Recruiting Internally and Externally

Overview

Employee recruiting is the activity of identifying and soliciting individuals—either from within or outside an organization—to fill job vacancies or staff for growth. Recruitment is a key role for human resource professionals, as because new talent is essential for an organization to meet its goals and to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace.

This article discusses fundamental concepts that apply to both internal and external recruiting. It highlights a wide variety of external recruiting techniques that employers can apply to meet their particular needs. The article also references federal and state laws that impact affect the recruiting function. 

Business Case

Every business needs to concern itself with recruiting—whether to fill a vacancy, staff a new position or plan for succession of management. According to a SHRM research report, 83 percent of HR professionals reported having difficulty recruiting suitable job candidates in the past 12 months. 

Economic conditions, site expansions, mergers and competitive activity all affect hiring decisions. In developing a business case for recruitment, an employer must consider the primary purpose of the position, the financial and operational reasons for creating or refilling a vacant position, and whether the duties of the job could be absorbed within existing staff. If a position is not created or refilled, the employer may experience financial losses as a result, and HR professionals must be prepared to communicate this impact.

Organizations must give careful consideration to whether they recruit internally or externally. Many employers prefer to conduct internal recruitment first and turn to external recruitment only if internal efforts are unsuccessful. Internal recruitments are less expensive because there are little to no recruiting fees, and they generally don't require extensive training, referral bonuses, or travel and relocation costs. Internal recruitments are also usually quicker. For an internal hire, the process may be completed within a few weeks. Internal hires usually have the support of managers and readily available performance review documents, and managers have a good sense of the strengths of the employee. It can also be easier for employees to succeed at a new job in the same company because they already have workplace connections and knowledge of the corporate culture. Of primary importance also is the fact that internal recruitment is good for employee morale. If employees constantly see positions being filled externally, they may feel that they have no future at their organization and may lose motivation or resign for a better opportunity elsewhere. See Staples Encourages Internal Mobility to Retain Top Talent.

Employers use external recruitment to attract individuals with the necessary skill sets that are not found in-house or when seeking to grow the business or take it in a different direction. A fresh perspective is one benefit of bringing someone new into the organization.

HR's Role

HR's role in recruiting often depends on the size of the organization. A large company may have one or more HR professionals devoted full-time to the task of recruiting. In a small organization, an HR generalist may need to recruit on a sporadic basis. Regardless of the size of the employer, the fundamental requirements (such as use of job analysis and job descriptions), techniques (including social media) and laws will apply.

HR must not only ensure compliance in the recruiting process but also act as a business partner with a strategic talent acquisition approach. Recruitment is a key role for HR professionals because acquiring talent is essential for an organization to meet its goals and to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace. See What You Need to Know About Sourcing Job Candidates.

Recruiting Fundamentals

Employers generally use some combination of internal and external recruitment tactics. Both approaches have certain basics in common: A foundation in rigorous job analysis; well-crafted job descriptions; and compliance with applicable laws, especially equal employment opportunity laws.

Hiring manager intake meetings

When a role needs to be filled (either internally or externally), HR should schedule an intake meeting with the hiring manager to learn more about the job, the essential requirements and the profile of the ideal candidate. The recruiting strategy (how are we going to find these internal or external candidates) can be discussed, and expectations can be set (what will HR do, what will the hiring manager do, etc.). Using a checklist of questions and discussion topics to address during these meetings can help to capture the key elements, and sending a follow-up e-mail to the hiring manager outlining the agreements and expectations that were set during the meeting can ensure everyone is on the same page. See Recruiting 101: 5 Tips for Better Communication with Hiring Managers.

Job analysis and job descriptions

Before the recruitment process begins, employers should first conduct a job analysis to determine the elements of the job and then develop a job description that defines the job responsibilities and skill sets needed to perform it. See Performing Job Analysis and Job Analysis Template.

Nontraditional candidates

Employers are becoming more open to considering previously overlooked talent such as persons with criminal histories, veterans, individuals without college degrees, older workers, etc. Expanding the talent pool in this manner is becoming a necessity in the competitive labor market.

