Sources of Recruitment - External Sources

• Recruitment of people from outside the enterprise.
• Commonly used by large organisations for office jobs requiring technical knowledge.
• Needed because internal staff may be insufficient or may not meet eligibility criteria.
• Provides wide choice and brings new blood into the organisation.

Direct Recruitment / Gate Hiring:

• Notice on notice-board; jobseekers assembled and selected on the spot.
• Used for casual vacancies of unskilled or semi-skilled “badli” workers; very inexpensive.

Casual Callers:

• Database/waiting list of unsolicited applicants maintained by reputed organisations.
• Used to fill vacancies as they arise; reduces recruitment cost.

Advertisements:

• Newspapers, journals, radio, TV, Employment News.
• Provide wide choice and detailed job information; may attract many unsuitable applicants.

Employment Exchanges:

• Government-run offices registering job seekers and referring names to employers.
• Good for unskilled and skilled operative jobs; records may be outdated.

Placement Agencies / Management Consultants:

• Private agencies compile bio-data and recommend candidates nationwide.
• Useful for technical, professional, managerial, middle and top-level posts; charge fees.

Campus Recruitment:

• Recruitment from colleges and institutes (management, technology, IIMs, IITs, etc.).
• Popular for technical, professional and managerial jobs.

Employee Recommendations (Referrals):

• Applicants introduced by present employees, friends or relatives. 
• Background known; preliminary screening through employees.

Labour Contractors:

• Contractors (Sardar, Mukaddam, and Thekedar) supply unskilled workers at short notice.
• If contractor leaves, workers recruited through him often leave too.

Advertising on Television:

• Vacant posts telecast with job requirements and organisation profile.

Web Publishing:

• Internet job sites listing job seekers and openings, visited by both candidates and organisations.

• Wide Choice - Provides a very wide choice of employees with desired qualifications.
• New Ideas and Skills - Brings people with new ideas and special skills to meet new challenges.
• Qualified Personnel - Attracts qualified and trained people to apply for vacant jobs.
• Fresh Talent - Provides new blood when present employees are insufficient or ineligible.
• Competitive Spirit - Challenges existing employees to compete with outside candidates.
• Fills Internal Gaps - Fills vacancies created by promotion, retirement, resignation or death.
• Essential for New Enterprises - New enterprises must recruit all employees from external sources.

• Time-Consuming - Notification, applications, tests and interviews make it a lengthy process.
• Costly - Advertisement and application processing make external recruitment expensive.
• Resentment Among Staff - Existing employees may resent outsiders being recruited for higher posts.
• Dissatisfaction - Existing employees feel their chances of promotion are reduced.
• Orientation Required - New employees are unfamiliar with the organisation and need orientation.
• No Guarantee - No guarantee of getting the required number and quality of employees.

• Hiring via employee referrals is on the rise in India (Economic Times, Aug 19, 2016).
• Companies like Coca-Cola, Infosys, Genpact, Capgemini, Deloitte, Dabur, and Jubilant use referrals for over 40% of their hires.
• Lenovo India uses a referral programme as part of its external recruitment.
• Infosys has a referral portal with real-time tracking; referrals are stated to be highly effective.

• External recruitment means hiring people from outside the organisation.
• Main sources include advertisements, campus recruitment, referrals, placement agencies, employment exchanges, and online job portals.
• It provides a wider choice of qualified candidates and brings fresh ideas and skills.
• It is useful when internal employees are unavailable or ineligible.
• It is time-consuming, costly, and may reduce promotion opportunities for existing employees.
• Employee referrals and online recruitment are widely used by companies today.