5 ways to slash the cost of recruitment

Doing more with less has been a key focus for the majority of organisations for many years.

However, with the average employee turnover rate and the need innovate ever increasing, hiring fresh talent is still a necessity.

So, how can you balance your budget and recruitment needs? We’ve collated five ways to help slash the cost of recruitment.

1. Avoid turnover

Reducing the need to recruit in the first place by rectifying avoidable employee turnover should be the backbone of your people strategy. Creating a culture your people can thrive in is one of the best ways of doing this, and focusing on engagement at each stage of the employee experience is a great place to start.

2. Tap into your internal network

Your existing employees are a massive asset to your recruitment strategy for two main reasons. First, they can help you find the talent you need. Your existing employees know what it’s like to work for your company better than anyone, so why not encourage them to suggest candidates though a ‘refer a friend’ scheme?

Secondly, your employees can help promote your company by writing recommendations on employer review websites such as Glassdoor. Offering a real, unscripted insight into your company may seem like a scary thing to encourage. But if you’re doing your best to engage your teams you should be rewarded with rave reviews from your employees. (Or if you’re not, this is a great way to gain insight into the improvement areas needed in your business).

3. Build your external network

Your business is likely to have a wider network of connections than you realise. Make the most of these by setting up talent pools and alumni groups, even offering a ‘refer a friend’ scheme for former team members to encourage them to recommend candidates for your roles.

Talent pools are useful ways to keep in touch with applicants who have approached you prospectively, as well as candidates who have just missed out on a role with you. You can include your existing employees here too by setting up development programmes for roles you expect to be recruiting for in the future to help get your people ready to step up to these.

4. Get social

Social media is a ‘go-to’ tool for job hunters and recruiting managers. Free, and offering you the ability to share your job role with thousands of potential candidates within minutes, it’s an untapped resource for many businesses.

5. Provide helpful tools

Organising the right tools to manage your recruitment strategy will save you thousands in budget and time in the long run. Investing in recruitment software designed for this purpose is key. Benefits include being able to measure and report on tangible recruitment costs such as advertising, interviewing, hiring and training, as well as automating your processes so you can focus on the human side of recruiting.

At IRIS we have a range of HR tools to help businesses of all sizes with the challenges associated with recruiting top talent. Small businesses will love our recruitment software module for IRIS HR PRO whereas our applicant tracking system for IRIS Cascade HRi is best for larger businesses.

Investing in the people involved in recruiting is also essential, so they have the skills and information they need to find the best people for the job. Training on running interviews, managing assessment centres and using social media to find candidates could all be helpful.