Where and how do you find your new employees? Did you know large fortune 500 companies actually track where every new employee comes from?
Recruitment can cost small companies a lot of money in terms of percentage of company revenue. It’s time to stop throwing your hard earned money down for recruitment advertising that returns little or no value.
But first, you’ve got to figure out which recruitment and advertising methods are working for you and which ones waste your money.
CareerXRoads, a Staffing Strategy company in the US, recently released a study they did with 40 companies who had a combined total of 1,282,429 employees. 1880 Recruiters filled 188,062 positions in these companies in 2006.
This study found that the #1 source of recruitment is internal movement. It makes sense to offer new or open positions to existing staff. Most employees want to know there is a career path within the company.
New and open positions should be offered to existing staff, however, you need to have a method for measuring internal candidate’s potential for success in the new position.
A plan for development should also be in place for appropriate candidates when they begin any new position.
The CareerXRoads study found the participating companies planned to fill 40-50% of their openings by promoting existing employees in order to ensure strong retention levels among their top performers.
Even in small companies, or perhaps especially in small companies, employees need to know they can advance their careers with the company they’re at.
The 2nd highest source of hiring among the companies in the study was employee referrals. While referral programs need to be carefully set up, this is probably one of the most effective recruitment methods for small businesses as well.
When current employees understand the criteria their employer is looking for, they are usually willing to make sure the friends, former co-workers, or relatives they refer have the basics of what it takes to succeed in the position.
Company websites were listed in the CXR survey as the 3rd largest source of employment candidates. However, the company web site is a debatable source.
Most job seekers search a company’s web site once they already know a potential job exists at that particular company. Exceptions to this of course would be large employers such as health regions, educational institutions and most levels of government.
The main role of the company website in recruitment is as a destination where a job seeker visits for detailed information after initial interest is generated through some other source.
Online Job boards came next in this study of recruitment sources. This is a growing source of employees, however while there are thousands of job boards, the “Big Three” (CareerBuilder, Hotjobs and Monster) make up the bulk of job board hires.
Certainly, other boards may be popular in certain areas however as an employer, you’ll want to make sure the job board you use is being promoted in your area.
Media and print advertising has seen a comeback as a recruiting source according to this study. Some of this may be attributed to partnering between media and job board companies.
Most small businesses find a combination of two to four channels is most effective for their needs. But advertising open positions can rack up huge bills, as most small business owners have experienced.
Finding the most effective recruitment channels for your company requires that you find a method of tracking and evaluating where your candidates first heard about you. Develop and use a system for tracking what is most effective for your company.
Do you track your recruitment channels already? If you’re willing to share your ideas, please leave a comment below.