Recruiting the right candidates for open job roles is one of the most crucial functions of HR. Sourcing possible candidates, screening, interviewing, and training is a time-consuming and costly business process but it is a necessary one.
How do you cut down on recruitment costs while still retaining productive processes that produce excellent results?
There are many cost-effective recruitment strategies that will save you time and money. You won’t have to sacrifice great quality or long-term hires.
Keep reading for five strategies to stay within your recruitment budget.
1. Automate Recruiting Process
Time is money, right? By automating and streamlining aspects of your recruitment process you’ll save money. It will increase recruiters’ productivity and hiring more. Automating a chunk of your recruiting strategies reduces the number of hours spent on repetitive tasks.
The more time spent hiring, the more it costs. Cutting down the time-to-hire to under three weeks can reduce hiring costs by 50% compared to a time-to-hire of three weeks or more.
Analyze your current recruitment process and recognize which elements will work as automation. This may include advertising jobs, scheduling interviews, conducting background checks, and more.
Reduce working hours, cut down costs and streamline your recruitment operations for a cost-effective and productive solution.
2. Employee Referral Program for Recruiting on a Budget
You’re wondering how to reduce the cost per hire? This is a long-term solution that requires some upfront payments but will work to reduce recruitment costs in the long run. The immediate expenses may include bonus payouts, however, the long-term savings will more than make up for this.
An employee referral scheme is not only a cost-effective recruitment strategy, it is also a tried and tested process that is effective. It’s a strategy that produces excellent quality hires who are good culture fits, too.
A referral program motivates employees to use their personal networks to seek out candidates for an open position. You’re more likely to find a candidate who is qualified and will stay in the position long-term as they’ve been referred by an employee that likes the company.
You can work to make the employee referral scheme as cost-effective as possible. Incentivize employees with gift cards, time off, or simply a cash bonus for effective referrals.
You don’t need to stop at employees, either. You can use the company’s external network to try to identify good quality candidates and reach out to them.
3. Utilizing Social Media in Recruitment Strategies
Oftentimes companies will turn to a retained executive search to find a highly qualified and skilled candidate for a specific role. While this is effective, retained executive search firms charge an upfront sum which can be quite hefty.
These days you have an entire network at your fingertips and don’t need to pay a third-party company to access their network. Social networks are a powerful tool, especially LinkedIn, for recruiters. These platforms are free to use and you can easily connect with professionals and candidates, grow your network and reach a wide audience.
Social recruitment is cost-effective and efficient. Many companies have begun to work it into their recruitment strategy plan. Build a strong company page, advertise job openings and reach out to people who have desired skills. It takes only a small investment of time, with big returns.
If you choose to pay the monthly fee for a premium membership on platforms such as LinkedIn, you’ll have access to an even wider network. This is a small price to pay for a massive pool of candidates and connections.
4. Reduce Recruitment Costs With Internal Mobility
Human capital management (HCM) is focused on employees as the engine of an organization. Does your company has worked hard to hire, train, motivate, and engage employees? If so, it’s likely that you have the perfect candidate for a role already within your ranks.
It’s simple and affordable to hire internally. Implementing an internal mobility program as part of your recruitment strategy plan is a fantastic way to cut costs.
To do this effectively, you need to motivate employees to want to move from job to job in your company. You also need to perform an internal audit of employees’ skills. You can see where there are gaps and whether these gaps can be filled by internal employees.
Investing in employee growth is an important aspect of HCM if you’d like to retain staff on a long-term basis. Encouraging career development internally is a good way to do this.
5. Create a Talent Pool to Stick to Recruitment Budget
If you’re looking for a safety net and a way to stay within your recruitment budget, work to build a talent pool of qualified and diverse candidates. Firstly, these candidates should have an interest in working for your company as you don’t want to waste time and resources dealing with jobseekers who will ultimately turn you down.
Once you’ve created a solid talent pool, you can rest easy in the knowledge that you have plenty of pre-screened candidates to select from when positions open up. Keep applicants on file who are qualified but didn’t make the cut the first time around as they may be suitable for a role in the future.
Overall, working with pre-screened candidates will reduce your cost-per-hire and simplify the recruitment process.
Cost-Effective Recruitment Strategies Without Sacrificing Quality
It’s important to work to employ cost-effective recruitment strategies that produce top-quality hires with long-term prospects in your company. Turning to methods that churn up low-quality candidates will only cost you more money in the long run. These five recruitment tips for reducing costs are highly effective, affordable, and productive.
Guest contributor from Recruiters LineUp written by: Colin Gordon
Leading the business activities of Recruiters LineUp with other online recruiting websites, blogs and forums to create a mutual win-win exposure and generate more traction.
Interested in being a guest contributor for the IES Blog? Contact us today at 858-300-2757 or info@innovative-es.com.
