5 Ways To Hire On A Budget

Sometimes your company needs to expand or replace employees, but you just don’t have the budget for expensive job boards. Yes, some companies still hang a now hiring sign in their window; this tactic has been trusted for millennia.

But you shouldn’t have to break the bank to find the help you need. Not every hire needs to be through a pricey job board like Indeed or Monster. In fact, with a little ingenuity, you can access a larger pool of applicants eager to get hired with free or cheap methods.

Thankfully, the Internet exists, as well as these tips on how to hire with a budget.

Free Job Boards

You’re on a budget, but you still want the cream of the crop. Which sites can you trust?

Find a few job boards that allow you to post for free.

AngelList: Geared more towards the startup tech elite, AngelList is an intuitive system perfect for hiring those interested in startups.

Yakaz: A local community focused search tool, Yakaz includes free messaging, sharing, and selling with your neighbors. Posting about a job is completely okay.

ActiveHire: This free job site does it all. It’s a job board, aggregator, and a resume database which, despite being around since 1999, is still up-to-date and useful.

Oodle: This job site is unique because of how it utilizes social media to help advertise the free job posting. While other postings include automobile sales and real estate, the job section is more than robust and even splits jobs up by company and title in the sidebar.

JobZoom: JobZoom provides job opportunities split up by central markets and top companies, while also being visually appealing. Perfect for non-professionals seeking solid salaried opportunities.

Social Media Outreach

You hired a social media manager to bump up those likes and follows — now put them to good use!

The completely free route would be to simply post on Facebook or to tweet about the job posting on Twitter, but you can get more creative than that.

If your company has a Snapchat account, create a fun mini video or graphic that directs them back to your website’s job description.

For Facebook, spend a minimal amount of your budget in order to promote the post. Be sure to geo-target as well, so those only in the area can view.

Additionally, you can search Facebook, Twitter and of course LinkedIn for potential employees by using keywords specific to the position. With this strategy you can automatically see how you might be connected to an applicant.

Side note — you posted the job description on your website, right? If not, that’s a great first step so as to provide a home base chockful of pertinent job listing information.

Incentivize Current Employees To Refer Qualified Friends

Referral bonuses are a serious perk for employees who want to help their friends find employment. And for job seekers, this informality immediately breeds confidence to reach out and hopefully ace the interview.

While this fits under the social media umbrella, you could also encourage your employees to post on their own. It stands to reason that there’s a higher likelihood someone will fit in with a company’s culture if they already get along with at least one person.

Try Out First With Interns

While you would never want to leave an intern hanging unpaid for too long, initially hiring college students or those who have recently graduated with a part-time internship is a perfect way to test drive an applicant before taking the plunge.

If you’re aware that there’s a position opening up three or four months in the future, you can plan ahead and hire two or three competent interns and then hire the most competent at the end of the internship.

Be wary of letting the interns immediately know that a full-time job will be awaiting one of them — they may show a disingenuous work ethic in order to secure the position.

Hire Internally

Nothing instigates a renewed sense of motivation like a potential promotion. Fire up your current employees by letting them know a position is opening up, and reward the employees you have already hired by seriously considering those who have shown promise. It will be great for morale, and will show trust in your current team.

In Conclusion

There is no rule that says you have to set aside a large budget to fill a position. There are a plethora of free job sites to use with great track records. You can also utilize social media, ask your current employees to reach out, try applicants out as interns first, and hire internally.

Happy employee searching!