What are the advantages and benefits of external recruiting?

External recruitment works by assessing an available pool of job applicants outside your organization in order to see whether or not there are any sufficiently skilled or qualified candidates who can fill in the existing job vacancies in your company. Due to the perks the method brings, it is commonly used by companies around the world. However, it is also important to know that it comes with some drawbacks as well before deciding to do it for your company. Here are the pros and cons of external recruitment:

List of Pros of External Recruitment

1. It can bring fresher skills and inputs to the table.
When you hire candidates externally, you will have better possibility to identify and find individuals who are capable of delivering new skills and inputs for the growth of your organization. This means that external recruitment can make things clear and better for your bottom line.

2. It promotes better competition.
Recruiting new talents outside of your company will give you the chance to face better competition. In most cases, companies look for candidates who have the capability of handling certain skilled jobs and those who possess risk-taking ability. And through this method, you will be able to meet these types of characteristics in the candidates through the interview process.

3. It is a good way to get ideas from other businesses or industries.
One smart factor that you will be able observe from external job applicants is that these people will be able to offer ideas that are new and unique to you, which they gained from working for other companies in the past. This means that you will be able to gain insights about other aspects in your competitors and other industries.

List of Cons of External Recruitment

1. It recruits candidates with limited understanding of your company.
When you hire a candidate through an external recruitment process, there will be a huge possibility that this individual have less chance of understanding your organization’s environment, which can make a big difference in your future activities. This also means that there will emerge some sort of issues that you will need to rectify to help him/her to understand the way things are done.

2. It is time-consuming.
One huge disadvantage of external recruitment is that it consumes more time, as you need to post advertisements of your recruitment drive and go through a possibly huge pool of applicants in order to select the best candidate for the vacancy that you have to fill. As it involves a number of processes, external recruitment takes a bit longer than internal hiring.

3. It comes with issues of maladjustment.
There is also the possibility that the new employee may not be able to adjust with the new environment and the existing employees. This can result to unfavorable situations, such as people leaving your organization.

As with any method of hiring, external recruitment carries both pros and cons. And when you have a job vacancy in your organization, it is best to weigh down these things first before you go on.

About the Author
Brandon Miller has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a seasoned writer who has written over one hundred articles, which have been read by over 500,000 people. If you have any comments or concerns about this blog post, then please contact the Green Garage team here.

Employee turnover is at an all time high in almost every industry in the United States and there are no signs of it slowing down. This is causing multiple crises in recruiting and hiring good employees and owners and HR Directors are experiencing sleepless nights. Recruiting outside of the workplace may lead to poor results. Many HR Directors are looking under their roof for employees to fill different positions. Which recruitment plan is better?

Internal Recruitment: Advantages and Disadvantages

Hiring from within the workplace during a recruitment crisis seems to make good sense. The employees are already a part of the culture, have worked as a team with other employees, and are aware of policies and procedures.

Advantage #1: Decreased Time

Internal recruitment cuts down the time it normally takes to hire someone outside of the workplace. It’s also easier to access internal candidates because they have an established track record and may not require a full interview.

Advantage #2: Reduced Costs

A residual benefit of reducing the time it takes to recruit internally is a decrease in costs associated with posting job openings, subscriptions to resume databases and background checks. Some experts agree that hiring externally can be twice the cost of hiring within the workplace.

Advantage #3: Shortening Onboarding Time

Internal hires may be quicker in adjusting to their new role. They already know the culture, other staff members, policies and procedures as well as the content and context of their new role.

Advantage #4: Increased Employee Engagement

Employers have gotten onboard with ways to improve employee engagement in the workplace, and have discovered that hiring from within is a great way to accomplish it. Internal recruitment sends a strong signal that employees are valued and have opportunities to advance their careers. It’s also good for morale and maintaining a culture of trust and retention.

Unfortunately, internal recruitment isn’t all roses and rainbows. Here are some of the disadvantages to hiring employees from within the workplace.

Disadvantage #1: Gaps in Positions and Departments

Hiring from within can leave holes in other departments and make managers and supervisors of those departments unhappy. They now have the job of finding someone to fill that gap and moving people around and trying to fill empty positions can cause operational disruptions.