See:

Be Open to Hiring Imperfect HR Candidates—And Allowing Them to Learn

Guide to Veteran Hiring: 8 Facts to Break Down Barriers and Stereotypes

Meet the Convicts Who Code

Legal Issues

A variety of federal laws prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of:

• Age.
• Citizenship.
• Race/color.
• Disability.
• Genetic information.
• Family and medical leave use.
• Military service.
• National origin.
• Pregnancy.
• Religion.
• Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation).

See:

Seasons 52 Settles $2.85M Hiring Discrimination Lawsuit

Navigating Anti-Discrimination Law in the Hiring Process

Are Your Job Posts Biased?

Many states have similar laws that cover smaller employers. State laws can also prohibit discrimination on additional bases, such as personal appearance or marital status.

Although equal employment opportunity laws prohibit unlawful discrimination, they usually do not require formal affirmative action programs. Employers generally implement affirmative action programs as a condition of doing business with the federal or a state government. However, a court could require an affirmative action program as a remedy for discrimination. In addition, some employers adopt affirmative action programs as a voluntary remedy for past patterns of discrimination. See What is the difference between EEO, affirmative action and diversity?

It is also against the law for employers to agree to fix wages or to not hire one another's workers. Those agreements—whether entered into directly or through a third party such as a trade association—are illegal under antitrust laws, and violations could lead to criminal prosecution against individuals and employers. See Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals .

Internal Recruiting

Internal recruiting typically consists of one or more of the following approaches:

• Internal job posting.
• Nomination by manager.
• Knowledge, skills and abilities database.
• Succession planning.

Regardless of which approach—or combination of approaches—an employer adopts, it should craft a policy that is fair and equitable to internal applicants, that sets expectations for employees applying for a position, and that is implemented consistently and communicated openly throughout the organization.

Job posting

Many employers use internal job postings to encourage employees to identify internal promotional opportunities and respond to those openings for which they have skills and interest. See What are the benefits to posting jobs internally?

Nominations

Some companies have a more closed approach to internal recruitment and may ask managers to nominate high-performing individuals as candidates for internal roles. This tends to be an informal system, yet it may be highly effective in smaller organizations in which individuals are familiar with the work of employees in other departments. However, this approach may appear or in fact involve favoritism or unlawful discrimination. The consequences of either of these may offset any benefits the employer may gain by promoting from within.

Knowledge, skills and abilities database

Human resource information systems (HRISs) are commonly used to track various personnel-related issues. These may include a database of employees' knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). New hires can create a KSA profile that details their background, experiences and career goals and update the profile periodically, usually in conjunction with a performance review or career development discussion. This database can used by HR to identify individuals for potential promotion or transfer.

Succession planning

Organizations can use succession planning strategies not only to identify the potential talent in the organization, but also to establish developmental plans to help prepare individuals for promotional roles. See Retool Your Succession Planning to Meet Future Challenges.

External Recruiting

When recruiting external talent, the recruiting function is very similar to the marketing function, in that the organization is promoting both itself and employment opportunities to potential candidates. Adapting marketing principles to employee recruitment is a proven way to bring discipline to the process. For example, organizations can be most effective in recruitment when they identify their potential markets and then create specific messages and activities to reach them. See COVID-19 Spurs Novel Approaches to Talent Acquisition.

Targeting passive or active candidates

Before deciding which recruiting method to use, organizations should first determine whether the ideal candidates are passive or active job seekers. Those who are unemployed or unhappy in their current employment are generally active job seekers, and those who are satisfied and successfully working at another place of business are generally passive job seekers. Most employers, because they are looking for candidates who have a positive record of employment and are satisfied in their work, target passive job seekers.

However, many of the traditional recruitment strategies target active job seekers. For example, posting open positions on an employer's careers website and commercial job boards assumes that interested job seekers are looking for these messages, thus making this strategy appealing to active and not passive job seekers.

