What are the best strategies for recruiting the right candidates for your organization? How do you process the interview to attract the right talent? What are the best metrics when considering hiring the best people for your company?
Are those the real challenges that you face during every hiring? It is not a surprise because we all become confused when selecting the right talent for a particular domain. Many methods of recruitment make you feel confident and relaxed while hiring, and you won’t feel dicey while interviewing candidates. Along with different HRMS software and added recruitment management tools, it must also assist the recruiters in acquiring the right talent.
What are the Methods of Recruitment?
The methods of recruitment approach categories external and internal recruitment. Internal recruitment involves promoting or transferring existing employees using internal job postings or employee referrals, which are cost-effective and boost morale. External recruitment sources talent from outside the organization through job advertisements, campus recruitment, employment exchanges, and recruitment agencies.
Additionally, informal methods, such as networking and word-of-mouth, and innovative practices, like hackathons and employee branding, are used. The choice of method depends on the organization’s needs, job requirements, and budget.
Types of Recruitment Methods in HRM
Considering strategic recruitment types, the human resource management system has three recruitment methods: direct, indirect, and third-party. First, let’s explore those methods in detail.
- Direct
- Indirect
- Third-party
➔ Direct Recruitment Method
Direct recruitment is a traditional and direct methods of recruitment in which you can hire employees directly using your recruiting site or social media platforms without intermediaries like third-party recruiting agencies or headhunters.
Through this method, you are solely responsible for handling the hiring process, from job posting to onboarding. Though this process is cost-effective, the company is responsible for the whole process from the beginning to the end. Whether the hired candidate is suitable for the required domain depends on the company’s recruitment strategies.
This type of recruitment often includes advertising job openings on the company’s website, job boards, or social media, screening candidates, conducting interviews, and making offers directly to the selected individuals.
Key Features of Direct Recruitment Methods
- The direct recruitment method is cost-effective; the company won’t have to pay more to integrate other third-party assistance.
- The organization can control the minute-by-minute updates during recruitment. Employers can easily withdraw any job proposal and resubmit it.
- The process is time-consuming, though, as the employers have to manage every step, from candidate sourcing to onboarding.
- The direct method ensures transparency throughout the candidate hiring process. Without third-party appearances, the company policy regarding employee recruitment remains safe and secure.
➔ Indirect Recruitment Method
Indirect recruitment methods ensure hiring, as the organisation won’t have to approach potential candidates through external intermediaries or channels to attract them to apply for job openings. In other words, employers begin hiring by advertising vacancies on various third-party portals, agencies, etc.
Some common ways to initiate the indirect method are included,
1. Advertising the Vacancy News
Companies often advertise job openings in newspapers, online job portals, or social media platforms. Social media, like LinkedIn, has become crucial for sourcing genuine candidates.
2. Employment Agency
To minimise the work burden, organizations often partner with third-party application or staffing agencies to find potential candidates. These agencies act as intermediaries to connect employers with job seekers. Many HR solution consultancy can initiate the recruitment process.
3. Referrals and Recommendations
Organizations might ask current employees or external contacts to refer suitable candidates. These methods of recruitment in HRM are indirect because the company does not directly approach the referred candidates.
4. Campus Recruitment
Companies often focus more on on-campus recruitment methods when planning for the mass hiring process. In this method, they mainly collaborate with the educational institutions to recruit the fresh talent. Though they do not directly approach each student, the institution or placement cell facilitates the process.
Key Features of Indirect Recruitment
- Indirect Recruitment happens through advertising, Job boards, and TV to attract the candidates.
- Companies can advertise job opportunities in public spaces like websites, newspapers, etc.
- Interviews may take longer because candidates often lose faith in this indirect recruitment method.
➔ Third-Party Recruitment
When an organization engages an external recruitment agency to help with its hiring process, the third-party entity or an online HRMS platform helps with candidate resourcing, selection, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding. The third-party entity works on behalf of the company and handles various aspects of the hiring process.
Key Features of Third-Party Recruitment
1. Candidate Pool
Third-party assistance often precisely chooses the right candidate for the right domain, so companies need not think twice when transferring responsibilities to agencies, as the agencies usually have access to a broader pool of candidates, including passive job seekers (those not actively looking but open to opportunities).
