Do you know how much it costs to hire people for your organizations? I’m sure it would come as no surprise that many firms don’t bother to calculate the actual cost involved in the recruitment process. However, burying your head in the sand to those costs aren’t going to make them go away.
Let’s do some simple math:
- How many positions did you hire for last year?
- How many people did you interview for each position?
- How long did each interview last?
- What was the hourly rate of the person/persons who are conducting the interviews?
- What was the cost to advertise (paper, internet, head hunter, etc.)?
- How many hours were invested in training, managing and coaching the new hire?
- What was the hourly wage of the trainer/manager/coach?
- What was the approximately total office expenses related to hiring/losing one employee?
Calculate and add up all of these expenses and you’ll get a good idea of the cost to recruit for your company in one year. Are you surprised? Is that number larger than you thought?
This is a large reason why it’s important that you put care and effort into your recruitment process. The overall goal should be to hire the right person for the right job at the right time (and to help minimize costs).
Let’s review the steps typical undertaken in a recruitment process:
- Ask yourself – “Do I really need to fill this position?”. Sometimes, the job has changed and you find that you don’t need to fill it. Maybe some of the tasks could be divided up amongst your remaining staff. Take a good look at the job description – is it current? Has anything changed? Now is also a good time to update your job description so you know exactly what the position you are hiring for entails.
- Job Ad and placement – you want to create an ad that is going to catch people’s eye. It doesn’t have to elaborate but it should provide enough detail for a potential applicant to decide if they want to apply. Place the ad in areas where potential candidates will see it – internet, trade journals, business schools, etc.
- Screen the resumes – make sure you create a list of “must haves” for your job. Those are the minimum that a person will need to be successful in the position.
- Schedule interviews for those candidates who have the minimum qualifications.
- Make sure you develop appropriate questions to help you determine if the candidate really does have the qualifications you are looking for.
- Provide testing as required.
- Offer the position to the best candidate you interviewed. Once they have formally accepted, notify all candidates that you interviewed that they have not been successful.
Creating a routine-type interview process will go along ways in helping you save money in your hiring process. It will help to ensure you’re finding the right person for the right job at the right time.