Employers must develop strategies that will interest passive job seekers in the employment opportunities they offer. Usually, more assertive strategies will reach passive job seekers, such as direct sourcing (directly approaching potential candidates, often at their places of employment) via telephone and social media, such as LinkedIn. See How to Target Passive Job Seekers.  

Job postings/vacancy announcements

It is important to understand that the job description is not always an effective job posting/vacancy announcement. For the job posting/vacancy announcement to serve as a magnet to attract the right candidates to the job, it should include information about what a prospective candidate may get from the job rather than just the job duties and requirements. Great job postings can be used in communicating the "WIIFM" (what's in it for me?) message and should include why candidates should be interested in the job; detail what's great about the company, such as career paths, benefits, etc.; and provide candidates a realistic idea of the type of work they'll be doing. It should not be a long list of candidate requirements. A good job posting should compel the right candidates to apply. See Crafting the Perfect Job Ad and Salary Is Most Important Part of Job Ad.

Managing employer brand and image

The organization's reputation as an employer will affect its ability to attract top candidates. When employees are satisfied with the organization, they are likely to tell their friends and contacts about their employer, whether there is a referral program or bonus. Word of mouth and online communications about the organization can either help or hinder formal recruitment strategies.

Employers can also manage their employment image by regulating not only the frequency of recruitment messages (especially within any one recruitment medium) but also the wording used. For example, "We're Hiring" messages can be more effective than "Help Wanted." See Do Your Words Deter Women?

Being a good community citizen is another way to enhance the employment brand. Employers can sponsor community events and provide opportunities for employees to donate their work time in community projects. Applying for local and regional HR awards demonstrating the organization's role as an "Employer of Choice" is one method to build a reputation as a good corporate citizen. See What is an employer brand, and how can we develop an employment branding strategy? and How to Turn Your Employees into Brand Advocates.

Managing the "Candidate Experience"

The organization's employer brand is also impacted by the way candidates in the hiring process are treated—whether they get the job they apply for or not. How a candidate is treated from the earliest stages of submitting his or her resume/application through the in-person interviews to the offer/decline process are all considered part of the candidate experience. Employers must develop policies and practices that set guidelines on these elements including:

• Resume/application submission—Is this an easy process that doesn't require providing too much data? Can candidates easily navigate an employer's online or offline application process, including via mobile devices? Can candidates easily find the careers page on the employer's main website—in one or two clicks?
• Candidate communication—Are candidates provided timely and authentic communication on whether their application has been accepted, the status of interviews and answers to questions they may have about where they are in the process?
• Interviewer interactions—Are candidates interviewed by HR and hiring managers who are prepared for the interviews, have reviewed the resume/application in advance, are respectful of candidate responses and questions, and show consideration for the candidate's time?
• Candidate logistics—Are candidates provided clear instructions regarding the logistics for their visits to an employer site, including being provided a schedule of interviews and interviewers in advance; receiving information on how to drive/travel to the employer site and reimbursement procedures for expenses (if applicable); and provided with appropriate meal/restroom breaks, etc.?

Employers can positively affect their employer brand by making their candidate experience a consistent and standardized process that respects the candidate and makes the process simple and even pleasant. Candidates have significant ability to affect external perceptions about a company simply by telling people about how good/bad their experiences were when going through an interview process. Today, due to online employer review sites such as Glassdoor.com or Kununu.com, candidates have even more power to communicate to many people about their experiences during the interview process.

See:

Four Ways to Improve the Candidate Experience

How to Build a Candidate Experience that Connects

Feedback to and from Candidates Will Improve Your Hiring Process

Developing recruitment partners

HR professionals often juggle the staffing function with many other duties: employee relations, compensation, benefits, and training and development to name a few. To best meet their staffing needs, effective HR professionals seek out additional resources that can help them recruit candidates.

For example, organizations can take advantage of other companies that lay off employees, are closing their doors or are relocating. By contacting a company's human resource department, the organization can tap into needed talent. Some businesses directly contact outplacement firms (companies that help displaced employees find work) for qualified professional and technical candidates.

