For companies that recruit regularly, recruitment costs are therefore becoming a major headache, but it is one that can be addressed quite quickly. At some stage it is very likely that your organisation has used recruitment agencies to recruit staff for your business, at fees ranging from 15% to 30% of the salary package. But have you thought about taking control of this process yourself and doing some of the recruitment directly? This concept is not as scary as it sounds, it just needs some careful thought and planning with somebody with specialist recruitment expertise, and very quickly you could start to see your recruitments costs decreasing.
Your staff can be the best (and the worst) sales tool for your company, but if you trust in them and reward them accordingly (and I don't just mean cash), they will recruit people for you
There are four main areas that could you address with regards to setting up a direct recruiting strategy:
1. Company website - this should be your primary tool.
Looking at your website is the first thing a prospective employee will do to ascertain what you are like as a company, and whether they want to work for your company, and if you have any relevant vacancies - after all good candidates will have a lot of choice! So ask yourself a few simple questions - is it an appealing website? Does it make you want to work for your company? Do you have a careers page / job page? If you do, do you simply just place the jobs specs online?
2. Your Staff - your best sales tool
Your staff can be the best (and the worst) sales tool for your company, but if you trust in them and reward them accordingly (and I don't just mean cash), they will recruit people for you. Do you have an employee referral scheme in place? If so does it work? Do you inform staff of the positions you are recruiting for? Do you recruit internally? Do you encourage your staff to network amongst their peers? Do you then use that network to recruit through? Your answers to these questions will demonstrate to you whether you are using your staff effectively.
3. Sell not tell - creative job advert writing
Candidates are getting choosy so get their attention with your job advert. Don‘t simply place a job spec in an advert (online or offline) and expect good people to be attracted to it. You need to sell them the opportunity and sell them your company. After all, if you were looking for a job and looked at a boring job description advert, would you pick up the phone to apply?
4. Keep what you have got - it is far easier to retain than recruit
A happy workforce is a productive workforce, so make sure you think of them first as it is so much easier to retain staff rather than having to find new employees. Do you make sure they are happy working for you? (When was the last time they were actually asked?) Do you provide them with the opportunity to develop their skills and go on training courses? Do you give your staff the credit and praise when they deserve it? Do you encourage regular feedback from your staff as to how happy they are working at your company? Having retention strategies in place are absolutely essential to maintaining happy and loyal employees, yet many companies still do nothing about it, assuming their staff are happy at their organisation. Do not take your staff for granted. With the demand for good staff in your geographical area, you will start to lose your employees to your competitors if you don‘t address this right now.
There are many other ways that companies can reduce their recruitment costs, but the four steps above are a good starting point, and combined with good specialist recruitment advice they can all be implemented relatively quickly. If you do adopt these within your company to start recruiting your staff directly, your Financial Director will be a happy person.
Andy Headworth is Managing Director of Sirona Consulting Ltd - specialists in recruiting and retaining talent. For more information please visit www.sironaconsulting.com
