14 June
5 tips to reduce recruitment cost
In the present scenario of COVID 19, businesses have seen revenue loss and hence many of the vacancies have been put on hold. However, there some vacancies which need to be filled regardless of the downturn of the economy. But hiring a candidate comes at its own cost. According to a recent SHRM study, the average cost-per-hire (CPH) is around $4,129. This is a significant amount and during these tough times, companies are hesitant to shell out such a large amount of money and are looking at alternatives. So if you are wondering on how to reduce your recruitment cost and time, you have landed on the right page. Here is your guide on how to reduce your CPH without affecting the quality of hire. Continuing our habit of delivering more than what we promise, here is a list of 8 tips (instead of 5) that you can practice to make your recruitment process more efficient, productive and cost effective.
1. Automate your prescreening process
One of the most time consuming, resource eating and money gulping activity in the recruitment process is the top of the funnel filtering process. Gone are the days where you have to call all the prospective employees one by one and ask them the same repetitive questions. You can easily save time and cost by automating the prescreening activity. You can leverage the technology to assist you in conducting tedious and menial job. There are many software applications and chatbots available in the market which can initiate a chat with all the applied candidates almost instantaneously. Chatbots can ask the candidate questions like:
- Readiness for job change
- Their current work location
- Willingness to relocate
- Relevant Work experience
- Their skillset
- Expected CTC
- Notice period
It can then map them with the job description and provide a rank and even disqualify candidates (who do not fulfill the job description criteria) and give a summary report to HRs. This way HRs can effectively automate the tedious job of screening candidates and save on both cost & time. There are certain chatbots available that will provide you free trial but only for 14 or 30 days. SCREEBO is the only chatbot available in the market which is free for lifetime. It provides you all the features mentioned above and helps you to automate your screening process.
Moreover, there are certain configurable chatbot platforms available in the market with which you can create your own chatbot and integrate it in your system. Below is a list where you can configure your chatbot for free for candidate screening purpose and automate your process.
- TARS-
- Smatbot
- Chatbot
- Hybridchat
- Landbot
However, there are some limitations with above mentioned chatbots with respect to the number of days or the number of chatbot sessions allowed in free account. Beyond that, you will need to shell out money from your pocket. Moreover, they also do not provide you a customized dashboard, analytics, synopsis reports and do not store the database of the tests. Hence using them for sake of experiment, personal interest and fun is ok but they are not recommended for in a longer run.
2. Internal job posting (IJP) and referrals
One of the most effective ways of reducing recruitment cost is by filling a vacancy through internal job posting. By posting an advertisement on internal portals, companies can attract applications from available prescreened and a pre-approved pool of candidates. This also provides the employee an opportunity in job role rotation which is seen as an essential element in the Management leadership program. This boosts employee satisfaction and helps companies immensely to rank higher in Great places to work. When hiring through IJP, costs incurred in almost the entire recruitment cycle – from job boarding advertisements to interview scheduling and from assessment to travel related- is saved. While hiring an employee via IJP, employee compensation also remains the same thereby further reducing the cost.
You can also attract talent via referral schemes. Though you will have to shell out booty to your existing employee for referral, it is nothing as compared to many direct and indirect expenses incurred while sourcing a candidate- For example, compare it with the price of posting an advertisement on job boards. The candidate selected through the referral scheme tends to be in the same job for a longer time because of the connections. Also, the background checks are very easy in case of referrals.
3. (Pro tip) Conducting Technical & Psychometric tests
An important element in hiring cost which is always overlooked is that of the interview time of hiring managers and department heads. As per the current industry average, rejection to selection rate in an interview is 6:1. Such a high rate of rejections at interview stage leads to a very high but hidden internal element of cost per hire. Adopting modern tools as explained in the first point also helps in screening the candidates in technical and psychometric fields. This helps in the better gauging of a candidate and results in 50% reduction in rejection at the time of interview decreasing the ratio as low as 3:1. Hence while you are looking for a recruitment chatbot, make sure that it provides you an option to conduct technical & psychometric tests. For this, it is imperative that the questionnaire should be editable/configurable. There are certain online assessment platforms like “Mettl”, “Talview” & “Amcats” which do help you in conducting technical & psychometric tests. But sadly they are neither free nor are they recruitment chatbots which means you cannot integrate them in your recruitment cycle. SCREEBO and Xobin are some of the chatbots that allow you to screen the candidates on technical & psychometric level. They provide you the flexibility to create a new questionnaire any number of times allowing you to conduct technical tests depending on the role KRA & job position level. You can schedule your technical and psychometric tests for those candidates who have already been funneled by prescreening test. As a result, you will get a list of most eligible candidates as per their ranking and you can start scheduling interviews in a sequential manner as per their ranking. By leveraging these tools you can drastically reduce your interview rejection rate and consequently cost per hire.