Other recruitment partners may include government and community-based programs and services, education counselors, teachers and professors, and third-party recruiters. See Getting Smart About Skills Transfer Could Solve the Skills Gap

Measuring results

Metrics used to track recruitment results can including the following:

• Hiring source—the referral source (e.g., an employee, recruitment advertisement, event).
• Quality of hire—how long the employee remains on the job as well as the job performance of that employee.
• Vacancy rates—the number of open positions as a ratio of all positions.
• Turnover rates—the number of employees who have been terminated or left as a ratio of the total number of positions in the organization.
• Cost of turnover—all of the costs associated with replacing an employee (e.g., recruitment costs, selection costs, training costs).
• Time to fill—the number of days from the vacancy being posted to the time it is filled.
• Selection ratios—the number of candidates within a group selected as a percentage of the total number recruited.
• Cost per hire—the cost of filling one position.

See:

Picking Winners: Using Performance Data to Get Better at Hiring

Employee Referrals Remain Top Source for Hires

Tactics for External Recruiting

Employers can choose among a wide variety of tactics for executing their recruiting strategies. These tactics vary based on market conditions, the type of targeted candidates, diversity-related issues and other factors. The following are among the possibilities—limited only by the imagination. See Extreme Recruiting Practices Emerging and Viewpoint: 17 Creative Recruitment Strategies to Attract More Job Applicants.

Partnerships

Employers can rely on various types of agencies and organizations to contribute to and support recruitment activities.

Third-party recruiters. Recruitment agencies, or "headhunters," have traditionally been used for filling hard-to-recruit positions, particularly upper management, technical and professional positions. Many small organizations (those without an HR department) often rely on third-party recruiters. Generally, companies use these resources sparingly due to their high cost.

Some agencies and third-party recruiters may package their services and charge lower fees (20 percent of base salary or even lower) under special arrangements, such as when multiple positions need to be filled or when the employer enters into an exclusive arrangement with an agency. Some recruiters even charge by the hour for searches, whereas others charge a minimal fee up front and act as the employer's HR department in coordinating the search. See Trust and Flexibility Are Key to Making RPO Work.

Temporary firms/temp-to-regular placement. Employers often use the services of a temporary staffing firm to fill roles. Some firms use the temporary role as a pipeline into regular employment, using the temporary employment process almost as a "trial/probationary" period. This method is often successful with entry-level roles that are higher volume or repeatable types of jobs (such as factory workers, etc.). After a certain period, temporary employees can interview for regular roles and then be "converted" (hired as a regular employee). Temporary staffing firms will typically charge employers a "conversion fee" or require that temporary employees stay on the staffing agency's payroll for a certain period in order to be converted without a conversion fee.

High schools, technical schools, colleges and universities. Colleges and other types of schools can be a source for targeting recent graduates. In addition to on-campus interviewing days, employers may become involved with a number of activities to generate interest, including the following:

• Developing a co-op or intern program.
• Talking to a college class or club.
• Participating in a career fair.
• Developing nominators in teachers and placement counselors.
• Advertising in the school newspaper.
• Placing notices on campus bulletin boards.
• Hosting a day with students or with teachers.

Employers may also want to consider "planting seeds" at the high school level. Increasingly, students are deciding on employment options at younger ages and may be influenced by a presentation to a high school class, participation in a career fair or other activity.

See:

Fall Semester Best Time to Attract College Grads

Why Co-Op Programs Are a Win-Win for Students and Employers

Employing Interns

Government and community-based programs. Numerous government-funded and community-based employment and training programs assist employers in finding and training candidates for open positions. Many of these programs offer employers incentives to hire their program participants. Incentives can be in the form of tax credits, reimbursements and extensive, tailored training. 

Government-funded and community-based programs can also identify specific labor market segments. This is because many of them offer their services to a select pool of candidates. For example, there are programs to support the employment of older workers, disadvantaged youth, displaced homemakers and women in nontraditional work roles, people with disabilities, and other segments.

