One of HR’s most important roles is to find the right candidate for open positions. That seems simple, but when it comes to finding the right person, you have to find the candidate who will bring a host of skills and talent to their new role.

So when it comes to recruiting people for a job opening, the question becomes: Do we recruit internally or externally?

Internal recruitment involves recruiting for your open position from the talent you already have working for you. External recruitment involves finding someone unrelated to your company who is capable of bringing in a fresh perspective. 

While there are good reasons to recruit from both of these types of candidate pools, external recruitment has a lot of benefits that will not only find the best person for the job, but will save HR a lot of time in the long run. 

Benefit 1: Greatly Widens the Candidate Pool

Remember, you want to find the perfect candidate, not the “good enough” candidate. Depending on the size of your company, looking internally for all recruitments greatly shrinks the size of your candidate pool. You will find yourself limited to the people you have already, and if you have a small business, there might not be a great variety of talent to choose from. 

However, looking outside of the company increases your chances of finding a qualified applicant with the exact skill set you’re looking for. Having more potential candidates allows HR to be more selective and not waste time on vetting and interviewing candidates who don’t have exactly what you’re looking for.

Benefit 2: Provides New Perspectives and Insights

Constantly pulling from an established workforce for new positions can make a company go stale pretty quickly. Fresh ideas and insights are key to helping teams, departments, and the entire company grow.

Finding a candidate from outside of the company allows you to take advantage of their experience in other companies and the skills they have honed there to help take your own company to another level. 

Benefit 3: Contributes to Added Diversity

If your company lacks diversity in its workforce, recruiting from outside of the company can help diversify your employee ranks quickly. Diversity is essential to the growth of your business. A variety of life experiences and perspectives can strengthen teams and lead to innovation within the company. A diverse workforce values a wide range of voices, and you have a better chance of finding different voices outside the company. 

Benefit 4: Helps Find Specialized Candidates Easier

Very often there are job openings with specialized skills and dispositions you are looking for.  External recruiting increases your chances of finding a candidate who fits the description you prefer. Instead of looking internally and trying to make a round peg fit into a square hole, external recruitment gives you a much better chance of finding the perfect fit.

Benefit 5: Lessens Internal Politics

Company politics play a big role in the culture and climate of any organization. If you are constantly pulling from the same pool of internal candidates, it can create tension among team members when one person gets promoted over another. Pulling from an external pool of candidates eliminates the possibility of current team members facing tension within the organization for what can be perceived incorrectly by those who did not get the job.

Benefit 6: Keeps Recruiting Practices Fair

Keeping the recruitment pool wide open gives all possible candidates equal opportunity to apply for vacant positions in your organization. External recruitment eliminates the complaint you hear about some companies and how hard it is to get a foot in the door. Fair recruitment practices give opportunities to candidates who could bring a lot of skill and talent to the table. 

Ready to Recruit? We Can Help.

Do you need help casting a wider net into the candidate pool? We can help! Epic Placements has hiring the best candidate for any role down to a science. We have already pre-screened and categorized hundreds of candidates looking for the right role to help you find the perfect hire. 

If you want to save a lot of time and energy in the hiring process, let us help. Contact us today to discuss what candidates we have that will fit right into your business.  

Are you looking for the perfect job for you in the endless sea of “Now Hiring” posts? We can help you, too! We can find your career a home. Apply with us today.