Recruitment is an essential process for every organization as hiring suitable candidates helps your company achieve its organizational goals. While developing internal sources of recruitment and talent is a great way to fulfil the workforce requirements in the competitive corporate world, it might not be enough to accomplish your hiring goals within the provided time frame. This is where external sources of recruitment in HRM come into play.
With rapidly advancing technology, the lifespan of skill sets has become shorter than ever. In this scenario, external sources of recruitment make the wide world of talent accessible and help you fulfil the skill requirements of your organization easily. Hence, in this blog, we will explain the external sources of recruitment and how you can it to benefit your organization.
What are the External Sources of Recruitment?
External sources of recruitment help you find the right talent for your organization using hiring sources that are outside your organization. These sources often already have access to a talent pool of some sort, which helps attract and find the right candidate within a shorter frame of time, increasing overall hiring efficiency, along with a dedicated recruitment management system.
The major external sources of recruitment are:
1. Advertising
Advertising is the practice of running paid ads on different advertising platforms such as TV, newspapers, online ads, website ads, etc. These platforms charge a fee for sharing the job post over their platform, helping it reach more audiences.
2. Online Publishing
Online publishing is the practice of posting on the company’s official social media platforms and job portals. While it may not cost extra, it helps the job post reach more audiences through online channels.
3. Employee Referrals
Employee referrals are the practice of referring candidates for suitable positions. To ensure that the company gets the best candidates, they usually have a reward system in place.
4. Campus Recruitment
Campus Recruitment drives are organized on college campuses to attract fresh graduates. Such drives provide the company with graduates who are fresh out of college and hence, have the latest skillsets.
5. Employment Agencies
Employment agencies can tap into a larger talent pool to provide the organization with the best talent available. Hence, companies often hire external employment agencies.
6. Job Fairs
Organizing job fairs is another excellent option to attract the right candidates. It enables the company to gather a wide range of candidates and is usually implemented in a scenario where a greater number of employees are required.
7. Walk-in Candidates
Candidates who approach the company directly are called walk-in candidates. It happens in the case of companies that have excellent employer branding and are known to be a workplace with an excellent work culture.
Advantages of External Sources of Recruitment
While there are various types of recruitment in HRM, external sources of recruitment provide multiple advantages over others. While a major benefit is the access to external pre-existing talent pools, there are multiple other benefits of having external sources of recruitment. So, let us discuss some of the major advantages of external sources of recruitment:
➔ Access to a Diverse Talent Pool
As mentioned above, external sources of recruitment allow you to widen the scope of your talent search beyond the limits of your organization. Access to such a wide range of talent is a great opportunity to add candidates with a variety of skills to the workforce. External sources of recruitment also allow you to target the demographic groups that are underrepresented in your workforce, further improving the hiring efficiency.
➔ Fresh Perspectives
External sources of recruitment enable you to access a diverse pool of candidates who have varied backgrounds and life experiences. Bringing them into the organization can help growth and development as they bring in fresh perspectives and innovative problem-solving skills. Fresh ideas also boost the creativity of your present workforce. It also enables you to build an inclusive work environment for your employees.
➔ Quicker Hiring
Similarly, external sources of recruitment allow you to immediately fulfil the talent requirements of the organization. Your existing employees may still need some training and skill development to qualify for any unforeseen vacancies; but when you are open to job seekers from external sources, you can hire the right talent who are ready to start working from the first day of employment.
➔ Specialized Expertise
Additionally, external sources of recruitment allow you to hire talent with the skills and experience that may not be available currently in the organization, which you can check using your performance management system. A large number of candidates with the skills that suit the company’s requirements can be approached using multiple external recruitment channels. Having access to this external talent pool is possible only through the use of external sources of recruitment.
➔ Network Expansion
External recruitment channels such as job portals, recruitment agencies, and professional associations, aid the expansion of the organizational network. It presents opportunities to represent an organization in a positive light and increase visibility which ultimately helps you build an employer brand in the market. At the same, it is also a significant step in building a talent pipeline for the future.
➔ Quick Responses
External sources of recruitment can be advantageous for the company when you are testing new waters trying to find the ideal candidate. When you keep hiring within the parameters of internal sources of recruitment, you are unlikely to get the right candidates for the skills and experience you are looking for within a limited duration. On the other hand, external sources will help you adapt quickly to any market changes or expansion of the organization, providing you with quicker hiring times.
