Taking on new staff is a costly outlay for any company, and the costs of actually advertising for the roles is just a small part, so it is vital that a business does this in the most effective way possible.

Of course one of the chief reasons for recruiting, apart from expansion, is that a member of your staff has handed in their notice. Clearly one of the best ways to shun recruitment costs altogether is to keep staff turnover down to a minimum. Earnings is not the best way to realise this, despite popular beliefs, it is much better to invest in a healthy and effective continuous professional development strategy for staff, allow progression wherever possible and make certain that workers feel appreciated. Team building events and investing in staff development will really make an impact here in a way that pay increases rarely do. Another way to keep hold of staff is to be flexible in your demands. Allowing part time working, flexi time and unpaid leave can all help to hold on to a respected staff member who is struggling with other commitments. It may also be possible to let some staff Work From Home depending on their role and this is becoming easier with the enhancement of technology.

Of course you will never be able to eradicate the need for recruitment altogether, especially if your business is growing and developing in new areas. So keeping the costs of that recruitment down is critical. Plan your recruitment strategy well, make sure that all areas of the business are consulted to establish the whole company’s recruitment needs and address them all at the same time. Having one drive is far more cost effective than many smaller campaigns. You will get a better deal from a recruitment consultant if they are helping you on one huge campaign and choose one who has a strong Internet Business as they are likely to be more cost effective than a smaller, high street firm.

There is also the option to promote your vacancies yourself. You can do this on the internet on one of the many Online Jobs sites and you can of course go for the more conventional approach of a newspaper advert. Often a direct campaign online works very well if it is seen by people looking for work as they are glad to see the actual employer visible. So many jobs these days are left on recruitment consultants sites and the job seeker has trouble evaluating the role without spending a lot of time with the recruitment consultant. It sometimes seems that there are “generic” jobs on these sites just there to make certain the job seeker makes contact with the recruitment consultant. So as long as you can ensure that your online advert is visible to people searching for a new role it can often be a very useful way of recruiting.

The final point is to make sure the correct choice in personnel is made. An individual who is over qualified for a role, or who has ambitions that cannot be satisfied within your business will be an expensive choice. While they may do a great job in the first instance they will probably move on to another company as soon as it suits them, leaving you with the whole process to face again.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 3:29 pm and is filed under Business and Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.