Recruitment is taking on a different dimension

January 9, 2009

In the organisation I work for, we are lucky enough to still be growing even in the face of a national recession, and when the news brings stories of thousands of job cuts each day from the likes of Marks and Spencer and Nissan, we are still sourcing candidates for a number of positions on a daily basis. However as with the learning and development budgets as discussed in my last couple of articles, recruitment budgets have been squeezed so that per candidate, only half the budget that was available last year is available again now.

These changes mean that the method of recruiting candidates is taking on a different dimension, and this is also affected by the external labour market and the wider effects of the economic downturn. Just one year ago, the highly competitive labour market meant that it was very difficult to source candidates without the assistance of a recruitment consultant. Our online advertisements were lost in the massive databases on the likes of Monster and Total jobs, because recruiters seemed to have the monopoly over this medium with their larger budgets and multiple adverts which knocked our ads out of search lists. Most candidates in the market for this industry at that time searched for jobs through recruitment agencies, so we didn’t have much choice but to use them, which meant the costs for recruitment were astronomical.

Now, it is becoming easier to source candidates through alternative methods than the recruitment consultant, because there are so many more people in the labour market that are looking for work. Low cost and free websites (such as jobcentreplus) have proved quite successful in delivering good quality candidates. There are more people searching themselves for jobs instead of using recruitment consultants, this may be because fewer jobs are being given to agencies to source. This has been found by many of the major agencies, as:

“Hays said its UK business had collapsed by 22% in the three months to the end of the year. Michael Page said the Christmas quarter had brought a dive of 20% across its UK offices” (thisismoney.co.uk).

We are also looking at exhibitions and shows that will take place throughout the year, particularly in the graduate area. This can be a low cost way of generating a large pool of candidates, but don’t forget to factor in costs such as any display equipment such as posters or stands, travel and transport costs, and any corporate gifts you may wish to give out such as pens, keyrings etc.

The difference in the way we are now recruiting has been quite dramatic and surprising, however I imagine that it is reflective of many organisations across the country that are recruiting at the moment. How has the changing job market affected the way you are recruiting candidates?

Things to consider:
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Posted by hrgirl | Filed Under Recruitment and Retention 

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