How to recruit on a low budget

Recruitment can be a costly endeavour; it’s a lot of time and investment from your organisation which all adds up. While recruitment is an essential business function small businesses may find themselves in a situation where they have little budget to spare. In this instance remember there are some low cost ways to give DIY recruitment a go.

Promote your role on your website

Presuming your business has a website, you need to set up a blog function immediately. Post your jobs on your website so anyone who comes across your site sees you’re hiring. This will also create a link you can share around easily.

Use word-of-mouth marketing

Your friends and peers can be your best advocates so let your inner and wider networking circles know you’re looking to fill a vacancy. Often times the best employees can come from referrals and recommendations from those you know so ensure you do a good job of making sure your networking is aware you’re hiring.

Post on free forums and sites

Some online forums allow users to post job adverts – some moderators won’t allow it but there are plenty who will. Look at websites and blogs relevant to your industry and submit your job posting. Sites like Gumtree and Indeed also offer some free services.

Try social media

Social media is a great way to get the word out about your vacancy. Start a social media account for your business and see if posting about the job attracts any interest. You can also find a number of groups created on Facebook for particular industries for university graduates and job seekers who join the groups to share job opportunities with each other. Request to join those groups and share your posting. Through social media you can also encourage your same word-of-mouth network to publicise your role.

At the end of the day recruitment will never be a free process, but when times are tight for your small business, make sure you try these low cost tips.

Saxon Marsden-Huggins is the managing director of Recruit Shop, which offers recruitment services to small businesses in Australia and New Zealand.