Why do some organisations prefer in-house recruitment?

Larger employers may favour the use of an in-house recruitment department, rather than outsourcing their recruitment needs to other agencies. The in-house recruiting team acts as an extension of the HR department. They liaise with the different divisions of their company, understand their hiring needs and then go and find the best people for the job.

Often, in-house recruitment can be much more cost-effective and efficient than employing external agencies. The members of the team are only recruiting for one single organisation, which allows them to develop an expert insight into what their company specifically looks for in a candidate.

What is the in-house recruitment process?

The in-house recruitment team will advertise job vacancies on their own website, use internal databases and job sites to search for candidates, coordinate internal employee referrals, and build an extensive network of potential candidates.

What are the tasks and responsibilities of the in-house recruitment team?

Despite their interaction with the HR department, they are a completely separate entity from HR’s own recruitment operations. Many people who work in in-house recruitment have a working knowledge of agency recruitment and they are responsible for directly hiring the majority of new recruits.

In-house recruitment departments also work closely alongside other areas of the company, such as the legal department, who help to facilitate contract negotiations, and the marketing department, who assist with recruitment campaigns.

Unlike other strands of recruitment, in-house recruiters do not work off a commission and bonus scheme. Instead, they are rewarded with higher basic salaries.

What are the different positions within an in-house recruitment team?

In-house recruitment teams tend to be relatively small departments, perhaps including a recruitment coordinator, a recruiter and a recruitment lead. These team members are all likely to report to the HR director.

Recruitment coordinators tend to look after administration responsibilities, maintain the recruitment systems, coordinate interviews and carry our general activities.

The recruiter will carry out the active recruitment process by networking, searching and advertising for candidates.

The recruitment lead will manage the team, carry out active recruitment and drive recruitment campaigns.

If you fancy getting involved in recruitment, but would prefer to focus on individual candidates for individual positions, and therefore creating a real sense of community in the workplace, a job in in-house recruitment might be just right for you.