Recruiting new employees is a necessary part of any business and not one that should be taken lightly. As with all areas of managing you own business, hiring new staff is a process and requires a proper system or a structure.

Whether you are doing the hiring, or you have someone who is in charge of recruitment, you need to be aware of all the costs that are implicated, and not just the financial cost.

#1. Economic expense

You’ve budgeted for the cost of placing an advert but within your financial planning you need to take into consideration more than just the expense of advertising. If you have a larger company, you might need a dedicated Human Resources manager or even a build a team. You might also choose to offer your employees a bonus if they bring new recruits in for you though referrals. If you choose to use recruiting software or applications, you need to include this in your budget too.

#2. How much does an hour of your time cost?

You need to calculate the time it will take for staff or yourself to complete the whole process. You may already have an existing team or you have included the HR expenses in your budget. Now you must decide on the cost of the time taken by the staff to handle recruitment when they could be performing other tasks.  HR will need to spend some time with you so they can clearly define what you require from applicants. The longer it takes to find the right person, the more time you will not be spending on running your company.

#3. Narrowing down your options

You place an advert after carefully deciding what needs to appear in it. You receive tons of CVs, begin to sift through them and start arranging interviews, possibly even second interviews. Once you’ve completed the interviews, you need to choose the best applicant. No stage can be skipped in the hope you will save time.

#4. Relocation and work permit

It’s important also to factor in (if relevant) the time and cost of relocating your preferred candidate and getting approval from Immigration for their work permit. The better guidance you can provide to candidates up-front about how to complete the visa application properly, the lower the likelihood of this area having to be revisited, with all the time and cost implications.

#5. Training your new recruit

You finally have your new staff member on the Island and you are more than satisfied with their experience and qualifications. That being said, even the perfect candidate will likely require a period of training and to learn the ropes. This period of education may last a few weeks or longer but, however long it takes, you need to invest resources into this stage.

#6. If your new recruit isn’t going to work out

You have invested enough in the training period but things aren’t going as you had imagined. As upsetting as it sounds, you may need to cut your losses and start the process again.

You might be tempted to think that it’s best to give it just one more week and things might change. Follow your gut instinct regarding their proven performance in the job – time can drift and before you know it you are increasing your costs by keeping an unsuitable person on and delaying the inevitable.

After reading all the above, you may well be feeling exhausted by the very idea of finding a new recruit.  This is why many businesses often leave much of this task to professional recruitment agencies (yes, you guessed it, at cost). It’s always worth weighing up the financial and time pros and cons of recruiting yourself or getting external help with a recruitment project.

IS YOUR FIRM LOOKING FOR PROFESSIONAL STAFF?

Contact us today with details if you’d like assistance or to schedule an introductory call to see how we can help.