This is how recruiters can reduce costs and be super efficient

As digital transformation progresses, recruiters are challenged to reduce costs and keep them low while attracting and engaging the right talent for growth.

But companies still employing in-house IT recruitment software can find themselves bogged down in inefficient working cultures that limit value in today’s highly competitive marketplace.

You will recognise some of the symptoms of inefficient working environments and how they can lead to escalating costs. For example, substandard applications can often be traced back to a poor use of recruitment channels.

Without a handle on your financials, money can be wasted on advertising for extended periods of time, leading to a long-term dent in ROI.

Striking a balance between hiring the right people and using time efficiently is a huge challenge for recruitment firms, and another reason for lost revenue in the long run. In turn, hiring the wrong person can undermine staff morale, productivity and performance, again negatively impacting upon value.

Internal processes can introduce complexities that also push costs up; if systems are not optimised then aggregating data, analysing and reporting between departments can take extra time, which of course means money.

How can you take action and reduce costs?

Try these three methods and start taking action in the battle to reduce costs while achieving the task of sourcing top talent. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Smarter sourcing

Agency costs are a worry that can actually be offset if more time is put into sourcing the best candidates. Emphasis should fall on having the right tools, systems and targeting in place to ensure the right people get the right placements.

Research is key here. Knowledge about a target audience is often based on assumptions made by teams or individuals, studies show. Instead, use qualitative research to categorise your candidates according to their individual preferences and to obtain more precise ideas of their employment they’re after.

2. Get your brand out there

Social media should play a big role in giving your prospects a window into your company culture and the broader industry.

You have to think like a marketer, building engaging content that uses real-life experiences to amplify success stories and pass on advice. The challenge is to animate your brand through relevant, useful and interesting content that draws in candidates and turns them into applicants.

3. Measure and improve

Optimising the two points above is only possible if your internal systems are working efficiently. This means knowing your business inside out: what kind of intelligence drives your business decisions? How well do you really know the way your money works?

Through the creation of accurate data-based reports, you can monitor performance and identify improvement opportunities in people, processes and finance. This is how you optimise value.

Financial optimisation through the cloud

Cloud technology enables companies to reinvigorate financials and other core business functions, so opportunities and threats can be identified quickly.

From here, it’s about bringing real solutions to issues that undermine value, and this can only happen through an online accounting ecosystem that integrates fully with your organisation’s applications to maximise business intelligence. Consider these three points…

1. Integration

This is a fundamental aspect. Sure, in the past companies have favoured software options tailored to the needs of specific departments. But these systems are costly; factor in development complexities and expenditure quickly becomes prohibitive, while silo culture escalates.

A fully integrated cloud-based accounting software solution brings your financials in line with core business functions, creating a valid and up-to-date ecosystem in which staff members can share data with maximum efficiency, consistency and accuracy.

2. Automation

A culture of changing jobs combined with how easy it is to apply for multiple jobs are two reasons behind the unprecedented levels of CVs that recruiters receive in the internet age.

“As a result of the ‘spray and pray’ mentality that job seekers have, recruiters often deal with huge amounts of volume… [it] creates a bottleneck and it becomes really hard to properly manage all these relationships,” says tech recruitment specialist Eyal Grayevsky from Mya Systems.

Automation is a game changer here and is being used by increasing numbers of recruiters who can spend up to 23 hours screening CVs for single hires. Freeing employees from laborious work processes allows those workers to get on with more rewarding endeavours that help to build business.

Meanwhile, removing the human element completes those HR tasks far faster and more accurately.

As automation culture is set to increase, recruiters can expect more “sales-type” personalities in recruitment, as focus shifts towards closing the candidate, selling company culture and working in a consultative capacity, says Guillaume Champagne, the president of recruitment firm SCGC Executive Search.

3. Collaboration

This comes naturally when processes are made more efficient and people are enabled to work more creatively.

That’s what the cloud ecosystem is all about – all authorised parties can access the business network at all times. Data is kept current in real time and made available through personalised dashboards that are easy to analyse.

The value of growth

Recruitment in the past has been about expensive in-house software engineered as a stand-alone solution, making it hard for medium-sized businesses to compete.

In today’s connected world, you have to identify, attract and engage with talent, and only a cloud-based platform can allow this to happen.

A fully integrated, online IT infrastructure that scales with business requirements means recruitment teams can meet challenges with agility. The talent search can continue around the clock at a global scale, levelling the playing field and positioning organisations for value-driven growth.