A recent survey by LinkedIn found some great news for the world’s economy: 62 percent of companies are looking to hire more people than they did last year.
That’s fantastic, but here’s the catch – a mere 44 percent of companies said they will spend more on hiring than they did last year, meaning 56 percent of companies won’t increase their recruiting budget. The mandate is clear to talent acquisition teams: Do more, without spending more.
Here’s the hard data:
This is just one of the insightful findings from our new 2016 edition of Global Recruiting Trends, where we surveyed more than 4,000 talent acquisition decision makers on their top priorities, challenges and opportunities ahead.
You can dig into the full global and country reports here, but read on to see how you can you can address this budget issue and plan for the year ahead.
So how do you hire more without spending more?
Let’s say you are like a lot of recruiting teams out there who are being asked to do more, without getting an increase in budget. What’s the solution?
Well, after looking at both LinkedIn research and talking to industry leaders, five solutions emerged. They are:
1. Share your challenge with your company’s leadership team
If your company’s leaders want you to do more without spending more, you need to include them in the solution. The best way to do that is to show them both the challenges in the labor market and the challenges facing your team, so they’ll work with you to create a holistic solution to the problem.
Hint: We make it easy for you to throw charts into your presentation. Get the downloadable graph package when you download the report.
2. Be wise with how you are using your team
Melissa Thompson, the Executive Director of Talent Acquisition at Citrix, suggested getting creative with how you structure your team when the budget is tight. That means focusing on the most critical jobs first, and finding ways to make do elsewhere.
“We’re considering a shared services model for next year,” Thompson said. “For example, if four recruiting coordinators can accomplish what I was able to achieve with eight coordinators, then I can realign four coordinators for special high-touch projects.”
3. Have marketing help you with your employer brand
Along those lines, AXA Global Resourcing and Employer Brand Manager Hannah West said often a tight budget means looking to other departments within your company for help. Specifically, West said she’s worked extensively with AXA’s marketing team to help build out the company’s employer brand.
That’s particularly useful advice, considering how many organizations today are prioritizing employer branding (and for good reason). After a drop in 2014, in 2015 nearly two-thirds of companies surveyed said employer branding was a top priority at their company:
4. Use technology where appropriate
With budgets and recruiters’ time so tight, it’s critical to automate any processes where possible. For example, a well-built piece of referral software can both increase the amount of referrals you get and cut down on the amount of time it takes to administer the program.
Specifically, Rajeev Mendiratta, the Head of Workforce Management and Overseas Operations at Wipro Technologies, said he looks to technology to automate as many labor-intensive processes as possible.
While it sounds counter-intuitive to spend money on new technology when budgets are tight, the fact is the right tools can make your team far more efficient and ultimately bring the type of sustainable savings your organization needs to stay competitive, he said.
5. Turn your employees into recruiters
One of the best ways to save money while hiring is to have all your employees working as recruiters for your company, not just your talent acquisition team. How do you do that?
Build a great referral program that turns all your employees into recruiters. Not only is this an inexpensive way to bring in top talent, referrals are generally the best source of high-quality hires.
Want to learn more about the state of recruiting today and some solutions on how to tackle them? Get the Global Recruiting Trends 2016 report and plan ahead for 2016 and beyond.
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Topics: Data insights
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