See:

WOTC 101: Get Tax Credit for Hiring Veterans, the Long-Term Unemployed

Office of Disability Employment Policy: Tax Incentives for Employers

Career OneStop: Funding Employee Training

Public relations. One way to increase the success of recruitment programs is to enhance the organization's image as an employer within the community. Employers can try to coordinate staffing activities with marketing and public relations professionals to leverage budgets. For example, the marketing manager at one company who wanted to gain more credibility for its college recruitment efforts designed a booth to be used at a college career fair. The company's public relations team created brochures for the event. Giveaways, courtesy of marketing, were provided to students who came by the booth as a means of promoting the business as both a good place to work and as a provider of excellent products and services. 

Another organization benefited by working closely with public relations in developing a campaign that boosted the company's image as an employer. Public relations had never focused on this aspect in the past, but with staffing goals in mind, it was able to provide stories to the local newspaper on a new employee-training program and a human interest story about one of the company employees.

Media

Employers can leverage various types of media outlets to communicate their recruitment messages ranging from the traditional to the high-tech.

Internet. Recruiting via online job sites is one of the primary strategies of external candidate sourcing today. Many employers have a website with an employment/recruiting component to it that is linked to the organization's HRIS or applicant tracking system.

Employment websites are necessary for most organizations. (Even small to medium-sized companies should have at least a page on their website that explains the benefits of working for the company and how to apply for jobs.) Today, even entry-level candidates expect that some information about hiring and jobs is made available online. Strategies used to pull job seekers to the site—for example, other web advertising and radio messages that include the web address—can enhance their effectiveness. See Study: Most Job Seekers Abandon Online Job Applications and How Hard Is It for Candidates to Find Your Jobs on Your Career Site?

Employers can also use Internet recruitment sites such as Indeed.com and ZipRecruiter.com to post job and career information. Additionally, some websites are geared toward specific industries, professions or other dimensions of diversity; these "niche" sites can be very targeted and are often quite effective. Many professional associations have job posting sites or databases of their members who may be seeking a new role that employers can access, sometimes for a fee, including SHRM's site for HR positions, HR Jobs. Online groups on Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn or Reddit for specific professions, geographic locations or even technologies are also a place to post jobs or even search for candidates. See How to Optimize Job Listings for Google Search.

Social Media. The use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., can be very effective in recruiting and getting employer messages about open roles out to key audiences. For example, creating a company Facebook page to house job vacancy announcements and explain the career opportunities at an organization, then posting the link to this page through employee social media and other channels may increase interest in an organization's jobs and encourage more candidates to apply. Using effective "hashtags" (using the # symbol), employers can target key searches through social media (for example, using the hashtag #DenverHealthCareJobs could target people doing a search for health care jobs in the Mile-High City.

Paid, targeted advertising for job postings directing traffic to an employer's employment site is also available on social media. For example, employers can create a target pool of prospective candidates (by location, job title, etc.) and then have an advertising message appear in targeted profile newsfeeds that would direct individuals to a job vacancy ad or an employer's careers website. This is generally a "pay-per-click" approach that can be utilized with small budgets.

Social media is a very powerful and effective candidate sourcing channel, but it takes time to manage effectively. HR should create policies and procedures on how to maintain the quality and consistency for the employer's brand message, including how and when it should be used. Organizations that don't use social media in recruiting are missing out on one of the primary ways that younger generations are accessing the workforce. Social media can be very inexpensive, from free- to very low cost, compared to other types of tools. See How to Get Started with Recruiting on Facebook.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become an effective external recruiting tool. Generally best used for professional-level candidates, LinkedIn offers several ways to access candidates, including traditional job postings that can be targeted to the type of candidates an organization may be seeking. In addition, LinkedIn's database of hundreds of millions of professional profiles can be searched and targeted by employers, who then may contact them to share job vacancy information and directly recruit them.

