External recruitment can be costly and time-consuming compared to recruiting internally.
That’s why so many businesses often prefer to use internal recruitment as the answer to any staffing problems. The process will likely be far quicker, reduce external recruitment costs, & directors and managers are already familiar with the employees making it easier to find a good match for the role at hand. There’s also the angle of reward & recognition, helping employees to feel appreciated for their hard work as they move up the career ladder.
Sometimes these advantages outweigh any possibly negatives that could occur from recruiting internally.
However, internal recruitment isn’t always the best or smartest option for every open job position.
Advantages of internal recruitment include:
- Reduces recruitment cost
- Reduces time taken to recruit
- Provides employees with reward & recognition
- Strengths and weaknesses of candidates are already known
Some of the disadvantages of internal recruitment include:
- The number of potential candidates is limited
- Fresh talent often brings fresh ideas and therefore by recruiting internally you could be missing out on these original ideas
- Conflict could arise between candidates
- Promoting one employee leaves a vacancy in their old position; you may therefore need to recruit externally to fill this one, costing you just as much if not more for the full process.
Addressing both the possible advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment based on your own situation can be very useful – not all of the advantages will apply to your company, and neither will all of the disadvantages.
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