tool for succession planning.

Activity 1 : List down the possible advantages of transfer.

Advantages and disadvantages of recruitment-from-within policy

Recruiting employees from within the organization also has its strengths and
weaknesses. The advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment are shown
in Table 4.1.

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 Advantages of internal recruitment

 Capitalizes on past investments (recruiting, selecting, training, and developing) in

current employees.
 Rewards past performance and encourages continued commitment to the
organization.
 Signals to employees that similar efforts by them will lead to promotion.
 Fosters advancement of members of protected classes within an organization
 Improve employee motivation and performance.
 Organizations have track records on existing employees.
 Allow employees fulfill their career goals.
 Employees already familiar with the organization culture.
 Help organization retain experience and knowledge of present employees.
 Better promotion chances to internal employees.
 Save costs in training and development.

Disadvantages of promotion from within

 Current employees may lack the knowledge, experience or skills needed for
placement in the vacant or new position.
 The hazards of inbreeding of ideas and attitudes (“employee cloning”) increase
when no outsiders are considered for hiring.
 The organization has exhausted its supply of viable internal candidates and must
seek additional employees in the external job market.
 Bias and discrimination.
 Unqualified candidates.
 Political infighting for promotions.
 Possible morale problem for those not promoted.
 Need strong management development program.

Table 4.1: Advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitmen

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4.3 EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT

Searching qualified job candidates externally or outside the organization to fill in job
vacancies. It is an efforts made by the organization that look beyond its own borders
to find employees particularly when expanding its workforce. The outside sources
from which employers recruit will vary with the type of position to be filled. The
conditions of labor market also determine which recruiting sources an organization
will use. If the recruitment is from outsider, then it is refereed to as external
recruitment.

Normally, before recruitment from external source is carried out, consideration is to

be given to internal staff, especially for posts that require higher entry qualification. If
the potential or capabilities of internal staff are denied, then it will give rise to extra
cost to organizations, either in short or long term.

Sources of External Recruitment

The candidates for external recruitment can easily be found outside organization.
Among the sources of external recruitment are:-
• High Schools and Vocational Schools.
• Competitors’ Employees.
• Unemployed individuals.
• Colleges and Universities graduates.
• Senior Citizens.
• Community College graduates.
• Self Employed Workers (independent contractor)
• Former Employees.
• Disabled People.
• Retired Military personnel.
• Pensioners

External Recruitment Methods

There are many methods being used t conduct external recruitment. The question is
which method is the best and effective. It depends on the type of post offered.
Among the methods are:

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  Advertisement
Advertisement is most common methods of attracting applicants in through
advertisements. The advertisement channels often used by the organizations
are radio, television, newspaper, billboards, industry publications, posters,
and e-mails. The types of advertisements used by the organization depend on
the types of job vacancies that need to be filled and the type of labor market.
It also depends on the cost that organization is willing to bear.

 Unsolicited Application and resumes (Walk- in or write-in)

Unsolicited applicants whether through write-ins or walk-ins constitute a major
source of prospective applicants. Usually done by peoples who are apply for
vacancies without prompting from the organization. Prospective candidates
go to the company personally. During economic stagnation, this method
seems to be the most popular and companies will not have a problem in
getting qualified candidates.

 Internet recruiting
It is a recruitment method that is conducted online through internet.
Applicants submit resume through a variety of websites and potential
employers can check for qualified applicants. The internet is a source of
recruitment that is increasingly popular. Applicants can surf a certain website
to register online.

 Employee referral
Existing staff usually can suggest candidates who are really qualified. A
recommendation made by current employees is becoming more popular.
Organization can encourage them to continue the effort of searching for the
right candidate by giving bonuses for each successful employment. The risk
of this method is nepotism, which is the tendency to propose their family
member.

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 Executive search firms
Firm that seeks the most qualified executive for specific clients that looking
the right person for a specific job position. This source assists employers in
searching for a suitable employee to fill the job offered. The fee rate is
normally 30% - 40% of the annual salary of the position that needs to be
filled. For senior executive positions, payment is usually made by the
organization hiring the particular executive search firms.

 Job Fairs
It is done by a single employer or group of employers opening interview booth
or counter to attract large number of candidates.

 Professional Association
It is an association that provides recruitment and placement services for their
professional members. Many professional associations and societies offer a
placement service to members as one of their benefits. Listing of members
seeking employment may be advertised in their journals or publicized at their
national meeting.

