Skilled candidates have more options in 2023 than ever to get recruited and hired in their dream job. This is why recruiters and HR professionals must adapt to new and emerging methods and recruitment types to find skilled tech candidates.
In this guide, we will discuss the 10 most important types of recruitment methods that will help you stay ahead of the competition in the recruitment industry.
1. Direct Recruitment
Direct recruitment eliminates the need for an agency or other such middlemen. To find the right talent, the employer will directly advertise on job boards, career websites, social media, or newspapers/magazines. Though advertising costs may exhaust your budget, they can help to boost your branding and reputation.
Nonetheless, if you strategically place the ads in front of the right people, you can still save money.
👍 Pros – Employer branding, more control over hiring
👎 Cons – Might go expensive
2. Promotions and transfers
Either promoting an employee to another bigger role or transferring them internally to a more suitable position, both come under internal recruitment. While a promotion would move a person up the ladder, offering more responsibilities and higher pay, transfers would often involve similar responsibilities in a different vertical.
👍 Pros – Cost-effective and fast
👎 Cons – Biassed recommendations, lack of diversity
3. Database of talent pools
On average, each corporate job application receives more than 250 resumes. Only 4 – 6 people are called for interviews, and eventually, only one is hired. In most cases, the hiring decision involves choosing between three to four candidates.
When a new requirement for a similar position arises, why not use these profiles instead of searching elsewhere and paying for advertisements or recruitment agencies?
👍 Pros – Cost-effective, fast
👎 Cons – Candidates unwilling
4. Boomerang employees
Boomerang employees are those who leave a company and later return to work for the same organization. This refers to rehiring former employees who left the company on good terms.
This type of ‘boomerang-ing’ employees is becoming more popular because they can easily fit into the work culture with which they are already familiar. This has numerous advantages, including reduced hiring time and cost per hire.
👍 Pros – Cost-effective, aligns to work culture
👎 Cons – Candidate unwilling to join or unavailable
5. Employee referral program
This is simply “word-of-mouth” marketing with a twist. Employers make their employees do it rather than doing it themselves. There is no better way to target your employee’s professional network than this. It’s no surprise that most corporations have an employee referral program offering monetary incentives to employees who refer qualified candidates.
Employees would refer only to the ideal candidates because they know what the company is expecting. Further, they are familiar with the workplace so they know who would be the right fit.
👍 Pros – Cost-effective, fast
👎 Cons – Biassed recommendations, lack of diversity
6. Employment exchanges
Employment exchanges are government-run exchanges that maintain a database of talents looking for a job. Unemployed youth register their profiles in these exchanges. Employers can share their job openings to these exchanges and get a suitable candidate onboarded at a low cost.
However, you might not get ideal candidates for all industries. The registered job seekers may only be suitable for a few fields, such as manufacturing and agriculture.
👍 Pros – Cost-effective
👎 Cons – Not suited for technology space
7. Recruitment / Hiring agencies
These are third-party agencies to whom companies can outsource the entire hiring process. They would be able to match candidates with the right skill sets based on the job description given.
The cost of hiring using these agencies might be high, but again it will get you rid of all the hassles you face in recruitment. You can focus on more productive work that directly accounts for your company’s revenue.
👍 Pros – Speed, Time
👎 Cons – Costly affair
If you need help in recruiting, WebPipl offers Interview as a Service (IAAS) that allows you to get help from 5000+ technical recruiters and panellists.
8. Apprenticeships and internships
This is a great means to find the right candidates. Initially, you can offer the shortlisted candidates internships or apprenticeships rather than being hired directly into the payroll. This way, you can ensure that only the best candidates are hired.
Companies can evaluate interns’ performance over a comfortable period and hire only the best. They are only offered a salary and enrolled in the payroll after the internship is completed to your satisfaction.
👍 Pros – Cost-effective
👎 Cons – Takes time, Can be done only in
For candidate: Tips for using an AI-powered recruitment platform to get your dream job
9. Recruitment fairs/events
For larger organizations, holding a recruitment event such as a job fair or an on-campus recruitment drive may be the best option. There will be a cost, but if you know what type of profiles you want, you can exactly target those profiles and increase your ROI.
Once you’ve chosen the best candidates, you can let them do job shadowing. It is nothing but a kind of on-the-job training in which they can closely observe and follow an existing employee performing the role.
There could be a no better learning experience for new hires than job shadowing. They could take responsibility faster and do a better job. But the downside is that it can get highly competitive and top students to end up getting multiple offers and no guarantee that they accept your offer.
👍 Pros – Cost-effective, Ideal candidates
👎 Cons – High competition
10. AI-based hiring
This is where things start to get interesting. All of the recruiting methods listed above require dedicated manhours and involve a lot of manual work. Whether it is sourcing profiles, finding the right resumes for the current job openings, interview scheduling, or whatsoever, it requires a lot of manual work.
The latest advancements in AI technology have the potential to save recruiters a significant amount of time by eliminating the majority of the manual processes involved. It is possible to reduce the amount of time spent reviewing the resume database, shortlisting, screening, interviewing, and finally onboarding or rejecting them. Candidate sourcing, profile matching, automated interviews, and other similar processes could also be streamlined.
WebPipl is one such AI-powered community hiring platform. Both recruiters and job seekers can register with us. By registering as a freelance recruiter, you can harness the power of this platform. You can work from home as a freelance recruiter and earn a secondary income.
TL;DR
| Recruitment Method | Pros | Cons |
| Direct Recruitment | Employer branding, more control over hiring | Might go expensive |
| Promotions and Transfers | Cost-effective, fast | Biassed recommendations, lack of diversity |
| Database of Talent Pools | Cost-effective, fast | Candidates unwilling to join |
| Boomerang Employees | Cost-effective, align to work culture | Candidate unwilling to join or unavailable |
| Employee Referral Program | Cost-effective, fast | Biassed recommendations, lack of diversity |
| Employment Exchanges | Cost-effective | Not suited for technology space |
| Recruitment/Hiring Agencies | Speed, Time | Costly affair |
| Apprenticeships and Internships | Cost-effective | Takes time, Can be done only in certain industries |
| Recruitment Fairs/Events | Cost-effective, Ideal candidates | High competition |
| AI-based Hiring | Speed, Efficiency | Possible bias, Limited understanding of intangible skills |
Looking to improve your recruitment process, Try WebPipl’s AI-based recruitment software.
Raju Thammala is the founder of WebPipl, an AI-based recruitment company revolutionizing the tech hiring process with products like video interviews, ATS software, etc.
As CEO and founder, Raju Thammala is passionate about leveraging technology to deliver next-gen recruiting services. In his free time, Raju enjoys reading and exploring new cuisines or jet-setting to exotic destinations.