2. Time-saving
By outsourcing recruitment, companies save considerable time, which was previously spent arranging the recruitment process and successfully presenting candidates.
3. Dependency
In this third-party recruitment method, employers must depend on third-party assistants during recruitment.
4. Cost
Companies must invest a certain amount in integrating third-party assistance. This amount may vary between a one-time fee, a percentage of the candidate’s salary, or a combination.
Top 7 Modern Methods of Recruitment in HRM
Every company has methods of recruitment, and some use different techniques for different recruitment types. For example, employers typically use employee referral or the boomerang method when hiring consultants or gig workers. In mass hiring, HR prefers to hire candidates through direct advertising, social media, or the internship program process. Here are the top recruitment methods: Companies use their human resource management system or recruitment software to smoothen the hiring process.
➔ Direct Advertising
Direct advertisement is a generic and classic method of recruiting candidates based on recruitment needs. Employers post recruitment vacancies on their career sites through this process only. Often, they share the vacancy post on different social media platforms for enhanced viewers. MNCs and other big companies usually hire directly, as they don’t need to advertise their online work presence to attract the right talent.
➔ Social Media Recruiting
Almost all companies use the power of social media platforms as the best tool for proper recruitment. In 2024, The Muse revealed data through an in-depth survey that more than 91% of recruiters use social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn or even Facebook to advertise job openings. Also, the company uses social media channels to resource the right talents for contractual purposes. Through this social media recruitment, employers get free platforms to utilise to the full extent. Additionally, these platforms engage passive candidates who may not actively seek a job but can work as gig specialists.
➔ Talent Pool Database
Often, when hiring for a particular position or for taking a big responsibility, recruiters search the talent pool database for further inviting ex-employees, their problem solvers or consultants, or gig workers.
Recruiters want individuals who are strong contenders for previous roles and may be an excellent fit for this new opportunity as they acknowledge the techniques and types of the work.
➔ Employee Referral
Employee referrals are an effective internal recruitment method in which current employees recommend candidates for job openings. This approach leverages employees’ networks to identify potential hires who align with the company culture and values. It is cost-effective and time-efficient, as employees often bring in candidates who require minimal adjustment to the organizational environment. Additionally, given the trust among employees and their referrals, referrals can enhance team cohesion.
However, if employees consistently recommend individuals with similar backgrounds, this may lead to favouritism or limit diversity. A well-structured referral program can help maximize its benefits while addressing these challenges.
➔ Boomerang Employees
Rehiring employees who left the company years earlier can be an outstanding method for better productivity, bringing familiarity and fresh perspectives. A boomerang employee already understands the company culture, processes, and expectations, reducing onboarding time and costs. Their presence and work strategies must be quick and detailed, as their external experiences often introduce new insights and skills to drive innovation and growth.
They must be loyal and ready to commit, which can boost team morale. Organizations can tap into a pool of proven talent by maintaining positive relationships with departing employees and creating a welcoming return policy, fostering mutual benefit and long-term success for both parties.
➔ Recruitment Agencies
Hiring recruitment agencies is another fair option for hiring top talent. However, employers often don’t have enough time to initiate the entire recruitment process and usually hire the wrong candidates for the wrong positions. To streamline hiring, companies collaborate with recruitment agencies and different HRMS platforms. The third-party agencies have extensive networks, industry expertise, and specialized databases, enabling them to identify top talent quickly.
The HRMS solution examines the candidates’ ability to align their skills with organizational needs, ensuring better-fit hires. Leveraging their expertise in market trends and compliance further enhances recruitment, making agencies a strategic partner in talent acquisition.
➔ Promotion and Transfer
It is an internal recruitment process in which employers transfer employees from one domain to a better one or promote them to higher positions. The employees feel valued and recognized and get rewarded with new skills, experience and performance. It boosts their morale and improves retention.
Conversely, transfers allow employees to explore new roles, departments, or locations, enhancing their versatility and broadening their expertise. Both strategies reduce recruitment costs and onboarding time, as the individuals already know the company culture and operations. Additionally, internal movement demonstrates a commitment to employee development, creating a positive work environment that attracts and retains top talent.
How do you Choose the Correct Recruitment Method for your Business?
