Recruitment and its sources

Recruitment is searching for possible employees and encouraging them to apply. Its sources are internal or external.

Internal sources: people already in the firm.

• Transfers: moving a person to another job of similar level (a horizontal move).
• Promotions: moving a person to a higher post (a vertical move).

A clerk moved from accounts to purchase is still a clerk: a transfer brings no change in pay, status or authority. A clerk made a manager gets more pay, authority and responsibility: that is a promotion. Transfers can also train a person, who learns production, then marketing, then finance. And internal sources only work when one department has a surplus: you can move a clerk to marketing only if production has one to spare.

• Advantages: employees are motivated by the chance of promotion; selection is simpler and cheaper, since the firm already knows them; no induction training is needed; surplus staff in one department can be shifted to another.
• Limitations: no fresh talent comes in (inbreeding); employees may become lazy if they expect promotion anyway; a new firm cannot use it; there is less competition; frequent transfers reduce productivity.

External sources: people from outside.

• direct recruitment at the factory gate (for casual or badli workers); casual callers (applications kept on file); advertisements; employment exchanges; placement agencies and management consultants; campus recruitment from colleges; recommendations by employees; labour contractors; television; and web publishing (job websites).

Telling the similar ones apart:

• Direct recruitment is a notice on the factory gate ('Wanted: tailors, watchmen'). It fills unskilled jobs, or brings in temporary badli workers when permanent staff are absent and an urgent order must be finished.
• Advertisement, in newspapers and journals, is the most popular source, and suits skilled and higher jobs: a firm looking for an accountant may advertise in a chartered accountants' journal.
• Casual callers are people who ask for work when there is none; the firm keeps their details in a database and calls them when a job opens.
• An employment exchange is run by the government in each district, free of charge. A placement agency is private, works nationwide, and charges a fee.

• Advantages: qualified people; a wider choice; fresh talent; a competitive spirit among existing staff.
• Limitations: existing staff may feel dissatisfied; the process is lengthy and costly.

Employee referrals are a growing source of good hires; firms like Infosys and Lenovo use them widely.