Internal Recruiting

After having read chapter six and listening to the lecture in class, a number of memories have sparked my thoughts on the subject of recruiting. Yet again, this experience was not during my externship. These memories took place during the time I had a part time job at Panera Bread. My opinion on internal recruiting is slightly negative. However, this negativity is only brought on from the idea of referrals. During the two and a half years I spent working at Panera, I had seen a lot of my co-workers refer their friends to the managers in hopes that they would work with their newly hired friends. Some of these new employees were hard workers and did not socialize at a point where it would interfere in their work. However, more often than not, there would be a bad seed in the bunch that ended up either being fired or quitting within the first couple of weeks. While observing these mishaps, I noticed one thing in particular, my managers were taking referrals from my co-workers that were not driven or motivated to work. It might have been that we were short staffed or looking for some extra part time employees, but this concept bewildered me a bit. How was it a good idea to take a referral from somebody that didn’t even do a good job themselves? Not the best one in my opinion. Yet, as discussed in class, internal recruiting can be quite rewarding if the promotions are being held within the company. This concept I understand completely. Referrals on the other hand, may be the luck of the draw depending on who is making the referral.