Staff recruitment can be a big expense to any organisation. There is a range of costs to content with, both hard and soft from advertising to staff time spent reviewing applications and interviewing. Most organisations will argue that if they don’t invest the time and money in recruitment, the costs can be much higher because of poor hiring decisions.

But what if you can find the ideal candidate without shelling out a small fortune? A little like having your cake and eating it too.

Automate Part of the Process

Recruitment tasks often divert valuable staff time from other parts of the business. There is a lost opportunity cost while a small business owner reads CV’s, interviews and performs reference checks. That time could be spent on marketing and product development which can have a much higher return on investment. The most basic recruitment automation system will save valuable time.  Even just removing applications that don’t meet the most basic right-to-work rule can save hours of frustrating time each year.

Use Software that Does Multiple Jobs

Don’t stop at automating just one part of the recruitment process. Look for science-based software that can take a few recruitment tasks off your hands.  Rather than just collecting applications in one digital bucket, set parameters so that your software ranks candidates by their suitability for the job in terms of experience and culture. You won’t have to sift through CVs trying to rate them yourself.  And rather than spend most of the interview trying to decide if an applicant will be a good cultural fit, you can concentrate on questions that give you a better insight into what skills they can offer.

Replacing the Recruitment Agency

There is no doubt, recruitment agencies do an amazing job in finding the right staff but organisations pay dearly for their advice. If you usually outsource your recruitment to an agency because you don’t have the skills in-house, look for a cheaper alternative. Find a HR professional willing to work short-term on contract and use their expertise in between interviews to do other HR-related tasks to improve your internal processes.

If a team member has the right attributes for handling the organisation’s recruitment, send them on a course to refine their skills. The staff member might enjoy the increased responsibilities and hopefully reward the organisation by working hard during a longer tenure.

Use your Networks

Telling people you have a job opening costs nothing and could land you the perfect applicant. If you use social media for personal and business purposes, be sure to place the vacancy on both. Ask employees, friends and family to share your post to widen the net of people who see it. Not every potential job applicant is actively looking on the job boards for a new opportunity. Hearing about an opening can be enough to encourage them to apply and try something different.

Improve your Website Careers Page

Most candidates check out the website of an organisation before applying. Don’t lose potential candidates because your website looks like it’s still 2010. Freshen up the design of the site if it needs it and rewrite your careers page to sell the best parts about working there. Include details of all the perks and pluses and it may win over the right applicant. The cost of a full website redesign can be costly, just make sure it comes out of the marketing budget!

Promote Internally

Look at the employees you already have in the organisation. If someone is suitable for the vacant role, approach them to ask if they are interested in a career change. The best part about internal recruitment is you know the person’s track record and recent work experience so there is less risk than taking on someone new.

Internal recruitment works particularly well when the vacant role is hard to fill due to a skills shortage in that area. What you don’t spend on recruitment, you could spend up-skilling the staff member.

Make Sure the Offer is Spot On

Don’t lose your potential new employee because you make them an offer that is too low. Do your research on what similar roles pay elsewhere so you aren’t offering too little or too much. Market conditions can change rapidly so keep up to date.  Check out Matchd to see if the sophisticated software is the right fit for your organisation.