Explain any three merits and three limitations of internal sources of recruitment.

Answer – Recruitment searches for prospective employees and encourages applications. Internal recruitment fills vacancies from people already associated with the organisation.

Sources: transfer moves an employee between jobs without a substantial rise in status or responsibility; promotion moves an employee to a higher position with greater responsibility, status and usually pay.

Merits: motivates employees through career opportunities; makes assessment easier because performance is known; reduces recruitment cost; simplifies induction and training; allows adjustment of surplus staff through transfers.

Limitations: restricts entry of fresh talent; can make employees complacent if promotion seems automatic; cannot supply the initial workforce of a new enterprise; repeated transfers may reduce productivity; a limited internal pool may not contain required skills.

The two principal internal sources are transfer and promotion. Re-employment of former or laid-off workers sometimes appears in older classifications, but it should not be presented as a third principal NCERT source.