This document discusses strategies for effective recruitment. It addresses whether internal or external recruitment is best, noting that the answer depends on an organization's specific needs, resources, and cost-benefit analysis. It also examines key metrics to consider like quality of hire, time to fill, culture fit, candidate experience, and cost. While external recruiters can fill jobs faster through existing pools, internal delays can sometimes slow the process. The document emphasizes choosing a recruitment strategy that best fits an organization's market conditions, candidate availability, impact on employees, need for objectivity, and overall costs.

1. STRATEGIES THAT
TRANSFORM ORGANIZATIONS
Recours Four Kenya Consultants Ltd

2. This particular topic has been debated many times, but the
question of whether recruitment is best done with internal or
external resources can only be answered at an organizational
level, based upon a cost-benefit analysis. Great candidates don’t
need your job. Making the process as smooth as possible will go
a long way to building relationships with candidates for the
long term. Star candidates often have multiple offers, and will
move on if you can’t make decisions quickly enough, even if
they would rather have worked for your firm.
An important cost consideration is related to the number of
recruits. If you don’t hire a lot of people each year, it’s probably
not worth having in-house recruitment/HR staff. If you do, it’s
worth measuring the cost effectiveness of outsourcing against
the cost of having an in-house team and a well-developed
career site with a front- and back-end recruitment system.

3. It is important to consider which method of recruitment
scores higher on the following metrics:
•
•
•
•
•
Quality of hire
Time to fill
Culture fit
Candidate experience/impact on EVP
Cost
Have you taken time to take a close inspection of each of
these areas? So what made you think internal recruitment
is better than external? At the end of the day all of the
above said factors are equally important as the others.

4. Jobs can often be filled faster by using agencies/ recruitment companies
(particularly within specialized industries) because they have large applicant
pools. Good recruiters will always have warm candidates they keep in touch
with.
Often, when external recruiters are pre-screening and presenting candidates,
You find that it’s internal recruiting teams that hold the process up. It’s not
necessarily their fault, as priorities sometimes change, putting recruitment on
hold, or as role requirements are revised, but it speaks to a core challenge
facing the recruitment community today.

One key reason recruitment is delayed is that budget for a role has not
been approved prior to beginning the search process. As everyone knows,
you shouldn’t go to market until you’re certain you need to fill a role and
that money is available to do so. It seems that many companies still retain
search firms, spend money on advertising positions, and start seeing
candidates without a confirmed internal agreement. This has a decidedly
negative impact on both the brand and the relationship with any
candidates you have engaged if you withdraw from the process.

5. 
A second reason for delaying the process often has to do
with how companies operate internally. While a new role
may be budgeted, conflicting schedules, agendas, or
priorities can mean delays in seeing candidates, or
extending the number of interviews or assessments beyond
what was originally planned.
Not only does this increase cost and time to fill the role, it also
antagonizes candidates and may mean you secure the runnerup instead of your preferred applicant, or worse, you’re left
with no suitable candidate at all, forcing you to begin the
process anew.
Compare success rates between your internal and external
recruiters to see who is making better assessments of culture fit
and brand of the company.

6. External consultants/ agents typically have access to more candidates and
have a candidate research capability that most organizations do not. This
allows consultants to identify candidates who would not normally be looking
for a new opportunity, tap them on the shoulder and make them aware of
what the organization has to offer. External executive search professionals
also have more capability to conduct a broad national search. With our world
becoming a global marketplace, this is becoming more and more important.
In addition large organizations use this form of recruitment as a marketing
tool because it shows the public at large that there are many immense
opportunities within the company however equal and fair recruitment is
necessary in such a setting.
Recognizing that one of the keys to organizational success is the ability to
attract and retain highly qualified staff, organizations also need to carefully
determine which search methodology will be more effective. When making
your determination, take time to examine the market conditions, the
availability of candidates, the impact of each strategy on current employees,
the necessity for objectivity and the overall cost benefit. Keep in mind that
each job will have a different need.

7. OUR CONTACTS
KENYA
Recruitment/Staffing
Services/Training
Recours Four Kenya Consultants
Ltd
4th Floor, Kipro Centre
Westlands
P.O. Box 97104, 00200 Nairobi
Tel- Safaricom: +254713423448 /
+254707321450
Email: info@r4kenya.com
Website: r4kenya.com
If you are not sure what kind of
recruitment works for your
organizational structure, it is
imperative that you identify an
external source of candidates.