6 Strategies to Lower Recruitment Expenses

In today's competitive job market, companies are not only raising wages to retain their current employees but also offering enhanced benefits to attract new talent. According to The Independent, an overwhelming 96% of UK businesses seek government support to mitigate the cost of living, as concerns over employee retention continue to grow. Effective recruitment management is essential in this climate, as businesses strive to optimize their hiring processes and retain top talent.

Of course, recruitment costs aren't solely about the financial expenditure. They also encompass the time spent by HR departments, the effort involved in creating job adverts, scheduling interviews, and more. In this article, we'll discuss various ways companies can reduce recruitment costs, streamline the process, and move from interview to onboarding more efficiently. Utilizing hiring software can significantly aid in this endeavor, helping to automate and optimize various stages of the recruitment process, saving both time and money.

1.Streamline the hiring process

Companies with a well-defined hiring process have an easier time attracting the right candidates for the job thanks to well-crafted job descriptions and robust screening processes that filter out unstable candidates.

Streamlining your hiring process also promotes fairness, as recruiters use standardized assessments and interview questions to make unbiased comparisons with other candidates. Additionally, a streamlined hiring process reduces costs, effort, and time to fill a position. It also strengthens your brand image. According to Marketing Week, a bad job seeker experience can also turn them off a brand from a consumer perspective.

Another important part of a streamlined hiring process is writing simplified job descriptions that get straight to the point, are free of technical jargon, and highlight key responsibilities and daily tasks. When creating a job ad, start with a summary of the most important skills, experience, and qualifications required, then move on to less important desired skills. An ad that states exactly what the company needs will reduce the number of unsuitable applications.

2.Leveraging technology and tools

Recruitment automation tools mean that finding, interviewing and ultimately hiring employees takes less time and effort. This helps find relevant people and automatically match them to the job criteria. Then there are applicant tracking systems that save time, speed up resume analysis, make posting jobs easier and faster, improve the quality of hire by searching through applicant pools, speed up the hiring process and provide a better experience for candidates.

Similar to applicant tracking systems, psychometric testing helps recruiters make better decisions faster. Recruiters can use objective and measurable data to understand a candidate's personality, innate abilities and intelligence and even see how well they fit into the company.

3.Employee referrals and internal hiring

Recruiters don't always have to look outside the company for new talent. Internal hiring costs an average of 18% less than external hiring. Companies save even more money with internal hiring due to high retention, as employees stay 41% longer with companies that hire internally.

Internal hiring also saves recruiters the time of posting on job boards, going through the application process, and the time and money of training. It's much easier to onboard someone into a new role when they already understand how the company and its work processes work. Additionally, internal hiring ensures that you already have someone who is a good fit with the company culture.

4.Outsourcing the Recruitment Process

There are some pros and cons to outsourcing the recruitment process (RPO). On the plus side, HR professionals can meet your needs, work with your company's current framework, and adapt quickly to any changes. Third-party recruiting companies protect your brand image by providing candidates with quick feedback, and they also know and use the latest and most efficient recruiting tools to select the right person for the job. Using a third-party recruiting agency also saves you the time of sifting through mountains of resumes and conducting dozens of interviews.

However, third-party recruiting companies can never know your company as well as you do, so there's a chance they'll hire someone who won't fit well into your company culture, and it may take longer to find a suitable candidate since they need to get to know your company. Another problem that can arise with third-party recruiting agencies is a lack of communication, as a busy agency is unlikely to keep you updated every day.

But despite the potential downsides, outsourcing comes with many benefits and saves you a lot of money and time when hiring for specialized positions. Outsourcing this task removes the responsibility of narrowing down applicants and selecting those with specialized skills. At IceHrm, our experts use science-based psychometrics and skills testing to quickly find the best candidate for the job.

5.Employer Branding and Social Media

Building a strong online presence increases brand awareness and engagement and is a great way to attract new employees. According to GlobalWebIndex, internet users have an average of 5.54 social media accounts, so there's a good chance your next employee will see a job ad through your social media channels.

Currently, over 84% of organizations recruit through social media. Well-maintained, consistent social media accounts can educate potential candidates about your company's culture, goals, values, and news. They're a great way to reach out to potential candidates, offer them the opportunity to learn more about you while you learn more about them, and give you the ability to post job ads for free. Additionally, recruiting through social media saves a lot of time because candidates can send their resume directly to you or share the ad with friends who may be a good fit.

To save money and get the best response to your social media campaign, stay in touch with your audience, personalize your brand with videos, infographics, and other content, and join social media groups related to your industry. You can even create a candidate persona and share it with your team so you can all agree on your perfect candidate.

6.Data-Driven Decision Making

There's virtually no area of ​​the recruiting process that can't be improved through data analytics. Data analytics tools provide deep insights into hiring costs, time to hire, quality of hire, candidate retention rates, and candidate sources.

A data-driven approach can help you optimize your job ad by identifying your target audience based on demographics, behaviors, interests, and needs. You can also test and compare ads to see which one performs best. After running an ad campaign, you can take your learnings and implement them in future ads. Tools like Google Analytics and LinkedIn Page Analytics provide a solid understanding of engagement, ROI, and conversion rates.

Recruiters can also optimize their ads by segmenting their audience, which is especially helpful when looking for different new hires with different skills. Ads can be targeted based on various factors like experience, location, industry, education, motivation, and more.

The Bottom Line

While the recruitment sector is currently facing many challenges, there are also many opportunities. Companies can leverage cutting-edge software to make data-driven decisions, reach out to potential candidates via social media, hire internally, and use specialized third-party recruiters (like us!) to streamline their process and save time and money.

The recruitment sector faces challenges but offers opportunities. By utilizing advanced software, social media, internal hiring, and specialized third-party recruiters like IceHrm, companies can streamline processes, saving time and money.