Employing Staff: Saving money on staff recruitment

As the costs of conventional print advertising continue to soar, many smart HR professionals are looking for alternative methods of finding and recruiting good quality staff.

 Using a recruitment agency can offer a quick staff solution but associated costs are often high for the employer, limiting their application to only higher level positions.

 Advances in online solutions give HR professionals many cost-effective options. Social media presents an array of opportunities through platforms such as Twitter and Linked In. Think of Twitter a bit like a noticeboard: Effective use of Twitter can help to alert suitable candidates to arising vacancies, and if this is supported by a weblink giving access to a complete online application process then this can quickly drive application numbers. Twitter is time intensive however, and cannot be regarded as a quick-fix solution as a careful strategy of recruiting followers is required to achieve significant returns.

The beauty of the internet is that space is almost limitless, so where the content of a print advert may be severely restricted where space costs a premium, on your company website it is possible to include extensive detail about the job description and person specification. This can also help to initially filter applicants since enough detail underlining the attributes of the ideal candidate can ensure that only the most suitable jobseekers apply.

Linked In is a head hunters paradise – brimming with details and career histories of a vast array of individuals who may be perfect for your job vacancy. The difficulty is that there is no way of knowing that a person is actively jobseeking so it can be a labour intensive exercise approaching suitable candidates in the hope that they are looking for a career change.

An online jobseeker database site like Shop4Staff eliminates that problem since all the registered candidates have proactively registered with the site and are actively seeking new work opportunities. Some of these candidates will be available for an immediate start, and all Shop4Staff candidates have to provide verifiable details of two referees to ensure their credibility, further reducing the time and associated cost in the recruitment process.