15 External Sources of Recruitment: Definition, Advantages and Drawbacks: To begin with, here we will discuss everything about the external sources of recruitment as it is very important to meet the manpower needs of the company if there is a shortage of staff. Suppose, the employees in the organization are not enough to meet all the needs or falling short to the skill sets as well as technical knowledge that is required, then the need for external sources arises. In this article, you will get to know about external sources of recruitment with their advantages and limitations.

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15 External Sources of Recruitment: Definition, Advantages and Drawbacks

It is not possible all the time to get the quality of personnel with an accurate number of talent from inside the organization every time. Therefore, it is necessary to get personnel from external sources.

Definition of External Sources of Recruitment

In simple words, it refers to looking for professional and required manpower from the outside of the organization to attract new individuals, in case it is not fulfilled internally by the management. It is generally associated with the external pool of candidates who are looking for a job rather than considering the existing and internal employees. There is no change in the position of the present employees and they look for a more talented employee with relevant skills and knowledge.

Also See: Internal Sources of Recruitment

This process is quite very vital for the organization and attracts a number of deserving candidates towards the job role. Moreover, it also encourages the currently working employees to develop and assist each other along with diversity.

One of the major challenges towards this kind of recruitment is that they want to hire better and capable employees in a vacant position to make improvements in the performance of the organization. It will directly affect the growth of the company if the candidate is not able to do the job in a proper manner.

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Advantages of External Sources of recruitment

These sources are the second and perfect avenue to find out the best and suitable candidate for the organization when the existing employees are not enough capable to work on the available position. Here are some of the advantages that we can get by hiring candidates externally. Let us have a quick look.

1. Chances of getting favourable candidates

A huge number of external applicants applied for the vacant position and there are more chances to get the best-suited candidate as per the position available. The company can easily scrutinize the candidates and chalk out the best one out of a pool of candidates. Hence, the process will give more and more chances to get the best candidate.

2. Procuring fresh talent

As the opportunity is avail to a large number of candidates, so it is obvious that a much better and fresh talent will become a part of the organization. Moreover, people with some inventive ideas, skills and knowledge in the organization will improve the performance of other employees too.

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3. Create Competition

It is crystal clear that there will be great competition among the external employees and the existing ones. When the employees compete with each other, then the chances of growth and improvement is also increasing.

4. No partiality in the recruitment process

External process of recruitment is available to all the candidates and anyone can apply for a job according to their educational qualification and experience in the required field. If the candidate clears the recruitment stages, then they can get the job too. Therefore, there is no bias among the candidates and if he or she possesses the necessary skills then they can get the job.

5. Adaption of environmental changes

This process gives an opportunity to the best and suitable talent to enter into the organization. So, it is obvious that the candidate is selected from outside the organization and it becomes easy to adapt to the changes in the working environment.

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15 External Sources of Recruitment

Several methods of recruiting employees from outside of the organization existed. Proper analysis of the vacant positions must be done by the management and then they choose the best way to recruit the candidates from outside the organization. Here, we have jotted down different methods to hire candidates externally. Let us begin.

External sources are sued by the personnel department to fulfil the needs of the organization. The external sources of recruitment are:

1. Direct Recruitment

Simply, job seekers got o the employment section of various organization and the organization analyze the profile to ensure that if there is any vacancy relevant to the candidate’s profile. Most of the business firm follows the vacant positions by recruiting the employees at the factory gate to fill the vacant position. These workers are also known as Budli Workers and it does not incur more cost which is in favour of the organization because no advertisement is included in such types of external recruitment. This source is used in case the regular workers absent from the job regularly and there is a rush of work at the company premises.

2. Casual Callers

Most of the qualified and talented people apply for the job in the reputed organization by their own through the email or by filling up the online application form and all such applications are known as casual callers (also named as unsolicited applications). These applicants are good sources of manpower and they kept a proper file too. Whenever the need for relevant profile arises, the candidates are invited by the organization.

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3. Advertising

Job Advertising has become the order of the day and followed by most of the organizations. This source is used when the vacancies are in number or the company is hiring for a higher level of the vacant position. This is helpful to spread the vacant position around the various corners of the nation along with the information about the job description as well as job specifications so that candidates can analyze themselves prior approach the organization. It increases the choices of management.

