Searching for and recruiting new employees is both a cost and investment to a business, and so it’s important to get it right. Keeping recruitment costs down is often a top priority for any company, especially small business and start-ups. Getting a strong business function in place is crucial, and one way to create a recruitment strategy that pays for itself is internal HR and recruitment teams. Whilst establishing these teams can initially feel like a financial strain for your company, it’s a worthwhile investment that will pay for itself in the long run.

Hiring the right candidates is important; it often takes up to six months to see the financial return of a new employee, so staff retention is crucial. Using cost-effective tools, in-house recruitment teams can lower the initial costs of recruitment, and also work towards retaining staff and building a strong company culture. By setting a solid recruitment process in place, and using time and money saving methods, HR and in-house recruitment teams can help businesses to invest in talented members of staff that will contribute financially to the business, and cut costs.

Social media

Internal recruiters can use company social media platforms to advertise their vacancies and source candidates. Though the time is spent writing and monitoring these posts, using social media as a recruitment tool is essentially free, and if used effectively, professional platforms like LinkedIn can help to draw in great talent. By implementing a system where social media becomes a big part of the recruitment strategy, you could save your business money, and internal monitoring also gives you the opportunity to reach a much wider audience; today’s candidates are also utilising social platforms in their job search, often meaning that while you’re looking for them, they’re also looking for you – bonus!

Websites and job boards

As with social media, the internet has opened up a whole host of opportunities for both candidates and recruiters alike. By using websites and online job boards, internal recruiters can reduce costs whilst still actively searching for candidates. In-house recruitment professionals can also post job vacancies on the company website for free, or use online job boards like CV-Library, to help their job adverts reach more candidates.

Employee referral schemes

One of the simplest ways to cut costs is to implement an internal employee referral scheme. HR teams can run incentivised schemes in which existing employees can put forward people from their own network to fill the role. This may not always result in a hire, but it can take the time and cost out of searching if the right candidate is recommended for the role; all that’s left to do is go through the interview stages and determine whether they’d be a good fit.

Using technology

Video and phone interviews are becoming increasingly popular nowadays, and having already reduced the financial strain of searching for candidates, your recruitment team can use these new forms of interview to cut costs even further. Using technology to interview candidates means your staff could spend less of their time actually conducting the interview, and travel or meeting costs can be avoided altogether. Having a team that can lock down an efficient interview process means saving time and money in the long run, further contributing to the business.

External recruiters and company culture

And finally, having a team of internal recruiters means that you have a dedicated tool for finding the best candidates, without having to pay external parties to do it for you. On top of this, your existing staff will often be best placed to find the most suited candidates and promote your company culture – this way you know you’ll be getting the best possible fit. Hardworking staff and good overall retention will benefit the business, in addition to reducing future recruitment costs.

Whilst establishing a strong HR and recruitment team can feel like a financial strain at first, implementing a cost-effective and efficient recruitment process should enable them to pay for themselves in the long run. Tools such as social media and employee referral schemes can be utilised by HR and recruitment professionals to reduce the costs of searching for candidates, and better still, using new forms of technology, and having a solid interview process in place means that your HR team can save time and finances in this department too. Ultimately, a strong and established HR/in-house recruitment team will often keep paying for itself in new recruits and reduced costs, time and time again.