Q.Distinguish between recruitment and selection of employees.
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🔒 Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Concept understanding — Internal External Recruitment
Let’s start with something you already know. Imagine a college fest. The organising team needs a new coordinator. They can either pick someone who is already a member of the team — someone they know, whose work they’ve seen — or they can put up a notice asking any student from the entire college to apply. The first option is internal recruitment; the second is external recruitment.
Now bring that to a business. Every organisation, at some point, needs to fill a vacancy — a new job, a promotion, a transfer, or a replacement. The question is: where do you look for candidates? Do you look inside the company, among people who already work there? Or do you go outside, to the open job market?
Internal recruitment means filling a vacancy from within the organisation. Existing employees are considered — through promotions, transfers, or even asking current staff for referrals. The key idea is that the candidate pool is limited to people who already work there.
External recruitment means looking outside the organisation for candidates. This includes advertising jobs in newspapers or online, hiring through placement agencies, campus placements, or walk-in interviews. Anyone from the general public who meets the qualifications can apply.
The NCERT textbook (Class 12 Business Studies, Chapter 6 — Staffing) clearly states: Internal recruitment is a source of recruitment that seeks applicants from within the organisation, while external recruitment seeks applicants from outside the organisation. Both are valid, but they serve different needs.
Why does this distinction matter? Because each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Internal recruitment is faster and cheaper. You already know the person’s work ethic, skills, and attitude. It also boosts morale — employees see that hard work can lead to promotion. But it has a downside: it limits the pool of talent. You might miss out on someone brilliant from outside. Also, it can create a sense of entitlement or internal politics. …
Recruitment is a positive step that attracts and invites applicants, while selection is a negative step that screens out the unsuitable and chooses the best; they differ in objective, nature and sequence. …
Recruitment attracts and invites applicants (positive); selection screens and chooses the best (negative). Recruitment comes first.
| Basis | Recruitment | Selection |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Searching for and encouraging prospective candidates to apply | Choosing the most suitable candidate from those who applied |
| Objective | To create a large pool of applicants | To pick the best and reject the unfit |
| Nature | Positive process (invites/attracts) | Negative process (eliminates/rejects) |
| Sequence | Comes first | Comes after recruitment |
| Process | Simpler, less time and cost | Detailed — tests, interviews, verification; costlier |
| Contract | No contract of employment yet | Leads to a contract of employment with the selected person |
| … |
Showing the 12 most recent of 19 on this concept.
- CBSE 2026Set MARCH1 markQ.State any one internal source of recruitment.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Internal sources of recruitment mean filling vacancies from within the organisation. The two main internal sources are Transfer and Promotion.
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- CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which is not a source of recruitment?(a) Internal source(b) External source(c) Selection(d) Promotion
›Reveal solutionSolution
Selection is not a source of recruitment; the sources are internal (e.g., promotion, transfer) and external.
Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply. Its sources are internal (transfers, promotions) and external (advertisements, campus placement, employment exchanges, etc.). Selection is the next step in staffing — choos …
- CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What is the source of recruitment to fill up the vacant post by transfer?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Filling a vacant post through transfer draws on the internal source of recruitment.
Sources of recruitment are broadly divided into internal sources (filling vacancies from within the existing workforce, e.g. through transfer or promotion) and external sources (hiring from outside the organisation, e.g. through advertisements, placement agencies, campus recruitment). A transfer moves an existing employee to another post at roughly the same level of responsibility and pay, within the same organisation — because no outsider …
- CBSE 2025Set MARCH1 markMCQQ.Which of the following are internal sources of recruitment ?(a) Campus interview(b) Promotion(c) Job contractors(d) Transfer(i)(a) and(b)(ii)(b) and(c)(iii)(a) and(d)(iv)(b) and (d)
›Reveal solutionSolution
The correct combination is (iv) (b) and (d) — Promotion and Transfer are the two internal sources of recruitment.
