Solve the recruiting challenge on a budget

Many care providers want to:

• improve retention

• reduce cost per hire

Thankfully, results are achievable with just some dedication and some time.

Staff Retention

Much has been written about staff retention. Employers experiment with wellbeing days, flexible benefit schemes, team building exercises and more. It’s all in the hope that these additions will make employees feel more valued. However, one of the most powerful tools for improving staff retention can also be the cheapest; improving internal communications. The consensus appears to be that a solid programme of internal communications can:

• Improve individual employee engagement and reduce resignations

• Improve staff productivity and happiness

• Help build and reinforce your company culture

What can you communicate to your company? Anything and everything. What leaders know isn’t necessarily common knowledge across the workforce. In regular internal communication, consider including:

• Your mission statement and what it means

• Bids, wins and even losses

• Growth targets, goals or realistic ambitions

• Organisation awards, accolades and membership changes

• Employee feedback and your reaction to any ideas

• Employee successes, promotions or inspirational stories

• Upcoming changes to technology or infrastructure and why it will help

• Profile or snapshot of a leadership team member

• Welcoming a new member of staff

• Feedback from service users

The more your employees know about your organisation, the more they can feel part of something bigger than just their own role. Now let’s get onto reducing cost per hire. Here are some simple cost-cutting objectives:

• Reduce or eliminate recruitment fees altogether

• Minimise recruiting administration

• Ensure least cost for job advertising fees

Reduce Cost per Hire

The biggest cost savings are made when you manage recruitment yourself. You can do that either with or without dedicated technology. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a recruiting system that helps employers manage recruitment centrally and save lots of time with recruiting administration. An ATS should pay for itself several times over but you can reduce cost per hire without dedicated recruitment software too. To do that, just follow some basic steps.

Read on to find out how.

Set up a central recruitment@ or hr@ mailbox for receipt of recruiting related emails. That can be shared between the people who are doing the recruiting administration work. This helps to separate and manage all recruiting related emails, including applications.

(CVMinder ATS can connect with your preferred mailbox)

2.

1. Write an advert that is optimised for discovery by jobseekers. This should also be easy to navigate and include all of the points that talented jobseekers wants to read. Don’t forget to mention experienced leadership and, if it’s a carer role, any consideration for maximising contact time / minimising travel time.

(CVMinder ATS comes with an analyser to help you optimise adverts)

Place the advert on an easily discovered careers page on your website. Make sure that the method of application is clear and that it comes off your website when it expires. Ideally you should have a web form to help with collecting the applicant details you need.

(CVMinder ATS does all this for you)

4.

3. Advertise your vacancy on free-to-post job boards that work. These might include Indeed and GOV Find a Job. Consider boosting your advert with some limited additional spend if your advert runs out of steam on job boards like Indeed. You can signpost your vacancy on social media too with a link to your website page. Check to make sure that the advert is the same as on your website. After finding an advert on a job board, some people like to find it on your website and apply there.

(CVMinder ATS can post your advert to job boards and your website automatically and comes with online applications as standard)

5.

When you receive applicants into your recruiting mailbox, review them quickly and respond to everyone. The most common complaint from jobseekers is that they never hear from employers. Engaging with applicants improves your employer brand, even if you are delivering bad news.

(CVMinder ATS helps with built in communication tools to make this quick and efficient)

6.

If you have collected only minimal information your best candidates may have to complete an additional application form. Make sure that this is easily accessible. There should be no barriers to accessing and completing your applications form. Forms created with products such as Microsoft Word can introduce problems for many applicants. Not everyone has access to Microsoft Office and many people use mobile devices to apply for vacancies. Explore other options for creating online forms.

(CVMinder ATS has flexible applications forms and journey management to make this easy)

7.

Don’t forget your GDPR obligations when collecting personal information. Make sure that you collect appropriate consents and that all personal information is stored securely.

(CVMinder ATS collects consents and keeps personal information secure)

Now that applicants can share their details securely you can get on with the job of shortlisting, interviewing and onboarding. Administering recruitment might be labour intensive, but it is manageable up to a point. The more vacancies and applicants you have the more you will benefit from an Applicant Tracking System like CVMinder ATS. With attractive, low-cost subscription options, it’s easy to see why. In summary, recruiting is challenging for care providers, but there are opportunities to improve outcomes and save costs. Recruit directly to avoid external fees and consider using an Applicant Tracking System like CVMinder ATS to improve efficiency and reduce costs further. When considering staff retention options, improving internal communications is a powerful way to educate and motivate your employees.