zodo

10. Try a cv database search

If you want to recruit directly rather than use an agency, you can often buy a days access to the cv database of a major job board.

It can take a bit of work to search through it, but you’d be amazed how many good candidates have got cvs logged and whilst not actively looking, can often be tempted by a good job offer. So if you’ve advertised a job on a job board and it hasn’t worked, before you go accepting cvs from an agency, take a look at some of the big cv databases out there. Most of the cvs that agencies have are the same cvs sitting on these databases and get them direct.........you’ll save a fortune.

Almost all decent sized job boards will have a cv database that you can look at, often for less than the cost of a job credit.

11 / 48

11. Use an applicant tracking system (a free one)

Still using email to get cvs in? Oh dear. There are a few really good systems out there that can help you manage your hiring

programmes for you. The system does all the donkey work for you like bulk rejecting applications etc			.........all saving you
precious time.
http://www.ikrut.com is a great example........	and it's completely free. Ok, so we’re biased because it’s ours but hundreds
of companies use it for the very good reason that it does all the work for you. So since it’s free............		what have you got to
lose?

12 / 48

12. Always list the salary but.......

£25,000 - £35,000.........

sound familiar?

You might as well just tell your preferred candidate that you'll pay them £35k. When buying a car do you tell the salesman what your real maximum budget is? Thought not.

There’s nothing wrong with listing a salary, in fact we recommend it as it allows candidates to self filter (no one wanting £60k will apply for a £35k job if they know the salary won’t stretch that far).

We recommend simply putting “c£30k”.......i.e. around the £30k mark. Candidates are less likely to try and demand the maximum if they’re not sure what it is.

13 / 48

13. If you don't want to interview someone then reject them. It’s just polite.

Ever put or read this in a job advert:

‘Due to an anticipated high volume of applications, only candidates selected for interview will be contacted’

The number one gripe jobseekers make is that they never hear back after submitting an application. It does nothing for your brand to annoy them like this. Even if you warn them that you may not contact them, if they've put the time and effort into applying the least you can do is let them know what's going on. An applicant tracking system can do all that for you with the touch of a button. Remember, a disgruntled job applicant isn't exactly a walking advert for your products or services.

14 / 48

14. Don't wait until you've got a shortlist of candidates before you interview

If you read a cv that you think is suitable............interview them ASAP!!! Why oh why do so many companies wait............'I'll just hold off calling them to see what other cvs we get in'. Er no, if they're right now, they'll still be right in 2 weeks but they might not be on the market then. The longer you wait, the more chance you've got of losing them.

15 / 48

15. Don't rely solely on interviews

If you just rely on an interview to assess the candidate's suitability the likelihood of that candidate turning out to be a great success isn't terribly high. Add in psychometric testing, assessment centers, in tray tasks, technical tests...........anything you can think of really to reflect the person's day to day duties. Lots of people look great at interview but put them under pressure with a task and they fall to pieces. Oh, and vice versa of course.

16 / 48

16. Consider a pay per click approach to sourcing the right candidate

The traditional way of sourcing a candidate if you do it yourself is to plonk a job advert somewhere like a magazine, or job board. That’s fine but can be costly if you’re using 2 or more job boards and print publications are never cheap.

You might want to try the new breed of job search engines like Simply Hired, Indeed, Career Jet. They allow you to synchronize your jobs from your careers pages and have them appear instantly (and free) on their site. You then just pay on a pay per click model, paying a specified amount each time that job is viewed. This means you can set a budget and stop advertising the role when you either find the perfect candidate or you’ve used up your budget.

It’s very like the approach your company would use to advertising on Yahoo, Bing or Google where you would sponsor key words. If you don’t get any hits......you don’t pay anything.

17 / 48

17. Lies, damned lies and statistics

For this one you’re absolutely going to need a job and candidate management system (ATS). If you’re going to successfully recruit a role for the least amount of spend in the shortest time, it’s a really good idea to know where that sort of candidate has come from in previous jobs.

A good ATS will provide detailed reports for you so you can identify exactly where you’ve sourced people from previously. So if you’re hiring a Web Developer now, just go back and check the response stats from the last time you hired a Web Developer to see which job board, job search engine (see 16 above) or magazine came up trumps.

You may think you know where you get most of your best candidates from but you might be surprised at just exactly what is your most cost effective advertising source.

18 / 48

18. Free job boards........	are you using them?

There are loads of free job boards out there. Ok, so they may not quite have the coverage that some of the big players have but free is still free and if you make just the occasional hire from it then down goes your cost per hire!!! Here are some:

http://www.jobmax.co.uk

http://www.executive-i.com

http://www.4jobsonline.com

http://www.jobvertise.com

http://www.gumtree.com

http://www.jobspider.com (US only)

http://3wjobs.co.uk

Do a Google search ‘free job board’ and you’ll be amazed at what you can find.

19 / 48

19. Social media - it’s (mostly) free so use it

The buzz (some would call it hype) in recruitment these days is all about how social media is going to be the way all recruitment is done in the future. We don’t buy that one bit. There’s no way you can rely purely on social media for finding your staff, but if done properly it can get you in contact with passive candidates and thus must be a part of your resourcing strategy regardless of how big the organization or company is.

LinkedIn

Using LinkedIn for free:

If you personally don’t have a LinkedIn profile it’s a good idea to add yourself on and don’t forget to post an entry on your profile if you’re hiring. Similarly if your company/organization hasn’t got a LinkedIn page, create one and post that the company is hiring. Also, make sure you join some of the groups set up. There’s bound to be at least one that is in your field and post a help request on that.......’Can anyone suggest a good Web Developer.....etc’.

20 / 48