recruitment - external recruitment
What is external recruitment?
This refers to the filling of job vacancies from outside the business (contrast with internal recruitment). Most businesses engage in external recruitment fairly frequently, particularly those that are growing strongly, or that operate in industries with high staff turnover.
How is it done?
There are several ways of looking for staff outside the business:
Employment / recruitment agencies
These businesses specialise in recruitment and selection. They often specialise in recruitment for specific sectors (e.g., finance, travel, secretarial). They usually provide a shortlist of candidates based on the people registered with the agency. They also supply temporary or interim employees.
The main advantages with using an agency are the specialist skills they bring and the speed with which they normally provide candidates. They also reduce the administrative burden of recruitment. The cost is the high agency fees charged - often up to 30% of the first year wages of anyone employed.
Headhunters / Recruitment Consultancies
"Upmarket" recruitment agents who provide a more specialised approach to the recruitment of key employees and/or senior management. They tend to "approach" individuals with a good reputation rather than rely on long lists of registered applicants - often using privileged industry contacts to draw up a short list. The cost of using a headhunter or recruitment consultant is high.
Job centres
Government run agency - good for identifying local candidates for relatively straightforward jobs. The job centre service is free to employers and is most useful for advertising semi-skilled, clerical and manual jobs.
Government Funded Training Schemes
There is a variety of government funded schemes that provide potential recruits, including the New Deal and Modern Apprenticeships. The advantage of these schemes is that government funding lowers the cost of employment and the business can get to know the employee before committing for the long-term. However, relatively few employment requirements are covered by these schemes.
Advertising
Probably the most common method. Advertising allows the employer to reach a wider audience. The choice of advertising media (e.g. national newspaper, internet, specialist magazine etc) depends on the requirement for the advert to reach a particular audience and, crucially, the advertising budget.
Advantages of external recruitment
These are mainly the opposite of the disadvantages of internal recruitment. The main one being that a wider audience can be reached which increases the chance that the business will be able to recruit the skills it needs.
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