Human Resource Management | Recruitment

What is recruitment? What are the commonly used recruitment sources?  Include a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each major source to support your answer.

Answer: 

Recruitment is the process of locating, identifying, and attracting capable applicants.

Commonly used recruitment sources are:

a. The Internet - This reaches a large number of people and can get immediate feedback. But, it also generates many unqualified candidates.

b. Employee referrals - The knowledge about the organization is provided by the current employees. This can generate strong candidates because a good referral reflects on the recommender. But, this may not increase the diversity and mix of employees in the organization.

c. The company Web site - This has a wide distribution. It can be targeted to specific groups, but on the flip side, it also generates many unqualified candidates.

d. College recruiting - This allows access to large centralized body of candidates. But, this source can be only used for filling entry-level positions in the organization.

e. Professional recruiting organizations - They have a good knowledge of industry challenges and requirements. But, on the negative side, they have very little commitment to specific organizations.

Source: Management, 11e (Robbins/Coulter)