No one likes paying over the odds,
especially when you could find your next member of staff for a few hundred
pounds or less (or even for free).

Here we discuss 10 ways to find
employees using tricks from the recruitment industry (and we should know,
having been in the recruitment industry for too many years to mention!).

1. Social Media

Social media hasn’t been around that long, but if you have a great following online (whether personally or as a business), put a few posts out there.

We highly recommend reading our parent article on social media recruitment – Job Advertising On Social Media.

2. Shop Window

For retail and hospitality
businesses, try putting an advert in your window. This easy trick might also
apply to offices in high footfall areas.

3. Existing Staff Referrals

Your current employees might know the perfect person for your job opening. Some businesses pay a referral fee to the employee, which, whilst still costing you money, is likely to cost you a lot less than a recruitment agency!

Read Introducing An Employee referral Scheme.

4. Website

If you have a high traffic website, put a careers page on it with your current job openings. In What Should Be On A Company Careers Page, we cover everything you need to know about creating or updating your careers website.

Top tip, create an email address per job opening to help you
manage applications.

5. Advertise Your Job On A Job Site

Sites such as TotalJobs, MonsterJobs & Jobsite allow you to pay a fixed fee to have your job advertised online for a fixed period of time -normally 28 days, but sometimes longer. Costs can range from around £100 per position, upwards. We have seen costs close to £800 per job on some sites, so be careful where you advertise!

6. Use A Multi-Site Job Poster

For less than £200, it is possible to advertise your job on multiple job sites at the same time through a company such as HiringPeople, giving you much greater exposure. View your job advertising options here or check out our flat fee recruitment solutions.

7. Advertise Your Job On A Free Site

There are some great sites which allow you to advertise jobs for free, such as Adzuna, Zoek and JobRapido. Compared to the paid options above, they generally have a lot less traffic, meaning you need to get your advert on to as many sites as possible, which can quickly become a logistical challenge. There are free services available to help you distribute your job advert to these sites.

8. Public Notice Boards

Can you put a notice on a public notice board? A bit old school, but this can be highly successful. You may need to pay a small fee.

Read Recruitment Strategy 2022.

9. LinkedIn

As well as posting a status update/company post on LinkedIn, you can search and engage with potential candidates. This process does take time, both in establishing the ideal searches as well as reaching out to your prospective future employee.

10. “Find A Job”

The UK government runs a “Find a Job” service where you can advertise your job for free. The challenge with the service however, is that the job seekers are encouraged to apply for a substantial number of jobs through it, resulting in inappropriate applications.

Next, read A Guide On How To Hire Employees.