There
are traditionally four channels that a company uses to recruit
new employees - Internet, 3rd party recruiters, print and
referrals. Using all four of these targeted approaches, in
the right mix and for the right reasons, can ensure that your
recruiting efforts pay off with good employees at low costs.
While
everyone might assume that they already know everything
about each one, determining the right mix for your company
is critical. Let's briefly take a look at each of these
approaches separately and then talk a bit about how they
all work together.
Referrals
Referrals
are the least expensive way to hire new, quality employees
- if the process is managed correctly. The majority of companies
have some sort of employee referral program in place that
pays a current employee a "finders fee" for referring
someone that is hired and ultimately stays with the company
for 90 days, six months or a year. These fees generally
range from $200 to $5,000 depending upon the types of individuals
someone is looking for and the size of the company. The
smart companies structure the fee paid based on the level
of the position filled - more for an executive and less
for an administrator with an amount in the middle for managers.
The
problem that some companies face is a rising cost where
there is no tracking done on the referrals that come through
the system. Employees may refer someone after they see that
a position has been posted online, placed in the newspaper
or turned over to a 3rd party recruiter. If you end up hiring
the person that was referred by an employee, your cost is
not just the finder's fee, but the cost of all the other
advertisements as well. Leverage your employees first before
you leverage the market.
Print
This
is the most traditional method used for locating employee
candidates, but has become one of the least efficient in
today's technological economy. Twenty years ago, placing
an ad in the classified section of your local newspaper
for an open position was really the only way to reach a
large pool of candidates. Usually these people lived in
the community and so you didn't have to worry about relocation
costs and they were more likely to stay long term with your
organization. At the same time, placing that ad could run
in the thousands of dollars in a highly visible or national
publication and you may only received a handful of qualified
candidates or you settled for the best of the bunch.
Today,
the Internet has really taken a toll on the value of a print
ad for recruiting. But the fact is that there still is a
place for print ads depending upon the goals of your staffing
organization. Certain people still prefer to look at the
classifieds for new jobs - especially part time and entry-level
positions. Also, for people that are very busy and may not
have direct access to the Internet but they read their local
paper everyday, reaching them through print can be very
effective. Really evaluate your objectives for filling a
position to determine if there is value in a print ad.
3rd
Party Recruiters
When
all else fails, most organizations look to a 3rd Party Recruiter
to help them locate the perfect candidate. Depending upon
the company, some may even use a recruiting agency to fill
all their positions due to the speed of seeing qualified
candidates. The downside of this process is similar to print
in that it is very high cost if you use a traditional recruiting
firm. But today, there are a number of companies that have
emerged as true innovators in 3rd party recruiting. These
companies utilize technology as well as the human experience
to quickly generate quality candidates at a fraction of
the 20% to 30% of a total compensation fee or retainer.
Also
take a strong look at a resume from a recruiter before you
agree to meet with them. Too many of the clients that I
work with have ended up hiring candidates presented to them
by a 3rd Party recruiter that they already had a resume
on sitting in their applicant tracking system database.
The
3rd Party Recruiter does serve an important function in
any company's recruiting effort - that of locating the VP
or C-level executive and the hard to find specialist in
a medical, engineering or financial field. Often the network
that these companies have to generate qualified, passive
candidates is very impressive. As with print, think about
the type of person you are trying to hire or the position
you are trying to fill and determine if you can handle it
through a referral, print or the Internet. If not, then
it might be best to start with a 3rd Party Recruiter.
Internet
Ten
years ago, no one even knew what the Internet was. Five
years ago there were a few career sites online but none
of them were well recognized and besides, why would you
place a job online when there were very few people that
even had access to those job postings? Today, utilization
of the Internet and the thousands of career sites that cover
all job specialties and industries is the norm. For a very
low cost, in comparison to print and 3rd Party Recruiters,
a company can have access to thousands of candidates from
all over the world in just days. But this can also be a
double-edged sword.
When
you have thousands of applicants you want to make sure that
you are interviewing the best candidates. With new technologies
that are on the market today that can prescreen, test and
rank your candidates before a recruiter even sees the resume,
making your way through a large quantity of resumes can
be actually enjoyable. Plus, these technologies can also
be used for those candidates you receive from referrals,
print and 3rd Party Recruiters - very efficient use of your
budget dollars.
Combining
the four methods of recruiting
In
reality, no company can survive by using simply one of the
four approaches on its own. You really need to have a mix
of two or more to be truly effective in finding and retaining
the best candidates. Start with the referral process. If
you don't currently have one, then get one set up - there
are a number of good companies in the market that have a
technology to manage the referrals and the payment of the
finders fees. If you do have a referral program, make sure
that your employees know about it and how it works - having
them refer people through an internal system allows you
to track those candidates and source that referral database
before you post a job online or with a 3rd Party Recruiter.
After
you have a functional referral process take a look at the
types of positions you have open. Would these open positions
be best filled by an Internet posting, a 3rd Party Recruiter
or an ad in the newspaper? Just about any position can be
filled using the Internet but you can't expect one foundational
board to meet all your needs. There is a reason there are
hundreds of successful career sites on the Internet - they
all have a place for attracting qualified candidates. You
simply need to know which ones to use for your company hires.
Also, 3rd Party recruiters can be incredibly efficient,
but you do pay a high cost. Make sure that you are not relying
on them for all your hires no matter how easy it seems.
Reallocating some of the print and 3rd Party Recruiter budget
to the Internet or new generation recruiters and technology
can help you reach the same results at a lower overall cost
per hire. A lot of that is going to depend on your company,
your technology and your budget. Creating a recruiting process
that incorporates a lot of referrals, a strong Internet
presence and supplementing this with 3rd Party Recruiters
and print will generate hires that make you, and your management,
proud.