Once management knows the recruitment method, selecting the right strategies is also essential. Proper strategies help employers to hire proper candidates at the proper time. Here is the following,
1. Define Your Need
Before choosing the proper recruitment method, every employer needs to understand your requirements and move in the right direction. After understanding the required skills and expertise, you can advertise the position needed over different job platforms.
2. Consider the Budget
After finalizing the need, employers should prioritize the budget they want to spend on recruitment. The cost of recruitment can directly impact the recruitment method. If the company wants to hire professionals or experts, it may spend a lot on this specific hiring, yet it can also spend less on the mass recruitment process.
3. Choose the Method
Which method is considerable for your recruitment process? Choosing a method at the right time is indeed essential. The method of hiring depends on the company type. Let’s take some examples: if a start-up company thinks about modern recruitment methods, they must consider social media recruiting or hiring third-party applications like recruitment management system or other HRM for successful hiring. Conversely, suppose a multi-national company seek to hire candidates. In that case, they mainly focus on indirect recruitment methods like campus recruitment or direct recruitment techniques rather than searching for potential talent on social media.
4. Advertise your Job
One successful recruitment strategy is advertising properly at the right place and time. Companies use different job platforms or paid-different HRMS solutions for effective advertising so that people notice the hiring the most. By advertising on distinct portals, the company can reach potential candidates sooner. Additionally, Promoting hiring news globally promotes the employer’s brands and enhances the company’s reputation in the job market.
However, external advertising can often be costly, and companies can face significant drawbacks.
5. Screen your Candidates
When companies focus more on outsourcing hiring, they could experience some candidates ghosting fake attendees, where candidates fly away after getting selected by a company. So, screening candidates to see whether they are suitable for a particular position is essential.
Employers can plan a pre-interview communication round in which employees get an overall idea of their upcoming work and responsibilities. On the other hand, employers get a rough idea of the candidates’ interests, whether genuine or fake.
6. Make an Offer
After screening, employers can finally deliver an offer letter to the selected candidates. While writing an offer letter, some techniques, rules, and regulations should be mentioned properly. Some of those are,
- Start with a short and crisp position title.
- Mention the hiring company name.
- Properly segregate the Base salary, bonuses, and benefits (e.g., health insurance, retirement plans).
- Highlight the expected start date of employment.
- Ensure the work location or remote details are proper.
- If possible, mention the employee to whom the new joiner will report.
- Highlight the employment type: Full-time, part-time, temporary, etc.
- The duration of the probation period should also be added, if applicable.
7. Onboard new Employees
If the selected candidates accept the offer, you should initiate the onboarding process immediately. Here is a thorough demonstration of the onboarding,
- First, be sure about the offer acceptance. If the candidate signs and returns the offer letter positively. It means he is willing to join.
- Collecting the candidates’ documents, such as past office salary slips, necessary certificates, and other personal, tax, and identity documents.
- Before the final settlement, conducting a background check, performing reference verifications, etc, is essential.
- After you offer the offer letter, could you send a confirmation email mentioning the start date, dress code, and first-day agenda?
- Mention role-specific training and related resource details to the selected candidates.
- Check progress during employee probation and gather feedback for futuristic output.
8. Evaluate the Process
The last but more important step is evaluating the entire recruitment method and checking whether the process runs successfully for the particular post or organization, whether it goes out right by the ongoing analysis, or whether it needs to do some quick updates on this. Some startups first initiate the basic generic method for recruitment. Still, later, they realized that as the new bee in the particular field, they should choose social media recruiting rather than the basic generic process or the via reference.
A Final Note
Choosing right method for the right recruitment process is a bit critical for any organization. Employers face challenges during their hiring process, aiming to attract, select, and retain the most suitable candidates. The process of recruitment depends on choosing the right strategies, selecting the method, understanding the organization’s needs, etc.
Further, employers should remind the things that the method should align with the organization’s goal, the nature of the position, and the required skill set. A combination of various tools, such as online job portals, recruitment agencies, employee referrals, and social media, can enhance the process and ensure it is efficient and effective. Furthermore, ensuring a fair, unbiased, and transparent recruitment process is essential in building a strong, diverse workforce.
A well-planned and executed recruitment method can significantly contribute to an organization’s success by attracting talented, motivated individuals who align with its culture and objectives.
