Are Employee Referrals Really an Internal or External Recruitment Source? Let's Discuss!

Dear All,

I have a query about whether referrals are an internal or external source of recruitment. The book to which I refer, "HRM" by Gary Dessler, mentions referrals as an external source of recruitment. However, in discussions with colleagues and after reading some articles, I have come across the perspective that referrals are considered an internal source of recruitment. Can anyone assist me by providing an answer to my query?

Thanks and Regards,

Dny Pdvl

Hi,

It is very clear from the heading of your post "Employees Referrals" that it means references internally from your existing employees in the organization.

In which you may be aware that the organization has a policy to give cash benefits to employees who play a vital role in finding talent as per the industry/organization requirements.

Your existing employees are familiar with the exact workforce requirements as per the organizational internal or external environment.

Hope this will make it easier for you to understand your query.

Regards,

Vikas Kumar

Employee referrals are an internal source of recruitment as the candidates are sourced by your own employees. The employees are paid a referral bonus once the referred candidate is selected and joins.

Dear Pulsar180 and Nikitalk,

Thank you very much for your valuable inputs.

Your answers have increased my curiosity regarding this concept. Can I put forth another question to seniors, as to whether referrals and employee referrals can be used as synonymous terms?

I was browsing through a lot of books, and I came upon some surprising observations.

The foreign authors refer to referrals as a process whereby vacancies are promoted and filled by recommendations rather than by traditional methods such as direct classified job advertisements or by employing a headhunter. According to them, referrals can be through current employees, which we refer to as employee referrals. It can also be through different agencies, experts, or other peer referral systems.

The Indian counterparts refer to referrals and employee referrals as synonymous terms. According to them, employee referrals are internal sources of recruitment because it's the employees of the organization who refer such candidates.

From the above observation, can we conclude that employee referrals are internal sources of recruitment, but when we consider referrals per se, it can be treated as an external source of recruitment.

Awaiting comments and responses.

Thanks and Regards,
Dny Pdvl

Hi Initiator,

First of all, I want to apologize to you and the other respected members for answering your post without much thought.

Employee Referral is primarily an external source of recruitment where you hire talent from outside, recommended by your existing employees. On the other hand, internal recruitment is based on HRIS (Human Resource Information System) or human resource inventory, where you have access to all the skills and knowledge sets of your employees within the organization.

Please correct me if I am wrong this time as well.

Regards,

Vikas Kumar

I want to differ on this point. We are discussing whether employee referrals are considered an internal or external source. It can be classified as internal because the company learns about potential candidates from internal sources, such as existing employees. However, the actual hiring process is conducted externally.