Disadvantage #2: Limited Talent Pool

Another downside to internal recruitment is a smaller group of applicants to choose from. The next greatest employee may not already be on the payroll and the organization may miss the opportunity to hire staff with better skills, talents, and knowledge required for the open position.

Disadvantage #3: Stagnant Culture

A serious problem associated with hiring employees already with the company is that they don’t bring anything new or refreshing to the workplace culture. Even employees who leave one position or role and are hired for another may be overly comfortable and complacent. External hires can offer new perspectives and shake up the current culture.

External Recruitment: Advantages and Disadvantages

Sometimes hiring from within the workplace isn’t an option and HR will seek candidates externally. Just as it is with internal recruitment, advantages and disadvantages exist with external recruitment.

Advantage #1: Larger Talent Pool

One of the greatest advantages to seeking candidates externally, is a much larger number and variety of applicants than those already employed within the company. With a larger number of applicants to choose from, the chances of hiring the “right fit” increases.

Advantage #2: Finding the Most Qualified Candidate

Having a greater pool of talent to choose from may also lead to finding the most qualified person for the position or department. Being more qualified can mean having greater experience, certification, licensure and knowledge required for the job.

Advantage #3: Fresh Perspectives

Looking outside of the company may offer the opportunity to find someone who will bring positive attitudes and energy to the workplace. An external candidate may have more passion and drive and lift the entire company to new levels of quality. Some workplaces may actually need their culture to be overhauled and reset.

Advantage #4: Increased Competition

If the hiring process brings in new and exciting talent, the employees already working may raise their game and experience a sense friendly competition. Competition among new hires and existing staff may generate creative ways to improve the company.

Just like internal recruitment, seeking candidates externally has some disadvantages, too. Here are some of the most common associated with external recruitment.

Disadvantage #1: Increased Time and Costs

Hiring external candidates is very time consuming and costly. The steps to hiring an external candidate include the following:

  • Evaluating which positions need to be filled
  • Creating a recruitment strategy
  • Writing or rewriting the job description
  • Posting the job
  • Deciding on a pay scale
  • Going through applications
  • Creating a short list of good candidates
  • Scheduling and conducting the interview
  • Following up with all interviewees
  • Extending the offer
  • Training and onboarding

As the steps to hiring increase, so do costs. Hiring from outside the workplace is at least twice as expensive as doing so within.

Disadvantage #2: Increased Risk

When HR hires from within, they mostly know what they’re getting. But, when they look on the outside, even if the candidate interviews extremely well, they never truly know exactly who they are getting. Hiring externally carries more risk than hiring from within. The new employee may not fully understand the job, cause interpersonal problems, or quit within days, weeks or months.

Disadvantage #3: Increased Liabilities

When new hires, who HR thought were a great fit for the job, cause problems, look for trouble or are actively seeking to sue the company for one reason or another, legal problems can add up. Sometimes the “devil you know is better than the one you don’t”.

Final Thoughts on Internal vs External Recruitment

Turnover is higher than ever before in most industries. The time and costs involved in searching for talent is going up. The whole recruitment process seems to be very difficult right now, and it doesn’t appear to be getting better anytime soon. So, the question is “Do we hire from within or outside the workplace?” As you can see, there are plenty of advantages and disadvantages to both methods.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment?

Advantages and Disadvantages of External Recruitment Process:.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of external and internal recruitment?

Having someone from the outside brings in new ideas and new ways of doing things. This can shake up the business. You can cast a wider net to recruit the best workers with the most suitable skills. Relying solely on internal hiring means you could miss the chance to hire people with new skills and ideas.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of recruitment?

Specialist knowledge..
Advantage #1: Faster hiring. Using a recruitment agency will shorten the time needed to fill your open job positions. ... .
Advantage #2: Higher quality candidates. ... .
Advantage #3: Specialist knowledge. ... .
Disadvantage #1: Higher cost. ... .
Disadvantage #2: No cultural fit. ... .
Disadvantage #3: Lack of employer branding..