5k is average hidden cost of recruitment

Recruitment consultancy Angela Mortimer has revealed that the average hidden cost associated with recruiting a new employee is over 5,000.

The findings come from the organisationís own Cost of Recruitment Calculator which was developed to allow employers to monitor the cost-per hire of new staff, with the aim of helping them meet their recruitment needs on time and within budget. The software takes both the hard (e.g. advertising rates and recruitment consultancy fees) and soft (e.g. management time spent sifting through CVís or cost of existing staff shouldering extra responsibilities while awaiting arrival of new staff member) costs into consideration and quantifies the total cost of recruitment by inputting the relevant factors.

Most employers currently do not measure the cost of recruitment, according to the Recruitment Confidence Index released this week by the Cranfield School of Management and Personnel Today. The index reveals that employers are throwing money at recruitment without measuring the return on their investment with less than half of the 500 organisations surveyed evaluating the success of their recruitment processes.

Ashley Williams, Director of Partnership Products at Angela Mortimer says:

ìThe recruitment process can be a costly one for a business involving both tangible and intangible costs affecting the companyís overheads and productivity. It is surprising to find how frequently the difficult to measure intangible costs exceed hard cost expenditure.

ìThe Cost of Recruitment Calculator is designed to help businesses to ensure that the recruitment process is as effective as possible and on average sees them making a process saving of 30%. By using the software to identify an employerís current cost-per hire and how their recruitment needs can be met, organisations can make improvements on their processes, save money and enhance their chances of securing the best people.î

Consultants from Angela Mortimer applied the calculator to CASS Business School, part of Londonís City University. CASS was spending over 175,000 a year on recruitment.

HR Director Richard Farmer comments:

ìIt was useful to establish how much we actually spend on recruitment. This helped us to identify areas where we could improve our efficiency. Working with Angela Mortimer, we were able to streamline our recruitment processes, reducing the time to fill a vacancy.î