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With the rising cost of living, you may be looking for ways to reduce costs in 2023. Recruitment costs may be one area you can make some cutbacks whilst still ensuring you are attracting the very best candidates. 
Let’s start by considering what makes up your recruitment costs. 
• Loss of productivity, if you do not have enough staff to manage the workload or if staff members are being taken out of the business to support with recruitment. 
• Cost to your reputation if you are no longer able to fulfil the same level of services or cannot delivery on time. 
• Agency fees. 
• Advertising costs. 
• Management time used to carry out the recruitment process. 
 
These are our top 5 ways to reduce your recruitment costs in 2023: 
1. Recruitment agency fees 
Generally standard recruitment agencies will charge you 15% of the successful candidate’s salary. 
DO NOT negotiate on this fee, Agencies will be recruiting for lots of similar roles to yours and if you are not paying as much as another business you run the risk that you will not see the best candidates. 
Consider retained or exclusive recruiters, this will ensure you get the very best candidates as they will not be competing with other agencies. 
Ensure you work with agencies you know and trust. 
By ensuring you are working with the right agencies and paying a fair fee, you can ensure you are targeting the best quality candidates, which in turn will reduce your time to hire, saving you time in the long run. 
 
2. Reduce the time to hire 
Candidates are moving quickly so it is important to consider ways to shorten the recruitment process, so you don’t lose the best candidates to your competitors. 
Can you shorten the length of time between first and second stage interviews, maybe complete all stages in one day. 
Work backwards, consider when you would like the candidate to start, taking into consideration any notice periods, consider if your hiring managers have any leave that needs to be worked around. There is no point paying advertising cost if you do not have the resources to process and interviews the candidates. 
 
3. Search CV databases 
Jobs boards such as CV Library, Total Jobs, Reed, Indeed and LinkedIn recruiter make their money 2 ways. The advertising side where you are paying to advertise your roles and the CV library side, where candidates can upload their CV. Businesses can pay a monthly fee to have access to thousands of CV’s. 
This may be a time-consuming task however you will have the ability to directly approach the very best candidates before your competitors. Some sites will offer free trials so you could try before you commit. 
 
4. Reduce your interview time 
You do not want to be wasting your valuable time on the wrong candidates. 
Don’t overcomplicate the process, candidates have lots of choice and they will drop out if the process is to long or to complex. 
Look at smart ways to keep the process robust and simple, such as telephone interview for the first stage. 
Consider getting someone else to sift the CV’s so you are only spending your time with the best candidates. 
Shorted the length of time between interviews or ideally have all stages on one day. 
Consider ways to automate the process, using an applicant tracking system will make sorting, processing, and rejecting candidates more straight forwards. 
 
5. Employee referral scheme 
Ask your current workforce if they know someone ideal for your roles and offer them a referral incentive. 
Make the incentive meaningful to the employee, (money or vouchers) and make sure the amount is sufficient, as long as its less than agency fees, you will be saving money whilst also rewarding your employees. 
You could split the payment into 2 instalments, one instalment paid on the start date and one after successful completion of their probation period. This could also help you to retain good employees. 
To make a referral scheme successful, you need to continual promote this benefit. 
 
If you would like more support on ways to reduce your recruitment costs, whilst still securing the very best candidates, please speak to Emerald Starfish on 01162 080246 
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