The problem with “cheap”

Posted on April 18, 2007
Filed Under Online Recruiting |

Every employer wants to find advertising outlets that are effective and “cheap.” Problem is - they do not exist. They are usually one or the other.

By no means are the solutions offered by Recruiting Nevada “cheap.” As a matter of fact, our rates are higher than most. And they are for a reason. Cheap does not work. It costs money to recruit the best. And that is what we do.

When we hear “there is another job board offering to post my ads for cheaper,” we are not able to overcome that by lowering our prices. That is not the business that we are in. We are in the business of finding the most qualified applicants for our clients. And being the “lowest cost leader” does not work when human capital is your largest asset.

Heck - job postings are free on both NevadaJobConnect and Craigslist. The question is, do they work? Do they find the qualified applicants an employer is looking for? Because at the end of the day, that is what matters.

If the “cheap” job boards do not work, why use them?

Some HR-types like to brag that they have lowered their advertising costs. Yeah - their vacancy rates are up, along with the overall cost of labor because they now need to use temps to fill the positions or pay overtime to fill the need. But hey - they save money. Or did they?

As human resource professionals, we are in the business of finding talent at the most reasonable investment. Let me emphasize investment. Recruiting is an investment and needs to be measured. A job board may be cheap, but if you calculate the amount of time you invested placing that “cheap” ad and the cost of lost productivity while that “cheap” ad is not attracting the candidates needed, I would say it is safe to assume - that job board no longer is “cheap.” It is just a waste of time and energy.