Recruitment costs and website design

June 3rd, 2024 | Industry News

There’s a range of costs attributed to recruiting staff, from £3,000 to £6,000, with a calculation that the overall cost of taking on a member of staff paid £31,722 (the average UK salary) is actually £62,892.78 in the first year. It’s logical for any employer to look for ways to cut the cost of recruitment. So do you really need a website for recruitment?

Why recruitment requires a website

An interesting recent report showed the routes that recruiters currently take to fill a vacancy:

1. Placing vacancy on company website/careers site – 83%
2. Internal advertising – 75%
3. Using a multi-posting service – 17%.

At first glance, this may look the wrong way round. Internal advertising, through intranet or email, costs almost nothing and multi-posting services must surely reach many more candidates, right? However, there is absolute logic to the route that recruiters take because:

• Multi posting services often reach entirely unsuitable candidates, wasting processing time even with the support of great recruiting software.
• Internal advertising is essential – but it is usually the case that HR departments and recruiters have a clear idea whether suitable internal candidates exist; few companies invest heavily in external recruitment if they know they have potential internal candidates.
• Advertising on a company website offers much more control than a multi-posting service, meaning that the timing and context of the vacancy can be managed to ensure there is good external coverage, enough internal administrative support and even refinement to the advertisement as the first candidates make contact, to fine-tune the offer/description.

Recruitment website design also offers significant opportunities to streamline administration and on-board candidates effectively, reducing the overall recruitment cost at the very beginning of the process.

Presentation is vital to success in recruitment

One of the problems with multi-posting services is appearance. Anything from dodgy kerning to your vacancy being posted in an inappropriate section of the job board can destroy your chances of reaching the right candidates, let alone creating a call to action that causes them to apply. The best recruitment websites convey all the right messages to exactly the right people.

Recruitment websites help reduce hiring costs

Using website technology, alongside recruitment database software, makes recruitment processes simple and cost effective. It allows employers to automate much of the early part of recruitment and ensures that information flows smoothly and prevents the bottlenecks that slow down recruitment. The UK average recruitment period is currently 36 days – anything that extends that period can lose an employer the best candidates, which is the biggest cost of all.

Trust is built through brand – brand is built through profile

As the two-edged sword of AI both expands into the recruitment sector and creates hideous scare stories (glue pizza anyone?) – being seen as a trustworthy brand is vital to recruitment success. A recruitment website template is a low cost investment in a stable online presence – and allows recruiters, and employers, to avoid some of the recruitment scams that are increasingly damaging reputations and causing insecurity in the marketplace.

In conclusion, recruitment websites maintain continuity, establish trust and reduce recruitment costs – rather than being a luxury, they are an absolute necessity.