The Solution:
Use the Internet more effectively and make your HR manager work smarter.
A considerable number of medium to large corporations in Ireland are wasting a lot of money in their recruitment budgets. HR departments only pay lip service to using the net to finding candidates, as it is a time consuming and a slow process going through so many candidates before they find the “diamond in the rough”.
Time poor HR executives will not allocate the resources it takes in sourcing quality CV’s from the internet, and are then given the budget approval to outsource and use agencies. This is one area where financial directors can make considerable savings going forward.
When outsourcing HR to recruitment agencies, the agencies / recruiters then basically do the actual work of managing the job on the job boards and filtering candidate’s to send over. If budgets allow, then that’s fine, as agencies do provide a good screening service most of the time.
But we have heard great success stories of companies who have saved hundred’s of thousands in using the net effectively. Price Waterhouse in the UK used job boards last year to hire 1000 grads and saved over 1 million sterling alone. An Irish software firm has just hired 50 IT engineers this year without paying one agency fee.
Top Tips
So here are our top 10 tips for saving money on recruitment costs:
1. Training: Make sure your HR manager is fully trained by your job board provider on how to use the website effectively.
2. Database of CV’s. Make sure HR spend at least 2 hours per week emailing prospective candidates from the searchable CV databases available on job boards. This aspect of the service is time consuming but clients that do use this report great success. The searchable databases are what the recruiters use every day.
3. Offer referral / finders fee to all staff asking them who they know, just as the agencies do – we recommend 1K for hire or approx 20% of agency fee.
4. Don’t just stick with the biggest job board. Sign up with at least 5 job boards. With the cost of advertising on job boards from as little as € 75 per month, it spreads the net wider for your jobs and provides inexpensive branding for the company showing a progressive organisation.
5. Don’t spend a penny on newspaper advertising unless you just want branding. Research statistics show that over 60% of Irish internet users have applied for jobs online.
6. Use your own supplier network. Suppliers are naturally more inclined to be more helpful to their clients. Why not send them a monthly newsletter with a list of vacancies in your organisation asking them to pass on to who they know.
7. Make sure your own website has a good simple & prominent career section and pay Google a few euros for ad search key words such as “Accountant jobs”.
8. Overpay key staff 15% above market rates. The cost of replacing them is 40-50% of their annual salary if you include agency fees – lost days in training and the IP that has just walked out the door, probably to your competition.
9. PSL’s. Ask HR to select 3 strong recruitment consultants (deal directly with recruiter themselves and move to new agency if they move) who know your company / industry and believe in your ethos that will work hard for you. Agree 15% fees (beating them down to 10% means they won’t work as hard for you) and make sure they offer 4 month 100% replacement in any event candidate walks.
10. Try and hire an ex recruiter (poacher turned game keeper) for 4 months contract to implement all of the above with KPI’s. They know how to work the job boards 100%.
Bottom line. HR has changed dramatically in the last 5 years with the net becoming a very powerful resource. Use the same tools the recruiters do by bringing all your recruitment hiring in-house and online. Get smart – Get results.
Niall Kelly - Director
JobsOnlineGroup.ie
Niall Kelly is a director of the Niche jobs board specialist group JobsOnlineGroup.
After 5 years of 100% growth year on year, the Jobs OnLine Group have become experts on how to use the internet effectively to source quality candidates and for minimal cost. Providing Niche websites that deliver quality candidates.
www.AccountantJobs.ie SalesJobs.ie, ComputerJobs.ie and AdminJobs.ie
