Internal recruitment
Internal recruitment means that a job vacancy is filled from within the business; an existing employee rather than employing externally. You may decide that you already have the right people with the right skills to do the job
Advantages
- uses in-house resources and builds on skills and expertise of existing staff
- retains valuable employees: avoids recruitment costs ensures a return on any investment in training and development
- motivation: provides opportunities for development and promotion for existing staff
- shorter induction period
- generally quicker and cheaper
Disadvantages
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limited number of applicants
-
external candidates might be better suited or qualified for the job
-
creates another vacancy
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the organisation may become resistant to change
Cost
Low compared to advertising externally. It may also reduce costs by reducing staff turnover and by taking advantage of talent developed in-house.
Length of the process
Minimal.
Potential for discrimination
Recruiting through employee referral schemes, headhunting and word of mouth/networking may have implications for diversity. These methods can restrict the pool to people who are culturally similar to, or reflect the personal preferences of, current employees.
"Use of a consistent, clear procedure, agreed jointly between employer and employees, has many advantages and avoids suspicion of favouritism." ACAS
Conclusions
Internal recruitment can be effective when nurturing employees into senior position and can reduce recruitment costs. However, this is not a very diverse method of recruitment and you risk losing out on interesting and innovative perspectives from external candidates.