4. Employment exchanges

It is mandatory for the organization to fill up some vacancies by the employment exchanges as established by the government. These exchanges are kind of network exchanges across the nation. Therefore, they play an important role.

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5. Placement Agencies

These are professional bodies that have been established to fulfill the needs of various organizations and assist them in the recruitment and selection of new candidates. All categories of the candidates are provided by these placement agencies as per the requirements by the organizations from time to time.

6. Management Consultants

These are also known as head Hunters. These management firms help the organization to hire technical, professional as well as managerial personnel. They specialize from the middle-level positions to the top level of job roles. According to the skills and qualification of the clients, they have maintains the data bank of various candidates and moreover, advertise the job vacancies on behalf of the company to provide the right kind of candidate.

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7. Campus Recruitment

All types of professional and technical employees can be employed through the colleges as well as institutes of management and technology. Most of the reputed organizations have to tie up with the universities, vocational schools and other educational institutes to hire the qualified personnel for various job positions. This type of recruitment is done through various educational institutions and provides candidates with well-established business practices.

8. Recommendations through existing employees

The existing employees of the organization refer candidates according to the vacant positions of the organization. Some employers fill up the vacant positions through the recommendations of the employees. This referral policy builds up goodwill among the employees and assists in searching reliable candidates.

9. Labor Contractors

The hiring process can also take place through the intermediaries and it is called as agents or labour contractors. Sometimes, these labour contractors are the part of the company however, this type of recruitment system lose its identity in today’s world. If the labour contractors disconnected from the company, then the workers will also leave. Hence, it is not a reliable way to recruit employees.

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10. Telecasting

Telecasting includes the usage of television and other mediums to advertise the vacant positions. The companies take help from various channels such as Doordarshan to explain the necessary vacant positions along with the detailed qualities and skills required to do the job in a proper manner.

11. Web Publishing

Internet is gaining popularity in all areas and this is so true in the field of recruitment as well. Various websites are available on the web that is purposely designed to provide employment news and information to all job seekers. To exemplify, some websites such as www.naukri.com, www.indeed.co.in, www.jobstreet.com, etc. are employment sites that are commonly used by companies to advertise the vacant positions and attract potential candidates.

12. Merger, Acquisition and takeover

Sometimes, the organizations take services from the employees of other companies and the surplus is declared after the merger, acquisition and takeover procedure. These companies also connect with other companies who acquire other organizations for getting the personnel list as per the requirements.

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13. Leasing

These are the leading firms that provide employees to organizations that can perform some temporary functions. Consolidate payment is provided by the company and also offer welfare, social security benefits and increment.

14. Independent Contractors

It is a kind of outsourcing agency. These contractors help to perform some specific functions at the premises of the company or at the employee’s premises. The contractor also informs about the running work via the fax, email, phone, etc. if the work is performed at the residence of the employee.

15. Family Relations

If the firm is entirely owned by the family members only, then the best external alternatives to hiring candidates are the relatives and close ones. Under all such cases, there are more chances of loyalty, trust and commitment and it is needed in new entrants.

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Demerits

Every process has some pros and cons. As we discussed the pros of external recruitment above, now it is time to get familiar with the demerits also. Let us begin.

  1. It creates a feeling of de-motivation among the existing employees of the organization. Employees feel that they will never get a chance to go ahead in their job field.
  2. Dissatisfaction among the employees as their psychological requirements, status and authority which may come from the better performance and promotions still remains unfulfilled.
  3. It minimizes the level of morale among the existing employees of the company. Hence, it increases absenteeism as well as the rate of labour turnover.
  4. It has a bad impact on the economic health and profit margin of the company. External candidates require more training, induction and recruitment cost is also high.
  5. The entire process is time-consuming and costly.

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Bottom line

Some of the commonly used external sources of recruitment are explained above along with their pros and cons. These recruitments have done according to the number of candidates required and what type they want.

So it was all about external sources of recruitment with their advantages and limitations. If you have any query then please comment below.

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