Controlling Recruitment Costs Without Sacrificing A Quality Process

By Author: Jack Goulding
Total Articles: 1
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The recent economic downturn has affected different industries to varying degrees. However, one constant across many industries has been increasingly concentrated efforts focusing on cost savings. Whether or not one's particular industry has been impacted by the considerable level of layoffs affecting many sectors, when it comes to the process of hiring (or re-hiring as the case may be), the costs associated with the targeted recruitment of the most qualified candidates has proven to be one of the easiest areas in which to realise significant cost savings. This is true, in large part, due to the rapid growth of the flat fee recruitment industry.

Flat fee recruitment is a fairly recent phenomenon in the world of professional recruiting in which recruiters offer their services to the hiring company for a standard, predetermined rate, regardless of the number of applicants screened or the number of positions looking to be filled. While this rate may vary from provider to provider, depending on exactly what services are being offered, flat rate recruitment has quickly become regarded as the most economical model when compared ...
... to more traditional recruitment methods.

The roots of this innovative means of recruitment can be traced back to two simple facts. First, in the past ten to fifteen years, the Internet has become the origin of almost all hiring and/or job seeking activities. That is to say, whether one is looking for a job, or looking to hire, the search simply cannot be considered to be the most effective if the vast resources available online are not being utilized efficiently. Secondly, the development of software programs serving as advanced applicant tracking systems and new techniques such as CV parsing have minimised the need for hands-on human involvement across various stages of the recruitment process. This saves the recruiters money, and allows them to pass their services on to the client at a substantially lower rate than previously possible.

That is not to say that the human element has been completely removed from the recruitment process. By working closely with their clients beforehand, these recruitment services are able to identify the exact requirements and expectations of their clients, and use this information to precisely frame online advertisements to attract only the most suitable candidates. Also, a hiring company should still expect a fully manual response to any and all potential leads, thereby further maintaining the crucial human element throughout the process.