Disadvantages of External Sources of Recruitment
While leveraging external sources of recruitment has its advantages, it can also misfire if undertaken incorrectly. Following are some of the disadvantages of filling a position in a company using external recruitment sources, which should help you decide whether to opt for it or not:
1. High Expenses
The process of leveraging external sources of recruitment can lead to higher expenses for the company as you have to pay the sources such as recruitment agencies and platform fees for certain platforms for hosting your job postings. Similarly, the cost of external recruitment can become exponential for companies that frequently have to fill vacancies for various positions.
2. Time-Consuming
Another major disadvantage of external recruitment is that the process can become highly time-consuming to find the right candidates. Internal sources of recruitment such as training and development of existing employees, can be more fruitful in finding potential candidates for a specific position. Similarly, through succession planning, you can plan for future vacancies in advance, which can also be a better fit than the ones provided by external sources.
3. Employee Dissatisfaction
If you stick to external recruitment for all job openings it can lead to dissatisfaction among existing employees. When you choose to look outside the company instead of internal sources of recruitment you are taking away opportunities for growth and development from the internal talent and it may demotivate them from staying for longer in the organization.
4. Cultural Misfit
Employees that are working within the organization for a long time understand the culture and work processes well. Hence, bringing in new candidates for the job may lead to a lack of coordination and issues with team dynamics as they may struggle to adjust to your company’s culture. When recruitment is carried out from within the organization as compared to bringing in candidates from outside, you get better productivity as existing employees as familiar and comfortable with the company culture and don’t have to struggle to adjust to it.
Best Practices for Leveraging External Sources of Recruitment in HRM
Since we understood the various advantages of external recruitment offers, let us understand how we can leverage them with the best practices. You can combine both internal recruitment and external recruitment to find the right candidate for your company. As we are focusing on external sources, here are some of the best practices that can be used to leverage external sources and find the right employee for the job.
➔ Set Clear Objective
Before you start your recruitment process, it is important to set clear objectives for the positions. You should clearly define the job requirements such as skills, experience, educational qualifications, cultural fit, etc. When you start with the right vision, it helps you choose the right channels and set a direction for your recruitment process.
➔ Develop Employer Brand
Employer branding is crucial when it comes to attracting talented candidates who are also the right fit for your organization. Hence, you should use various external channels such as social media to communicate your culture, values, opportunities for growth, and more. This will help you amplify your brand reach as an ideal employer and help you attract talent in the market that aligns with your company’s values.
➔ Combine Multiple Channels
When it comes to the recruitment process, you should not rely on a single source. You should start by inviting employee referrals from your existing employees that will give you a list of talented candidates. Later, you can leverage multiple external sources such as social media platforms, recruitment agencies, and online job portals to reach out to job seekers. Every channel has its own advantages, so make your choice according to your company’s current needs.
➔ Optimize Job Descriptions
You should also craft a clear and concise job description that accurately explains all the requirements and daily responsibilities of the job. Hence, you should ensure that it is drafted in a language that resonates with your target audience and highlights your top offerings to potential candidates, making it attractive. In addition, you should also make it SEO-friendly so that job seekers can easily find it online.
➔ Streamline the Application Process
When you are utilizing external recruitment methods, you must ensure that the application process is smooth and easy for the candidates. Be it the company’s website or the job portals that you have listed the job on, it is important to ensure that the job seekers don’t face any hurdles in the application process. Complications, unnecessary steps, inefficient navigation, and even glitches reflect adversely on your employer brand and negatively affect the candidate’s will to apply for the position. On the other hand, the smoother and quicker the process, the more job applications you gather, giving you more choices.
➔ Focus on Engagement & Relationships
The recruitment process can be lengthy. Hence, it is crucial to keep the candidates engaged throughout the process. The easiest and the best way to improve candidate engagement is to provide the right communication. When a candidate applies for a job, it is important to keep them informed at every step of the recruitment process. You should send timely emails with all the required details. Try to customize and personalise your communication wherever possible. Share candidates’ feedback even if they are not selected for the job, as you retain the job seekers.
Conclusion
External recruitment ensure timely filling of vacant positions, albeit with higher recruitment costs. However, the advantages of leveraging external recruitment sources often outweigh the cons, leading to its rampant usage throughout organizations. Given the cut-throat competition in the modern corporate world, it is essential to hire the ideal candidate before your competition. Hence, it is essential to leverage all available options, including external sources of recruitment.
