The document discusses external sources of recruitment for organizations. It outlines several external recruitment methods including advertisements, employment exchanges, employment agencies, educational institutions, recommendations, labor contractors, unsolicited applicants, and recruitment at factory gates. Both merits and demerits of external recruitment are provided. The key advantage is the availability of suitable candidates from a wide pool, while the main drawbacks can include demoralization of current employees and additional expenses.

1. EXTERNAL SOURCES OF
RECRUITMENT
February 7, 2016
Abdulla Afeef, HRM | MI Collage
Suitability of External
Sources of Recruitment
 The required qualities such as will, skill, talent,
knowledge etc., are available from external
sources.
 It can help in bringing new ideas, better tech-
niques and improved methods to the organisa-
tion.
 The selection of candidates will be without pre-
conceived notions or reservations.
 The cost of employees will be minimum be-
cause candidates selected in this method will
be placed in the minimum pay scale.
 The entry of new persons with varied experi-
ence and talent will help in human resource
mix.
 The existing employees will also broaden their
personality.
 The entry of qualitative persons from outside
will be in the long-run interest of the organisa-
tion.
Merits of External Sources:
 Availability of Suitable Persons: Ex-
ternal sources do give a wide choice to the
management.
 Brings New Ideas:The selection of
persons from outside sources will have the
benefit of new ideas.
 Economical: This method of recruit-
ment can prove to be economical because
new employees are already trained and
experienced and do not require much
training for the jobs.
Demerits of External Sources:
 Demoralisation: W hen new persons
from outside join the organisation then
the present employees feel demoralised
because these positions should have gone
to them.
 Lack of Co-Operation: The old staff
may not co-operate with the new employ-
ees because they feel that their right has
been snatched away by them..
 Expensive: The process of recruiting
from outside is very expensive. It starts
with inserting costly advertisements in the
media and then arranging written tests
and conducting interviews.

2. “Recruitment is the process
of searching the candidates for em-
ployment and stimulating them to ap-
ply for jobs in the organisation”. Re-
cruitment is the activity that links the
employers and the job seekers.
= Edwin B.Flippo =
External recruitment is the assess-
ment of an available pool of job candidates,
other than existing staff, to see if there are
any sufficiently skilled or qualified to fill and
perform existing job vacancies. It is the pro-
cess of searching outside of the current em-
ployee pool to fill open positions in an or-
ganization.
Methods of External Sources:
1-Advertisement – It is an external source
which has got an important place in recruitment
procedure. The biggest advantage of advertise-
ment is that it covers a wide area of market and
scattered applicants can get information from
advertisements. Medium used is Newspapers and
Television.
2-Employment Exchanges– There are cer-
tain Employment exchanges which are run by
government. Most of the government undertak-
ings and concerns employ people through such
exchanges. Now-a-days recruitment in govern-
ment agencies has become compulsory through
employment exchange.
3-Employment Agencies – There are
certain professional organizations which look to-
wards recruitment and employment of people, i.e.
these private agencies run by private individuals
supply required manpower to needy concerns.
4-Educational Institutions – There are
certain professional Institutions which serve
as an external source for recruiting fresh
graduates from these institutes. This kind of
recruitment done through such educational
institutions is called as Campus Recruitment.
They have special recruitment cells which
help in providing jobs to fresh candidates.
5-Recommendations – There are cer-
tain people who have experience in a particu-
lar area. They enjoy goodwill and a stand in
the company. There are certain vacancies
which are filled by recommendations of such
people. The biggest drawback of this source is
that the company has to rely totally on such
people which can later on prove to be ineffi-
cient.
6-Labour Contractors – These are the
specialist people who supply manpow-
er to the Factory or Manufacturing
plants. Through these contractors,
workers are appointed on contract ba-
sis, i.e. for a particular time period.
Under conditions when these contrac-
tors leave the organization, such peo-
ple who are appointed have to also
leave the concern.
7- Unsolicited Applicants – Many job
seekers visit the office of well-known compa-
nies on their own. Such callers are considered
nuisance to the daily work routine of the en-
terprise. But can help in creating the talent
pool or the database of the probable candi-
dates for the organisation.
8- Recruitment At Factory Gate –
Unskilled workers may be recruited at the
factory gate these may be employed whenever
a permanent worker is absent. More efficient
among these may be recruited to fill perma-
nent vacancies.
Every organisation has the op-
tion of choosing the candidates
for its recruitment processes
from two kinds of source. The
sources within the organisation
itself to fill a position are known
as the internal sources of re-
cruitment. Recruitment candi-
dates from all the other sources
are known as the external
sources of recruitment.