A recession is here and for recruiters, the demand for their services is drying up alongside recruitment budget. For recruiters, there will be an expectation to deliver quality candidates at a faster and cheaper rate going forward.
Equally, companies may want to hire less senior roles or offer opportunities for more junior staff to come in and make their mark. However, this doesn’t mean that senior candidates are useless to recruiters during economic turmoil.
Fortunately, when it comes to hiring on a budget, PitchMe has a few ideas on how you can save money whether you’re an organisation or a recruitment agency.
How to manage your recruitment budget
For businesses that have growth opportunities, despite a need to be financially more conservative, it is imperative to establish a plan for hiring. Bringing a recruitment budget template to the table is the first step to hiring effectively.
This process requires recognising the skills that are missing in the company and creating job vacancies that address these areas. It is worth considering how onboarding can drive value and help make a new hire comfortable. Ultimately this reduces money wasted in the hiring process.
Recruiters can also help drive budgets down by understanding the needs of the business they are working with, recruiters can use their network to pool the best candidates possible.
We will look at the following methods of managing a recruitment budget:
- Retrawling Candidates
- Referrals
- Bias Assessment
- Technology and Metrics
Retrawling candidates
Retrawling is the process of looking at candidates who previously applied for roles but missed out. Chances are, these candidates have developed since they last spoke to a recruiter and if they have already displayed skills to a company it can be a less time-consuming hire. On top of that, recruiters can present these candidates with confidence as they know that their skills have been verified in previous hiring processes.
Retrawling is ultimately the process of maximising the information you already have in your candidate database. As a result, it is a strategy that every recruitment agency and business should consider.
Referrals
Referrals are simply existing staff recommending someone they know for a hire. This can slash the cost of hiring and ensure that those joining the company are a culture fit. The candidate will still need to be interviewed, but this method can bypass some of the fact-finding processes that are usually required.
While some may be concerned about financial incentives for referrals it is worth noting that this methodology is much cheaper than the usual hiring process. This is punctuated by XpertHR’s research which found that the average hire that takes 6 weeks costs a business £3,945.
Bias Assessment
Removing bias can also help drive costs down. Although addressing bias often sounds like an expensive project, it doesn’t have to be.
Broadening the language used in job descriptions, and the barometers for applicants (whether education or experience) will lead to better candidates who can provide insights into the shortcomings of a business.
Not only that but having a wider talent pool without spending can only be a good thing. Removing bias can lead to long-term gains, even if there is the effort required to begin with.
Technology and Metrics
Naturally, to spot bias and cut costs in the hiring process, data needs to be leveraged. Data can give insights into whether there are too many hiring stages that require a great amount of resources. On top of that, factors that make successful candidates can be recognised.
While getting data that can help your organisation may require an initial investment, it can help tighten budgets down the road.
At PitchMe we enable recruiters with up-to-date data on candidates so they don’t have to waste time sourcing new information. Tools like Engard tackle. the issue of finding the right soft skills through an analysis of a candidate’s personality.
In short, there are numerous tools that can help you better your recruitment practices, even when you are looking to drive down costs.
Budgeting for the future
Of course, investing wisely requires reflection and a clear understanding of the issues that a company faces. For recruitment agencies, it is worth discussing where time is lost and how processes can be improved to enable recruiters.
Carving out a budget for recruitment takes thought and planning, but it can also save organisations a significant sum. With that in mind, it’s time to begin reflecting on recruiting solutions that will help your budget needs.