All companies are wanting to reduce costs, especially with recruitment, whilst still attracting the top candidates. A an inefficient recruitment process will have high hiring costs, potentially long lead times, and an empty talent pipeline. So, how can you enhance your recruitment strategy and recruitment marketing, to attract candidates and manage hire cost effectively?

Here is a list of 17 ways which you can make efficiency savings and reduce your costs.

Contingency Recruiters

1. DON’S USE A CONTINGENCY BASED RECRUITMENT AGENCY

With agencies charging between 10-20% of salary, even for junior roles, you can easily spend £2,000 as a minimum!

2. WORK WITH EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT AGENCIES SPECIALISING IN YOUR INDUSTRY

If you do have to use a contingency based external agency, work with one who specialises in your industry, resulting in higher quality candidates for you. The top recruiters use their networks, which can be an invaluable resource.

Fixed Cost Recruiters

3. USE FIXED COST RECRUITMENT SERVICES

Fixed cost recruiters provide a similar service to contingency recruiters, but for a fixed cost. A process they are likely to follow will be: advertise the job online, screen and telephone interview candidates, and pass a short list of potential candidates to you to conduct face to face interviews or virtual meetings. Remember though, that you will still have to pay the fixed cost recruiter, even if you don’t recruit, so they might not be best for hard to fill roles.

Visit our interviews hub for employers.

4. ACCESS CV DATABASES

Fixed cost recruiters might also search through CV databases for you and contact candidates on your behalf.

Job Sites

5. ADVERTISE ON A JOB BOARD

A lot of companies will go and advertise directly with one of the job sites in the UK (such as Monster, TotalJobs, CVLibary). Each job board allows you to reach thousands of job seekers, for a relatively low cost.

6. USE JOB BOARD RESELLERS

Job board/job site resellers allow you to advertise on a wide range of sites, over just one, for a low cost (typically under £200, which will likely be cheaper than advertising directly with two of the leading job sites mentioned above).

Reduce Interview Time

7. LEVERAGE VIDEO INTERVIEWS

Use video interviews to enhance your interview process, allowing you to quickly get an impression of your candidates, allowing you to quickly reduce the number of candidates, hence the amount of time you spend on your interviewing process.

8. CONDUCT TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS

Telephone interviews can tell you a lot of information about a candidate, and can be as quick as 5 minutes, compared to a 30min+ interview, greatly reducing your time, and hence costs.

CV Databases

9. SEARCH CV DATABASES

Search for potential employees using CV databases, such as Reed or Total Jobs. You can then contact candidates directly. This is part of the service which fixed cost recruiters might be providing as well, which will make your hiring process even more cost efficient.

Social Media

10. USE LINKEDIN

Use social media (LinkedIn in particular). You can find and contact potential employees and build talent pools on LinkedIn, with no cost to you.

11. ADVERTISE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Advertise your job on your social media pages, reaching better quality candidates for free.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

12. USE ATS RECRUITMENT SOFTWARE

An applicant racking system helps you keep track of all of your applications in one central database, allowing you to easily review historic applications.

Read Centralising Recruitment With ATS.

13. COLLABORATE USING RECRUITMENT TECHNOLOGY

Applicant tracking systems also allow separate recruiting teams to review applications.

14. STAY COMPLIANT

An ATS can help you stay compliant with relevant legal areas, which can easily lead to costly damages.

Use Your Existing Employees

15. USE YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYEES

Make use of your current employee’s contacts for employee advocacy. Engaging your employees will help you access a new candidate’s market, build talent pools, and improve the candidate experience. Doing so will greatly improve employee happiness.

16. IMPROVE YOUR COMPANY CULTURE

Improve employee retention by nurturing your employer brand, defining your mission, values, and beliefs. If your employees aren’t leaving, part of your recruitment costs will be reduced!

17. FIND PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS THROUGH EMPLOYEE REFERRALS

Along with recruitment advertising, you should run a referral scheme. You pay your staff to referrer candidates to your company and build your talent pool. Referral payments can be offered once a new hire completes so many months of employment, helping you manage your recruitment costs.

Read Creating A Talent Pool and Why Should SMEs Build An Employer Brand.