LinkedIn offers the opportunity for employers to create a (free) employer page. This employer page can be an excellent profile and platform for posting information, links and other information about job vacancies. In addition, HR professionals can use their own LinkedIn profile as a job posting platform. By writing individual LinkedIn profiles with information about the types of roles the company typically recruits for, how to apply for roles, and even posting links to specific job postings, an individual HR profile can become a powerful magnet for candidates, since LinkedIn's pages are indexed by internet search engines such as Google and can be "found" by job seekers easily.

Employers can also choose to pay for LinkedIn's recruiting tools; however, even the free LinkedIn accounts can access some of the power of LinkedIn. See A Practical Guide to Making Your Recruiting Efforts More Visible on LinkedIn.

Radio and television. Radio can be used to target a specific audience based on listener demographics. To maximize the effectiveness of radio messages, employers can combine print and online advertising with radio recruitment ads. For example, the ads can refer radio listeners to the advertisement in Sunday's classified section of the newspaper and to the company's website. This can be particularly effective in promoting a recruitment event, such as an open house, career fair or information seminar.

Like radio, television can be effective in targeting a message to passive candidates and build an employer's brand. General Electric (GE) used television advertising to help change the public's perception of the company and its industry by sharing how GE was changing into a digital industrial company and becoming a leader in the digital world. The popular "Owen campaign" increased employment applications at GE eightfold.

Newspaper. Due to the vast array of recruitment advertising options, the "help wanted" section of a newspaper is no longer a primary source for hiring candidates for many companies. Instead, employers that advertise in newspapers often target other sections, such as sports, that are more likely to be read by targeted candidates.

Billboards. Recruitment messages may appear most anywhere—including on highway billboard signs, electronic billboards during sporting events and even portable billboards that can be rented affordably. Messages must be short, concise and easily read by passersby to attract their attention. For example, one retailer instructed viewers to "place your name on our employment waiting list." Soon the company had a pool of qualified job candidates for a variety of openings.

Posters. One low-cost recruitment tactic is to place posters in specific areas within the community. For example, when looking for college graduates, employers can post messages on bulletin boards on college campuses. When searching for back-to-work moms or dads, organizations may want to place posters in grocery stores. Likewise, posting recruitment messages in senior community centers, pharmacies and nutrition centers may attract older workers.

Cinema advertising and transit advertising. Another approach to reach targeted audiences is to pay for advertising in movie theaters that play just before a movie begins or to buy advertising space on buses, trains and subways. Both methods can be an effective source depending on the level and type of role that is being recruited.

Direct-to-Candidate

Some recruiting tactics that involve going directly to targeted candidates can seem highly customized and expensive. In fact, cost-effective approaches exist:

Direct sourcing. Making direct contact with prospective applicants by telephone, e-mail and social media is another approach. Companies can contact high-quality candidates and dramatically decrease costs using this tactic. They can secure names and telephone numbers of prospective candidates through LinkedIn and other social media sites, association directories, professional organizations, church rosters, school directories, and mailing lists that associations and mailing list companies sell. Resume mining firms (i.e., agencies and recruiting firms that specialize in directly sourcing resumes and handling research) can often provide this service for a fee.

Workplace recruiting. Some organizations find that one of the best recruitment methods is targeting potential candidates by speaking with them at their places of business. Recruiters may visit, call or e-mail a competitor's place of business and engage employees in conversation, often in the parking lot, to determine their interest in other employment opportunities. Some employers use "talent scout cards" with their business card as a strategy to encourage these workers to explore other options.

Customer recruiting. Companies are often able to appeal to customers, vendors or contractors who might be interested in employment within their organizations. For example, retailers will use in-store signage, complete with self-service application kiosks, to entice customers to become employees.

Direct mail and door hangers. To reach potential job candidates within a specific geographic area, employers may go literally to their mailbox or front door. Direct mail can be used to attract entry-level, professional and technical candidates by sending a message that speaks directly to the job candidate's needs. Some companies use creative mailers (e.g., recruitment videos) as a nontraditional way of communicating the recruitment message to prospective candidates. Mailing lists can be constructed by compiling directories of professional organizations, churches, schools or neighborhoods. Employers can also purchase mailing lists through professional organizations, mailing list companies or recruitment advertising agencies.

