Tanvir Nasif

Recruitment is one of the core human resources activities to place the right person in the right position. Because of high job-switching tendency among private job holders of our country, frequent job openings are posted to hire new people to fill existing vacancies. In earlier times, it had been seen that employers preferred to hire from external sources. Internal recruitment was not much popular at that time.
If we look at today’s scenario, the situation is completely different. If you surf the internet to find local jobs, many a times you will be able to get quite a good number of suitable positions for yourself. The problem starts once you apply for the position. You are waiting for an interview call after applying to your dream job at a renowned organisation. Month after month have gone, nobody called you for a single interview. The matter is highly demotivating for any potential applicant. At least attending some job interviews can help to judge a candidate’s own level.
The reason behind the present situation of our job market is replacement of external recruitment by internal recruitment. Internal recruitment is so popular now-a-days, many of the companies don’t even bother to post job circulars outside the organisation. There are some reasons to hire internal people, or those referred by own employees. Most importantly, the candidate can be verified from in-house sources. An employer can easily get a candidate’s history of performance, achievements and relevant data.
Most of the companies are now very concerned about security issues and so, minimise risk. Existing or ex-supervisors can best describe the potentiality of the candidate. If the candidate is external, then it is tough to verify job history and all other information that is required for recruitment. Referral persons mentioned in the CV always tell good things about the candidate. That does not help the new employer to identify the real character of the applicant. On the other hand, if the applicant is referred by an existing employee, it is much easier to investigate past and current history. Another benefit to hiring internal employees, the candidate is familiar with organisational culture, values and goals. New employees need to be trained and employers need to allow time for the employee to adapt with the workplace environment.
Internal reference has become one of the key requirements to get a good job. Vacant positions are now filled up by internal employees, or their referred persons. Also, some companies have started to provide remunerations to current employees if they can refer well-known potential candidates and the candidate is selected. That is how internal recruitment gets more acceptability among employers and employees.