Employer Branding: Reduce your cost per hire
Regardless of the size of a business, there will always be a need to implement cost cutting strategies.
An area that businesses are aware of, but struggle to reduce, is their cost per hire. If you’re short-staffed or are waiting on new recruits to be able to grow to meet demand, recruitment is a priority. This is where you can easily go over budget by increasing your cost per hire.
Need to reduce your cost per hire? Be aware of increasing recruitment costs
It’s easy for recruitment costs to spiral when your priority is filling vacant positions or needing to grow the business.
Unsure of where those increasing costs occur? Here’s a quick lowdown for you:
Using a recruitment agency
Using a recruitment agency may seem like an easy fix. However, have you taken into account the associated costs? Typically, recruitment agencies charge between 15-20%, increasing to 30% for hard-to-fill positions.
The average salary in the UK is just under £35K, using this as an example, you would be charged £7,000, increasing to £10,500 if it was considered a hard-to-fill position. This one-off figure per position can greatly impact your cost per hire.
Job boards
Recruitment companies usually have packages set up with job boards, meaning that they have purchased a large block of ‘job slots’, reducing their overall cost. As a business, if you start looking into using job boards on a smaller scale you could spend a small fortune.
Industry-specific job boards can easily increase your cost per hire as they charge £100s per posting.
How employer branding can reduce your cost per hire
According to a recent LinkedIn report, employer branding can reduce a company’s cost per hire by up to 50%.
By investing in an employer branding strategy, you can significantly cut down on other expenses, saving your company money in the long run.
Here’s a few examples of how employer branding reduces your cost per hire:
Attract more of the right candidates
By investing in your employer brand, you’re building a great picture of who you are, the commitments you hold and the people who currently work for you. This will help build a talent pool of candidates who align with your brand and are interested in working for you for the right reasons.
Employee referrals
Referrals are a great way to reduce your cost per hire. If you treat your employees well and have a strong employer brand, your staff will be happy to share vacancies.
Employees who are happy at work are likely to refer to people who are skilled, good team players and company-fit. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t want to share a vacancy with someone you wouldn’t be happy to work with!
Higher acceptance rates
We’ve all been there; you’ve got the end of the recruitment process and you’ve made the offer…but it’s been rejected.
By effectively managing your employer brand, you’re much more likely to get candidates who would choose you over others. Reducing your offer decline rate and your cost per hire.
Utilise social media
More than half of the world use social media, which is why it’s a great place to be showcasing your employer brand. Best part is, it’s free, reducing your cost per hire if you’re using it correctly.
We’ve written a whole blog on why social media needs to be part of your employer brand strategy, check it out here.
When is the best time to start looking at your employer brand?
The quick answer…yesterday!
Employer branding is a great way to reduce your cost per hire, but it won’t happen overnight. Managing your employer brand needs to be something you can keep up with, which is why it’s best to develop a strategy to help you understand where you are now and where you want to be.
Not sure where to start? Get in touch to see how our Employer Branding and Content Specialist can help you.