Blog Network Association Review

Recruiting new staff is a costly outlay for any company, and the costs of actually advertising for the positions is just a small part, so it is crucial 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 team has handed in their notice. Clearly one of the best ways to avoid recruitment costs altogether is to keep staff turnover down to a minimum. Wages is not the best way to attain this, despite popular beliefs, it is much better to invest in a healthy and effective continuous professional development plan for staff, allow progression wherever possible and ensure that workers feel valued. Team building events and investing in staff development will really make an impact here in a way that pay increases seldom do. Another way to keep hold of staff is to be flexible in your requests. Allowing part time working, flexi time and unpaid leave can all help to hold on to a valued staff member who is under pressure 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 development of technology.

Of course you will never be able to get rid of the need for recruitment altogether, in particular 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 businesses recruitment wants and address them all at the same time. Having one campaign is far more cost effective than many smaller campaigns. You will get a better deal from a recruitment consultant if they are assisting you on one big campaign and select one who has a strong Internet Business as they are likely to be more cost effective than a smaller, high street organization.

There is also the option to market 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 traditional approach of a newspaper advert. Often a direct campaign online works very well if it is seen by people looking for jobs 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 ensure the job seeker makes contact with the recruitment consultant. So as long as you can ensure that your online advert is available for people searching for a new role it can often be a very useful way of recruiting.

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