There are a variety of resources available to businesses of all sizes to help with the identification, attraction, and retention of top talent while reducing expenses.
Always be looking to hire
Create a culture that encourages continuous recruiting. When you have a fresh pipeline of potential candidates and sources, hiring someone is much easier than starting from scratch. Informational meetings, exploratory interviews, and referrals are excellent tools for building this pipeline.
Create a Successful Employee Referral Program (ERP)
While this will necessitate some initial effort, the long-term payoff will be enormous. Companies that use active ERPs attribute between 40% and 60% of their new hires to employee referrals.
Even if your organization paid a $1000 referral fee per new hire, you could hire approximately 20 employees before even considering the cost of using an external recruiter – depending on the employee’s level. Furthermore, effective ERPs are not always based on monetary incentives.
Some of the best programs provide non-cash incentives such as an extra day off, a raffle ticket for a drawing for a new iPod at the quarterly meeting, lunch for the referring employee’s department, and so on. The key is to think outside the box and figure out what motivates your team.
Use Social Networking Sites
While there are numerous sites available, LinkedIn is one of the best – and free – social networking tools. Many Fortune 500 companies have a Facebook or Myspace presence as well.
Make use of your company’s website
When looking for a new job, most people (especially those between the ages of 22 and 39) “Google” the specific job, company, location, and/or industry they want. If you post your open position on Monster.com, it will appear in the candidate’s search, but so will the plethora of other opportunities you are competing with.
It’s surprising how many jobs are advertised on Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com but not on the company’s website. It is free to post on your company’s website. The following are some of the advantages of posting jobs on your company’s website:
Attracting more candidates to your website
Using a well-thought-out hiring strategy
Allowing you to more effectively market your company’s EVP
Giving candidates the opportunity to apply directly to your company and/or position
Employ Interns and Train Them to Be Employees
When hiring new employees, one of the best ways to ensure a good fit is to “try them out” as interns. SDSU, UCSD, and CSUSM are always looking for organizations willing to hire students as interns for one or two semesters at a low hourly rate (typically between $12 and $18/hour). This is an excellent way to complete special projects while also assessing the capabilities, skills, and personality fit of these aspiring professionals.
Create an Engaged Workforce
It is estimated that less than 30% of the U.S. workforce is “fully engaged” – that is, builders who use their skills and cultivate productive relationships (Gallup Organization). These engaged employees are more productive, take fewer sick days, develop new, innovative, and cost-effective strategies, and recruit other engaged professionals to your organization.
People are more engaged when they see a direct connection between their day-to-day work and the company’s mission. Because these same professionals want to be measured and evaluated, it is critical that each employee receives an annual, if not semi-annual, review.
Today’s workforce is also focused on continuous education, which includes certifications, graduate degrees, and advanced learning, necessitating management’s encouragement of “life-long learning.”
We hope this article will help you to reduce hiring costs and enhance the talent pool. Please share it with your network and don’t forget to share your feedback.
