Cost-effective ways to attract & hire temporary workers
4 minutes | Posted 07 November, 2022

The average cost to hire is $23,860 AUD, according to recent data from ​​the Australian HR Institute. This hiring cost is easier to justify when hiring for a permanent full-time role, with the expectation that the employee will stay with the company for the long term. However, this $23,860 spend can be hard to justify when hiring temporary workers, who will only be staying with the company for the duration of a specific project or on a seasonal basis. 

Employing temporary workers is common in certain industries. For example, in the construction industry, employees are often hired on short-term contracts. In the retail and hospitality industries, employees may be hired en masse for a specific season, such as the holiday period. In these instances, reducing the cost-to-hire is imperative for organisational success. 

Luckily for organisations that hire temporary workers, and are looking to reduce their costs while doing so, there are some great strategies that speed up the recruitment process and, in turn, save money. 

Reduce the time spent advertising on job boards

Attracting candidates to your vacancy can be difficult, especially if your industry is experiencing a shortage of workers.  Posting to job boards is the go-to attraction strategy for most recruitment teams. However, the return on investment for advertising your job online plummets when you have to leave the ad up for an extended period and don’t get the quantity or quality of applicants you need. 

Cost-conscious employers want to attract as many applicants to their job posting as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there is a way to ensure that you’re getting the quality and quantity of applicants you need, in the smallest window possible. The solution is to build an amazing employer brand. 

A great employer brand will increase the quantity and quality of applicants

Whether you have intentionally crafted one or not, you already have an employer brand. It’s the way your organisation is perceived by prospective candidates, through your employee value proposition, reputation, and the way you communicate with key stakeholders. Strong employer branding should show candidates why you would be their employer of choice and why your organisation is a great place to work.

Candidates will be much more likely to apply for a role at a company that they believe is a great place to work. A great employer brand may even be enough to attract passive candidates who have such admiration for your organisation that a vacancy will tempt them to consider changing roles. As such, creating a great employer brand and celebrating it in all of your marketing and recruitment collateral will prompt job seekers to actively seek out opportunities with your organisation.

Still unsure of the value of a good employer brand? This article outlines the many benefits of employer branding and the role it plays in landing higher-quality candidates.

If you’re interested in Scout Talent’s Employer Branding service, please get in touch. 

Save hours interviewing by hosting a Group Information and Interview Session

If you are interested in making multiple hires from a single job ad, hosting a Group Information and Interview Session (GIIS) is a great way to meet multiple candidates in the space of a few hours. Essentially, a GIIS gives employers a chance to get their top candidates in one room, share information about the job, and determine which attendees are suitable for the role. 

The greatest benefit of hosting a GIIS is the time saved by your recruitment team. Instead of several one-hour interviews, a GIIS allows your team to communicate with a group of applicants at once, and potentially make multiple hires in one day. Remember: reducing time-to-hire will reduce your cost-to-hire if you consider the time spent by your recruitment team.

To learn more about Group Information and Interview Sessions, check out this article that outlines Why You Should Run a Group Information and Interview Session.

Scout Talent offers Group Information and Interview Sessions as part of our Talent Engagement service. Get in touch to learn more

Talent Pooling

Talent pooling is a great way to build an engaged group of candidates who are interested in working with your organisation. In industries where most job vacancies are permanent, the talent pool often consists of applicants that weren’t the right fit for previous vacancies. This group can be engaged for future vacancies that might be more suited to their skills and experience. However, in industries where employment is often short-term, talent pools are even more useful. This is because you can add these individuals to your talent pool and invite them to apply for short-term work repeatedly in the future. Being able to communicate new vacancies to ex-employees, and potentially re-hire these individuals, is a great way to save time and money on interviewing, onboarding and paperwork. 

There’s more to talent pooling than simply sending your vacancies to a database of candidates. It is important to nurture your pool with regular communication. For example, you can send your talent pool organisational updates or interesting content to keep them engaged with your brand. 

To learn more about how to build and nurture a talent pool, check out Scout Talent’s articles on the topic below:

  • There are many ways to generate recruitment leads and nurture talent pools. Try this innovative approach to social media talent pooling
  • Leverage a software solution to build and nurture talent pools. It’s quick and easy, with no content creation experience required. Book a free demo by connecting with our specialists today.
  • Try these tips to build and maintain your talent pool (with or without a software solution) to get better hiring results.