Recruiting Resources: Expense or Investment?

There are plenty of recruiting resources that firm owners can purchase. As business owners, it’s smart to pay attention to expenses, but sometimes that can be a short-sighted strategy when it comes to growing your business. While it’s true that everything that requires you to spend money qualifies as an expense, all expenses may not be equal. The key is for recruitment firm owners to understand the difference between an expense and an investment. Here are a few areas to consider:

Recruiter Training and Development

Recruitment firm owners who want to focus on growth know that it is important to develop strong people in addition to building the business. Yet, training and development — including face-to-face meetings and conferences — is often viewed as an expense. We tell our members all the time that if recruiters learn just ONE tip at a meeting or conference that generates a placement or saves some money, the costs of attending will be more than covered. If additional training in sales, negotiating, technology use, marketing, social media, or interviewing would generate new or additional revenue, it’s likely an investment. Training and development initiatives can also assist in reducing recruiter turnover, which reduces the expense of replacement.

Recruitment Firm Marketing and Branding

Marketing can be viewed as a “fluffy” or “nice-to-do” activity, but savvy owners know that it is critical to long-term growth and success. If your website is not mobile-friendly, for example, it’s likely that job seekers are having a difficult time finding you in a search. If they do stumble upon your site, it’s possible they’re leaving before they ever convert to an applicant or candidate. It may be time to shift some resources to inbound marketing, using your website to attract candidates and clients to your firm. If marketing is directly responsible for additional placements or new clients, or creates credibility for your business, it’s an investment, not an expense.

Recruitment Technology

Appropriate recruitment technology tools can automate activities that are non-revenue-generating. This allows recruitment firm owners and their employees to spend more time on activities that DO create revenue. While technology costs are not always insignificant (especially for products that require a monthly per-seat license), these recruiting resources can be some of the most important for your business. Some of the recruitment technology tools you might need could include an ATS, payroll processing software, cloud-based subscriptions to office applications, LinkedIn services, and more. Can you recoup the cost of your technology expenditures or reap a financial benefit from their use? If so, this should be viewed as an investment.

There are probably other expense-vs.-investment considerations in your office. If you’re not sure how to tell the difference, read this post from Entrepreneur. What else can you add to my list above? Do you agree or disagree?