Almost
three in four employers (73.3 per cent) have taken steps to reduce staff
recruitment costs during the past year and bring the process in house,
according to research.
A
survey for IRS Employment Review reveals that employers across private and
public sectors are determined to find ways of achieving better value for money
in all areas of their recruitment process.
This
has involved cuts in the use of external suppliers such as advertising
agencies, headhunters and employment agencies. Â
Use
of the internet has seen the smallest reduction, as this proves to be a
cost-effective means of finding staff. Specific recruitment budgets are also
being introduced or revised to reflect this change in processes and procedures.
The
key findings are:
–
Cuts in the use of advertising agencies, employment agencies and headhunters
have forced recruiters to look again at in-house processes. New selection
procedures are being introduced in a bid to screen out as many unsuitable, and
potentially expensive, candidates as possible.
–
According to respondents, the internet has a role to play in recruitment – just
1.1 per cent have reduced their use of the internet. Recruiters see it as
playing a full role in recruitment at an acceptable cost to the organisation.
–
Almost three in 10 organisations (27.3 per cent) provide self-selection
information. This enables candidates to establish their suitability for a post
at an early stage and therefore reduce the number of candidates who do not meet
the criteria (and the costs to the organisation).
–
More than three-quarters (77.4 per cent) of respondents have specific
recruitment budgets
–
Almost three in five (57 per cent) organisations in the public sector have
experienced a recruitment budget increase.
–
But one in three manufacturing and production employers (36 per cent) have
reduced their recruitment budget – probably as a result of the continuing
recession in this industrial area.
Noelle
Murphy, who carried out the research for IRS Employment Review, said:
"Taking control of the recruitment budget is allowing employers to manage
the recruitment process more closely by changing internal procedures and
practices. Employment agencies, advertising agencies and headhunters are going
to have to prove their worth and value to recruiters, who are using
increasingly sophisticated selection and recruitment methods – many of which
are developed and designed in house, embedded in internal procedures and
practice.
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