 Labor unions
Labor unions have been a principal source of applicants for blue-collar and
some professional jobs. It is a good source to obtain employee for certain
positions in the supporting level.

 Public employee agencies

Public employment agencies such as Labor Department can help job
applicants to look for jobs which are suited to their qualifications.

 Private employment agencies

Private employment agencies will charge a certain, fixed rate to help
applicants look for jobs. Fee may be paid by the job seeker or potential
employer. It is an organization that helps firms recruit employees and at the
same time help individuals to find jobs. It provides a source of young
applicants with formal training but with relatively little full-time work
experience.

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  Employee leasing
Employee leasing is an employee who has been retrenched or dismissed by
an organization, then hired by another company that offers employee leasing
services to those interested companies.

 Recruiters
Recruiters are the HR expert or generalists that conduct head hunters’
services for their clients.

 Internships Program
Internship is a program that placing practical training students in temporary
jobs with no obligation either by the firm to hire the students permanently or
by the students to accept a permanent position with the firm after graduation.

Activity 2 : Internet recruitment is getting popular. Can you identify the

numerous website that provides recruitment services?

Advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment

Recruiting employees from external also has its strengths and weaknesses. The
advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment are shown in Table 4.2.

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 Advantages of external recruitment
• New ideas and expertise.
• Lack of internal breeding.
• Various sources available.
• Wider choices of applicants.
• No group of political supporters.
Disadvantages of external recruitment
• Time consuming.
• High cost of training and development as well as recruitment process.
• High rate of turnover.
• Low morale and performance from rejected internal candidates.
• Cultural, belief and value differences.
• Possibility of ‘misfit’.
• Longer adjustment period.

Table 4.2: The advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment

4.4 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INTERNAL RECRUITMENT AND EXTERNAL

RECRUITMENT

Below are differences between internal recruitment and external recruitment as

shown in Table 4.3.

Factors Internal Recruitment External Recruitment

1. Morale Build morale Create resentment

2. Learning Curve / Familiar with organization Not familiar
knowledge
3. Expenses Less costly High cost
4. Filling vacancies Creates riffle effects Not creates riffle effects
5. Skills Use old ways of doing things New ideas

Table 4.3: Differences between internal recruitment and external recruitment

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4.5 CAREER ADVERTISEMENT CHECKLIST

Any organization that wish to advertise any vacancies need to have the following
checklist to ensure that it provides clear information to candidates who are attracted
to apply for the vacancies. The checklists are as illustrates by Table 4.4. The
example of recruitment is shown in Table 4.5.

Recruitment Checklists
 Job title
 A description of your company
 Who the job reports to
 Main responsibilities
 Result you want from the person who perform the job
 Type of person you are looking for
 Experience, education, knowledge, abilities needed
 Physical demands of the job
 Date line for applications
 Name and logo of the company

Table 4.4: Recruitment checklists

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 Client Services Manager at HTA Highway Travel Association

 The Highway Travel Association provides travel information and insurance

services to our 8000 members across Western Canada. The Client
Services Manager will be responsible for leading a team of front-line
customer service staff in providing quality travel information to our
members.
 Reporting to the Executive Director of the Association, you will be
responsible for setting service standards and for organizing and running
the travel information department to meet those standards.
 You will be an effective team leader, with strong administrative skills. You
communicate effectively with employees and customers. You achieve
results by communicating expectations and providing employees with the
tools to make decisions. You are able to solve problems and manage a
budget.
 You must be an accredited travel agent. Three to five years of supervisory
experience in a customer service environment in the travel industry are
required. The ability to develop and manage a budget is a necessity.

We wish to thank all applicants for their interest; however, only candidates selected
for an interview will be contacted. Please send your resume by January 1 to:
Human Resources Officer
Highway Travel Association
100 Pleasant Blvd.
Regina, SK.
or by fax (306) 555-3333
or to e-mail: HRO@highway.sk.

Table 4.5: Example of Advertisement for Client Services Manager

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 Activity 3 : Develop a job advertisement for the position of management
trainee in one of local newspaper.

