Benefits of effective recruitment

Effective recruitment means the business is clear about what the job involves and what kind of person it needs, attracts a good choice of applicants and selects carefully, so the new starter really fits the role. Getting that match right brings benefits that feed straight into the business's costs, its staff and its products.

Higher productivity and lower unit costs

A well-matched employee already has the skills the job needs, so they start contributing sooner and need less supervision. Productivity — output per worker — rises. Fewer mistakes also mean less time and material wasted, so the workforce is more efficient. Unit costs — the cost of producing one unit — fall when fixed costs such as rent or equipment are spread over more units made. The business can then keep its prices and earn a bigger profit margin, or charge less than competitors to win customers from them.

Vacancies filled quickly and lower labour turnover

Careful selection means people are better suited to their roles, so they are more likely to stay and to be content in them. Labour turnover — the proportion of staff who leave over a period and have to be replaced — falls, which saves re-advertising, re-interviewing and retraining. Recruiting well also fills a vacancy quickly, so customers are not kept waiting and existing staff are not left covering extra work for weeks.

New ideas and growth

Employees recruited from outside the business bring experience from other employers, which can spark innovation: new ways of working, such as a quicker booking system or a smarter way to display stock, or a product idea nobody had tried. If those ideas appeal to customers, the business can launch new products and take a larger market share — a bigger slice of total sales in its market.

For example, a chain of five garden centres recruits an assistant manager who has already run online order picking, a skill written into the person specification. Within weeks the new starter sets up click-and-collect, which cuts queue times and frees staff from the tills to advise customers — lower unit costs and a busier shop.