Inexpensive door hangers can be another tactic to announce, for example, a new facility opening while communicating the need for new employees.

See Retool Recruiting to Attract Millennials and How Text Messaging Broadens Recruiting Outreach, Cuts Time to Fill.

Incentives

Programs that offer current employees or potential candidates an incentive can be a productive way to identify and entice candidates. Such approaches include:

Employee referrals. One of the most effective methods to attract loyal, productive employees is to rely on employees to spread the word to their friends, former co-workers and family members about job openings available. Organizations can offer incentives to entice employees to encourage their contacts to apply, such as cash bonuses, prizes or extra paid time off.

Employers should obtain names of prospective candidates during new-employee orientation, a time when employees may be most aware of the employment interests of former co-workers and friends.

The process should not be difficult to administer, and organizations should avoid multiple payouts that end up causing confusion and delaying the reinforcement. Rewards should be as immediate as appropriate. See How to Get More People to Use Your Employee Referral Program.

Sign-on bonuses. Some businesses award sign-on bonuses as a means of enticing job candidates to make a job change. These bonuses are typically paid within the first three months of employment and are separate from the employee's base pay. Some organizations insist on a waiting period, holding the bonus to discourage job-hoppers in search of quick cash.

Typically, sign-on bonuses are most effective in industries and geographic locations that give the employer a competitive advantage. For example, health care organizations have offered aggressive bonuses to nursing professionals (from $100 to several thousands of dollars), hoping to entice qualified candidates to make the job switch. 

Boomerang Employees

Employees who leave an organization only to return sometime later are referred to as boomerang employees. These typically fall into three categories:

• Traditional boomerangs typically work at a company for a few years, find an opportunity elsewhere to develop new skills and then come back to the organization, often at a higher level and higher rate of pay. In some circumstances, these employees find during their absence that the grass isn't always greener and return to the organization with a new perspective.
• Life-event boomerangs generally leave because of external events, such as a spouse relocation or to raise a family. These individuals seek to return to their former employers once their personal circumstances allow.
• Planned boomerangs are often seasonal hires and include students who work during school breaks and those hired during an employer's busy season. The retail and hospitality industry use boomerangs to work during holiday shopping season or during peak vacation times.

Boomerang employees have insider organizational knowledge from their previous employment, and the company is familiar with the individual's skills, potential and cultural fit—much more information than typically known with a new hire. Embracing this talent pool rather than sticking with outdated no-rehire policies can be beneficial, from lower recruiting and onboarding costs to higher employee morale and fresh perspectives.

The most generous companies return full seniority on rehires' first day back on the job, regardless of how long they have been gone. But it's also common to set a limited time after departure, generally a few months to a year, during which rehires can return and have their benefits fully restored.

See:

Why Companies Should Stay Connected with Ex-Employees

Catching a Boomerang? Pros and Cons of Rehiring Former Employees

Viewpoint: Does Attrition Still Matter?

Employers should not be afraid to think outside the box for nontraditional recruitment strategies. Often, these unique recruitment tactics net well-qualified candidates and set an employer apart from the competition. 

Follow the Talent Acquisition topic on SHRM online.

Templates and Tools

Employment/Job Application (Internal)

Employment/Job Application #1

Employment/Job Application #2

 

Hiring Policy and Procedures

Recruitment and Selection Process

Employee Referral Program Procedures

 

Job Requisition Preparation and Approval Process Policy

Job Requisition Form

College Recruitment Letter

Job Ad Template

 

Checklist: Hiring Process

Checklist: Career Fair Recruiting

Resume/Application Review Form

Checklist: Recruiting Quality Hires

 

Applicant Rejection Letter—Unsolicited Resume

Resume Rejection Letter—No Interview