Does Your Recruiting Budget Take These 4 Expenses Into Account?

Every organization has its challenges, but recruiting shouldn’t be one of them — and it doesn’t have to be.

It may seem impossible to plan for the future when it comes to hiring, but you can avoid many problems — and more easily solve that ones that do arise — if you just go into the process with the right budget.

Rather than waiting for the costs to come out of nowhere, budget now based on what you know you’ll need, what you’ve needed in the past, and the common challenges that arise when recruiting in your industry.

Focus on budgeting for the following areas to ensure your company is well prepared for your next job market shopping:

Career Website

Every company should have a career website — or at least an area of its corporate site dedicated to careers — where job seekers can search through new openings, learn more about what it is like to work at the company, and apply to open roles. Sixty-four percent of candidates in one survey  named career sites as one of their most commonly used resources for learning about new job opportunities, so it’s a good idea to have one.

Of course, establishing a career site will cost money. Once the site is live, it needs to be constantly monitored and optimized to ensure it meets the needs of your talent audience. Given all this, it is easy to see how costs can stack up

Here are some simple steps you can take to optimize your career site without breaking the bank:

1. Ensure your site is easy to find. Promote it on social media, use SEO tactics to rank high in search results, and use your corporate page to clearly direct interested candidates to your careers site.
2. Make it very easy to apply for open positions. Candidates don’t want to fill out a lot of forms for positions they may not even get. Only ask candidates to submit information you really need in the early stages.
3. Prominently feature positive quotes from company employees and senior management all over the careers site. Your applicants will appreciate getting the inside scoop into what it’s like to work for your company.

Even if you have the talent necessary to create and maintain a careers site in house, it is important to understand the time, effort, and resources that go into keeping that site fresh for interested applicants. Measure the cost of having your team handle this vs. outsourcing the work. In some instances, it may be cheaper in the long run to bring in contractors for help.

Social Media Promotions

Not using social media to promote your open jobs and employer brand? Consider that 73 percent of millennials  found their last position through social media. That’s traffic you don’t want to ignore.

You can easily showcase your open positions to a variety of candidates by running ads or paying to promote posts on social media. Ads and sponsored posts allow you to refine your viewership based on demographic, location, specific keywords, and personal interests, giving you more control over who sees your promotional messages.

To take advantage of social media promotion, you will want to budget accordingly. Formulate a monthly budget for social media ad campaigns, including individual posts you may want to sponsor. It may be a good idea to research competitors to understand how much they’re spending and what they’re spending it on. Remember that while individual ads are often inexpensive, the costs can add up quickly over time.

CRM Systems

Communication is key to recruiting. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are great ways to manage candidate data and communications, especially when dealing with high volumes of applicants.

Although most businesses use CRMs to organize leads or new clients, these systems can also be used keep tabs on your prospective hires as they make their way through the recruiting process.

In terms of budgeting, CRMs produce great ROI. According to Nucleus Research, CRM systems return $5.60 to $8.71 for every dollar spent.

To find the best CRM without blowing your budget, keep the following in mind:

1. Recognize your needs. Discuss with your hiring team the information you want to gather from candidates. What will you need to know to make great hiring decisions? What current problems exist in your hiring process, and what information do you need to solve them?
2. Account for extra expenses. No matter how much research you do, there is always chance for error and unforeseen costs. Look into hidden fees surrounding implementation. When budgeting for your CRM, take into account the training your employees will require. To lessen the blow, find a CRM that both meets your needs and is easy to manage.
3. Be prepared to pay for quality. It might take a bit of extra cash up front to get the right features and functionality, but you’ll end up paying more in the long run if you go for a lower-quality system that doesn’t really meet your needs.

Recruiting Events

To keep your talent pool engaged and interested in your company, you should start hosting recruiting events. These gatherings offer candidates opportunities to meet your team, get a feel for your culture, and explore your work environment. That way, when candidates become hires, their onboarding and integration will be easier and faster.

However, these amazing events can come with hefty price tags, so it’s important to be prepared. If your company has never put on a recruiting event, you’ll want to do extensive research to come up with realistic budget figures. Expenses to consider include catering, venues, and entertainment.

Not sure what kind of recruiting events your company could plan? Hackathons, competitions, expos, conferences, weekend retreats, and career fairs are all viable options, depending on your industry.

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Preparation is key to success, especially in recruiting. With a focus on the above areas, you can take your recruiting initiatives to the next level in a budget-friendly way.

A version of this article originally appeared on the WCN blog.

Jeanette Maister is managing director of the Americas for WCN.