4. Video interviews
In the current scenario of social distancing, conducting a video interview is a great tool for final assessment of a candidate which also helps you to adhere to various government guidelines for social distancing. Apart from this, conducting video interviews also has other benefits. Most prominently, it will take away the burden of reimbursing the traveling cost of candidate. This will result in a good amount of reduction in hiring cost. You can also record the videos and use them for behavioral analysis afterward. There is also an option of asynchronous video platforms. In asynchronous video interviews, a candidate can respond to pre-defined interview questions in his own time, and then the recordings of these answers are reviewed later on by a recruiter. There are many video interview platforms available in the market. But all of these come at a cost. You need to check out each one and assess them on parameters of ease of use, ease of integration in your existing system, features provided, pricing, ROI, and much more. An important thing to note here is that you should not end up in spending more on these interview platforms than what are you spending now. Here is a quick guide to help you to choose the right video interview platform which suits you the best. (https://www.selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/best-video-interview-software). We would suggest you to initially start with free of cost platforms like skype, Microsoft teams, Duo, Zoom etc, and see how comfortable you are with video interviews rather than directly opting and spending money in a video interview platform.
5. Campus hiring
Campus hiring means physically going to a college, funneling out candidates through various tools like aptitude for final stage of interview. However the current situation of covid 19 has made it impossible to conduct campus hiring. Here also technology comes to your rescue. You can invite interested candidates’ resumes via email and shortlist them via resume parsing tool. Here is a list of comparison of resume parsing tool (https://www.capterra.com/p/33114/Resume-Parser/#comparisons). Compare and select the one which suits you the best. Once the candidates are shortlisted you can further screen them via aptitude tests. SCREEBO (Need website link on the name) helps you in performing this tedious task. You can add your own aptitude test questionnaire, set the test timer in few steps and invite candidates to attempt the test. SCREEBO will connect with all the candidates immediately and simultaneously, screen them based on system fed test and rank them as per the scores of candidates. Depending on the job role, you can further test them for their technical skills or directly schedule a video interview. Using technology, one can easily and cost effectively hire through campus placements even in this tough situation.
6. Hire Passive Candidates
Take this opportunity to hunt talent that is passive/free right now. Companies are seldom approaching any new recruits at this point. So, reaching out to candidates and offering them new job opportunities is easier now than ever. And you can be assured of having their full attention, without the clutter of meetings, other job offers, and general daily life. There are also many people who were recently laid off. Take this opportunity to help them find a good job. This way you can be assured to find amazing talent without having to go out of your way or spend more resources than usual.
7. Leverage social media & Optimize your career portal.
As per a recent study by Jobvite, 92% of US companies are currently making an effort to recruit through social media. This is because a single listing on a major job board can run over $400, which rises steeply into four digits if you have multiple vacant positions. Hence it is advisable to leverage various social media platforms like Linkedin not only to save the cost but also to widen your reach. By posting your vacancies on social media, you can reach even passive job seekers who are ready to move but aren’t actively looking for a job change on job websites. Social media is also a great, low-cost way to advertise your employer brand throughout the recruitment process. For example, Facebook allows businesses to post and advertise open positions directly on their company page. Twitter or Snapchat ads can help showcase company culture and prompt talent to apply for a job directly from their phone. Additionally, using these channels to source talent allows you to attract higher quality candidates because followers of your brand’s profiles are likely to already have an interest in your industry and a firm grasp on your company culture.
Do not stop by posting your ads on social media. Your prospective employees also follow you on the career portal of your website. These are the candidates who are actively looking to join you, are from the same or similar industry, follows your brand and more likely to be associated with you for a longer time. Hence optimize the career portal on your website and make it attractive. Keep it live, interactive and make it engaging. Post new job vacancies on it, updates for various stages a vacancy is in, campus hiring activity, new upcoming job opening, recruitment drives, etc. You can even post study materials relevant to your industry. This way, you can increase the traffic on your career page and do away with the high charges of job boarding.
8. (Pro Tip) Build a strong talent pipeline
Another easy way to save on recruitment cost is by retaining the information of previous candidates who made it till the last but did not get selected owing to some reason like candidate is fit for the required job but you found a better prospect. You do not need to spend anything extra at. All you need to do is to maintain a simple excel file with the candidate contact details, skill, current company & location, position for which he was considered, stage till which he was qualified in recruitment cycle and the reason for no selection. You can use this information while filling a future vacancy. With appropriate filters in your excel sheet, you can find the pre assessed most relevant candidate matching the job profile at no additional cost! You can reach out to the candidates, ask for his/her interest in the job profile and continue with interested candidates’ from where you left.
We hope that you liked the above tips and find them useful. For more insights on the new trends in recruitment space, visit our blog regularly or you can directly contact us here.
