What type of recruitment or sources of recruitment should one avoid?

The choice of the type or sources of recruitment is purely dependent on the situation, as there is no best way and worst way of doing anything in management.

Recruitment is an important process in Human Resources Management that decides the effectiveness of the workforce. Recruitment can be defined as the process of sourcing prospective employees and encouraging them to apply for the job in an organization. When the need for additional staffing is identified, an organization embarks on the process of recruitment. A good selection is possible if we have a large pool of candidates to choose from.

Basically, recruitment can be done in two ways: internal recruitment and external recruitment. Internal sources of recruitment are promotions, transfers, responses of employees to the notified vacancies, employee referrals, former employees or retrenched employees. External sources are advertisements, employment exchanges, private recruitment agencies, campus recruitment, unsolicited applicants, labor contractors, or casual callers. It is very difficult to say which source is better, as it depends on the objectives of the recruitment and the whole organization. Both sources have their own merits and demerits and it is ideal for an organization to use a combination of both to reduce the shortfalls of both.

For this reason, what organizations should avoid depends entirely on either internal sources or external sources. There is no one single source or type of recruitment that will suit all hiring situations. It is best to select the type of recruitment depending on the position(s) to be filled. For example, if the company is looking to fill a position in top management they can always consider internal recruitment (promotions, transfers, responses to notifications by current employees) before going to external sources. On the contrary, if the organization wants to fill positions in middle level management, it might be best to consider external sources, since a new employee will bring new thoughts into the organization and also can be hired on new terms and conditions. Similarly, if the company is thinking of starting a new division, outsourcing is a choice worth considering since it can bring down the cost and will give the organization time to concentrate more on other important activities.