You will hear Mr William Hans, the Human Resource Manager of Packway International talking about the various ways of recruiting

I: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like lo introduce Mr William Hans, the Human Resource Manager of Packway International to share his insights into the right ways of recruiting the best staff. Mr. Hans, first of all, what do you think of your work?
G: As a HR manager, I am responsible for recruiting the right candidate to fill a vacancy. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but now it’s become a difficult and costly task. If you appoint the wrong person, it’s gonna be a very expensive mistake which could cause personnel problems for the whole department. And you know, it is much more difficult to dismiss someone than it is to employ him.
I: Oh, really, as a staff member of the radio station, I’m actually quite happy to know that. Well, what do you have to decide first when there is a vacancy?
G: My first decision would be whether to recruit internal applicants or advertise the vacancy outside the company.
I: If it were me, I’d prefer to give the job to an internal applicant. That would be a ready candidate, don’t you think so?
G: Yes, and it’s easy and cheap to do so. We could easily do that by memos, e-mails or newsletters inside the company. And furthermore , these people are easy to assess because they’ve been with us for quite some time and they know the company very well too.
I: Yeah, if that’s the case, why don’t you just. . .
G: That’s exactly what I want to make clear. In spite of all the advantages, an internal candidate doesn’t make a good choice because, one, they rarely bring fresh ideas to a position! two, if they are rejected, which is not impossible, they might become very upset and leave the company.
I: Yes, I see your point here. I’ll think it over very seriously if my boss gives me a new job. Then how about recruiting staff outside the company?
G: Recruiting outside the company means either advertising the vacancy directly or using an employment agency. If the company decides to advertise the vacancy directly, it has to decide where to place the advertisement. Traditionally this has meant newspapers and professional journals but now the Internet is also very popular.
I: Then what is important when deciding on where to place the ads?
G: Well, this normally depends on the job itself. For blue-collar or clerical jobs, we usually advertise in local newspapers. For senior management positions, we usually use national newspapers or professional journals. I’d like to mention the Internet as one of the best ways of advertising IT vacancies or recruiting abroad. More and more jobs are being advertised on the Internet. However, with the Internet there is a risk of receiving unsuitable applications from all over the world since it’s so easy to click and apply and just try your luck. And it hardly costs anything at all.
I: It is really a tough job. Then in addition to using these media, what do you think of the idea of using a recruitment agency?
G: An agency is either a commercial business or a government employment center. As far as our company is concerned, we usually use a government agency to recruit blue-collar workers but prefer a commercial agency to recruit white-collar staff. However, a commercial agency could be very expensive and the applicants are less likely to stay with the company for a long time.