Recruitment - internal & external

Author: Jim Riley Last updated: Sunday 23 September, 2012

Internal and external recruitment

A manager can recruit in two different ways:

Internal recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from within its existing workforce
External recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business

Of course, the option to use BOTH internal and external recruitment can be used. This is often the case for senior management appointments.

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Internal Recruitment	Cheaper and quicker to recruit	Limits the number of potential applicants
	People already familiar with the business and how it operates	No new ideas can be introduced from outside
	Provides opportunities for promotion with in the business – can be motivating	May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
	Business already knows the strengths and weaknesses of candidates	Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled
External Recruitment	Outside people bring in new ideas	Longer process
	Larger pool of workers from which to find the best candidate	More expensive process due to advertising and interviews required
	People have a wider range of experience	Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal the best candidate

The four most popular ways of recruiting externally are:

Job centres – Government agencies to help the unemployed find jobs or get training
Job advertisements - the most common form of external recruitment. Where a business chooses to advertise will depend on the cost of advertising and the coverage needed (i.e. how far away people will consider applying for the job)
Recruitment agency - Provides employers with details of suitable candidates for a vacancy and can sometimes be referred to as ‘head-hunters’. They work for a fee and often specialise in particular employment areas e.g. nursing, financial services, teacher recruitment
Personal recommendation - Often referred to as ‘word of mouth’ and can be a recommendation from a colleague at work. A full assessment of the candidate is still needed however but potentially it saves on advertising cost

When recruiting externally, the business will almost certainly have to produce a job advertisement. The objectives of the advertisement are to:

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