Businesses are increasingly turning to advertising jobs on their own websites and waiting for candidates to come to them, in a bid to beat the economic downturn.

According to research from fish4jobs, the number of companies using this approach rose from 8% to 65% in the first six months of 2008. Other common methods of recruitment include using recruitment consultancies (57%) and job-boards (54%).

Nearly two-thirds (64%) admitted that it was now much harder to recruit due to having less money available.

It is evident that recruiters are being more cautious with their money, but recruitment will continue to be an important cost unless the jobs market slows down

"It is evident that recruiters are being more cautious with their money, but recruitment will continue to be an important cost unless the jobs market slows down," said Joe Slavin, chief executive of fish4jobs.

"This is great news for job-seekers as there are still plenty of vacancies available, although everyone should exercise caution before leaving jobs hastily."

The company offers the following tips on how to find the right recruit:

  • Make sure you know exactly how many staff you need before you start any recruitment plan
  • When deciding how to attract staff, think about where people will look for a similar job
  • Sometimes it is necessary to advertise in more than one location, for example advertising in newspapers and job-boards works really well for generic recruitment, whereas a trade magazine is better for specialist jobs
  • Remember to have a full job description and person specification so you can recruit wisely and filter out CVs quicker
  • If you find the right person don't let them go. Let them know you are keen and invite them for a second interview quickly. In this market people will snap up a good job if they find it