Recruitment sources in Kerala Plus Two Staffing are grouped into internal and external:
Internal sources External sources Transfers Direct recruitment Promotions Casual callers Advertisement Employment exchange Placement agencies & management consultants Campus recruitment / campus interview Recommendations of employees Labour contractors / job contractors Web publishing … - CBSE 2025Set MARCH1 markMCQQ.Internal Source of Recruitment is __________.(a) Transfer(b) Employment Exchange(c) Advertisement(d) Campus Recruitment
›Reveal solutionSolution
The correct answer is (a) Transfer, which is an internal source of recruitment.
…
- CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Write True or False: Recruitment is a positive activity.(a) True(b) False
›Reveal solutionSolution
True; recruitment is a positive process.
Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply, thereby building a large pool of candidates. Because it invites and attracts applicants (increasing their number), it is called a positive process. …
- CBSE 2024Set MARCH1 markQ.Which is the base of the selection process?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Recruitment is the base of selection.
Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and inviting them to apply; it creates the pool of applicants. Selection then screens and chooses the best candidates from that pool. Since selection is possible only after recruitment has gathered appl …
- CBSE 2024Set MARCH1 markQ.What is Recruitment?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Recruitment is the process of finding prospective employees and encouraging them to apply for jobs.
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- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which one of the following is not the external source of recruitment?(a) Advertisement(b) Promotion(c) Educational institution(d) Employment exchange
›Reveal solutionSolution
Promotion is not an external source of recruitment; it is an internal source.
External sources of recruitment include advertisement, recruitment from educational institutions (campus placement) and employment exchanges — all bringing people from outside the firm. Promotion, by contrast, fills a higher post with an existing employee from within …
- CBSE 2023Set 66/2/11 markMCQQ.'RP Infotech Ltd.' decided to approach 'Patel Engineering College' to recruit qualified personnel for various technical jobs in its newly opened branch in Surat. Which source of recruitment from the following has been used by 'RP Infotech Ltd.' in the above case : (A) Direct Recruitment (B) Placement Agencies and Management Consultants (C) Campus Recruitment (D) Recommendation of employees
›Reveal solutionSolution
RP Infotech Ltd. is using Campus Recruitment by directly approaching a college to hire fresh graduates for its new branch.
When a company needs to fill technical positions quickly — especially for a new branch — it must decide where to find the right people. The choice between internal sources (promotions, transfers) and external sources (new hires from outside) is a fundamental decision in the recruitment process. In this case, RP Infotech Ltd. has chosen an external source.
External recruitment offers access to fresh talent, new ideas, and a wider pool of candidates. One of the most common and effective external sources for technical and professional roles is Campus Recruitment. This involves the company visiting educational institutions — such as engineering colleges, management institutes, or polytechnics — to select students who are about to complete their studies.
NoteCampus recruitment is especially popular for entry-level and junior positions because it allows employers to assess a large number of candidates in one place and mould them according to the company's culture from the start.
In the given case, RP Infotech Ltd. approached 'Patel Engineering College' directly. This is a classic example of campus recruitment. The company is not relying on advertisements, employment exchanges, or employee referrals. It is going straight to the source of fresh talent — the college campus — to recruit qualified personnel for technical jobs.
Let us briefly see why the other options do not fit:
- Direct Recruitment usually means putting up a notice outside the workplace or at the factory gate, often for unskilled or semi-skilled workers. It is informal and not used for technical jobs in a new branch. …
- CBSE 2023Set MARCH1 markMCQQ.The process of finding possible candidates for a job is ________.(a) Selection(b) Training(c) Recruitment(d) None of these
›Reveal solutionSolution
Correct option: (c) Recruitment — the process of finding/searching for prospective candidates and stimulating them to apply for jobs.
This one-mark question belongs to the 'Staffing' chapter of the Kerala Plus Two (DHSE) Commerce syllabus. The staffing process moves through distinct steps:
- Recruitment is the positive process of searching for possible candidates and inducing them to apply, so that a pool of applicants is created. …
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Shifting of an employee from one job to another is (A) Transfer (B) Resignation (C) Both (A) and (B) (D) Continuous
›Reveal solutionSolution
The correct option is (A) Transfer, because moving an employee from one job to another is defined as a transfer.
A transfer is the shifting of an employee from one job, department or place to another, usually without a major change in rank, status or pay. It is an internal source of staffing used to adjust the workforce, provide variety, or meet changing needs. Hence the act described in the question is a transfer.
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