How to Save £50,000 on Recruitment

Personnel Today reports back from a CIPD conference where Fionna White, Nestle's head of recruitment, talked about 'candidate relationship management', which brought cost-per-hire down to £700 a person.

How she did it: She took £5,000 she'd been allocated for one hire and spent it on developing a Web presence. Called the Talent Pool, the site posts specific jobs, but also allows candidates to submit their CVs, even if there isn't an appropriate vacancy for them at the time.

HR can then assess submissions as they come in, rather than being inundated with CVs over a month or so. At launch, 300 people registered, 25 were rated excellent and seven appointments were made.

As a concept, the top benefit must be that anyone who registers with this type of site is demonstrating a real interest in the business -- so you've got an early indication of loyalty. On the minus side, it's an ongoing cost and without promotion, a fairly passive hiring vehicle. But clearly, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for Nestle.

"We had a case of a candidate being kept warm for a year, and when a job was finally available, we rang them up and they accepted -- in effect, a 24-hour turnaround from offer to acceptance. You can't ask for more than that," said White.