4.6 IMPROVING EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT EFFECTIVENESS

The aim of organizational recruitment is to bring a pool of talented people and to

select the best to work for the company. To know how effective each method will
bring is not an easy task. However, there are few things that can be done by HR
manager to overcome the problems such as:

Calculating Yield Ratio

Yield ratio is the percentage of applicants from a recruitment source that make it to
the next stage of the selection process. For example, out of 100 resumes received,
50 found acceptable therefore, the yield ratio is 50%.

Cost of Recruitment (per employee hired)

The cost per employee hired can also provide a platform to measure the
effectiveness of external recruitment. The higher the cost per employee hired, the
less effective is the recruitment method. Here is an example of how to calculate
recruitment cost is as shown below:

SC AC  AF  RB  NC

H H

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Whereby:
• SC = source cost
• AC = advertising costs, total monthly expenditure (eg.: $28,000)
• AF = agency fees, total for the month (eg: $19,000)
• RB = referral bonuses, total paid (eg: $2,300)
• NC = no-cost hires, walk-ins, non-profit agencies, etc. (eg: $0)
• H = total hires (eg: 119)

Cost to hire one employee = $414

Organizational Recruiters
In a big organization, the recruitment process will be performed by professional
human resource staffs. For a small organization, this process is carried out by the
human resource manager, unit manager or supervisors. The recruiter can influence
candidate whether to accept or reject a job offer. Therefore, the recruiter must be
trained so that they are able to attract more qualified applicants.

Sources of organizational recruiters come from various parties either professional HR

recruiters, HR generalists or work team members. Requirements for effective
recruiters are such as knowledge of the recruited job’s requirements and of the
organization, adequate training as an interviewer and also personable and competent
to represent the organization.

Realistic Job Previews (RJP)

Through RJP, applicants are informed about all aspects of the job, including both its
desirable and undesirable facets. Those who practice RJP believe that applicants
who are given explanation on their jobs will stay longer and will be more successful in
their jobs. Benefits of RJP are as follows:
 Improved employee job satisfaction.
 Reduced voluntary turnover.
 Enhanced communication through honesty and openness.
 Realistic job expectations.

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4.6 ALTERNATIVES TO RECRUITMENT
Job openings or vacancies do not always result in recruitment. An organization’s HR
may suggest that other alternatives be used if the cost of recruitment itself is very
high or even when the vacancy is not permanent in nature. Here are some of the
alternatives that can be used as HR manager to avoid recruitment such as:
 Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of transferring responsibility for an area of service
and its objectives to an external provider. The outsource company will
handled some of the activities in the company with certain amount of fees
agreed by both parties in the agreement contract.

 Contingent Workers
Contingent worker are also known as part-timers, temporaries and
independent contractors. These workers are hired on a temporary basis
especially when company is experiencing peak sales for instance.

 New Technology
Through new technology, company will introduce or buy new technology to
replace employees with machine in meeting high work demands that human
can’t achieved and any error or mistakes is unacceptable. Managing machine
is easier than human.

 Student Attachment
Students who doing practical training can help reduce work excess by paying
allowance but not suitable to be use for long term solution.

 Overtime
Overtime is the most common method to meet short term fluctuations in work
volume such as increasing orders or early shipment delivery. Employees will
be required to extend their working hours beyond their normal working hours.
Overtime is also a way to provide employees with additional income.

 Reorganize or reschedule the work

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 Recruitment can be avoided through reengineering the work process or
restructuring the organization where two (2) or more jobs handle by one
employee.

 Employee Leasing
Using this approach, a firm terminates some or most of its employees; a
leasing company then hires them, usually at the same salary, and lease them
back to the former employer, who becomes the client.

4.8 SUMMARY

Recruitment is defined as a process conducted in attempting to locate, attract and

encourage potential candidates to apply for existing or anticipated job opening.
Recruitment must be done carefully. This is because the data and information
collected during this process will be an input to the next process in line that is
selection. However, job vacancies do not always resort in recruitment. Other
recruitment alternatives can be considered in order to avoid recruitment due to
increase in recruitment cost etc.

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 1. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of recruiting from within
the organization.
2. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment.
3. Why has internet recruiting become so important?.
4. What are the typical alternatives to recruitment that firm may use?.
5. Describe the sources of recruitment that are available.
6. Describe the methods of recruitment that are available.
7. What are the steps involved in the recruitment process?.
8. In what ways do executive search firms differ from the traditional
employment agencies?.
9. List and compare sources of job applicants.
10. Describe the recruiter’s role in the recruitment process, including
limits and opportunities.

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Study Notes

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