Step 1: Identify the concept.
External sources of recruitment mean inviting applications from people outside the organisation rather than only considering existing employees.
Step 2: Explain two merits.
It gives access to qualified and specialised talent that may simply not exist within the current staff, and it opens up a much wider pool of candidates to choose from, improving the overall quality of selection.
Step 3: Explain two more merits.
It brings in fresh ideas and a competitive spirit since outsiders come with different experiences and viewpoints, and it can work out more economical than training an existing employee from scratch for a specialised role.
Step 4: Final answer.
Four merits of external recruitment are: availability of qualified and specialised personnel, a wider choice of candidates, fresh talent and healthy competition for existing staff, and suitability for hiring in bulk or for specialised posts economically.