In a recent article from Software Advice, Erin Osterhaus shared her findings after conducting a survey to determine a key piece of a companies’ external hiring costs: advertising and marketing. The survey ran for over two months and although the sample set was rather small, there are still some important takeaways for HR professionals.

First of all, businesses should be keeping track of cost per hire metrics. Osterhaus said that “given the small number of responses to the survey, it would seem that they’re not and that being able to track and report on where the departmental budget is going is crucial.”

Average Cost Per Hire

Osterhaus also found that small businesses are spending more on each new hire than larger companies. Since smaller companies or start-ups usually have much tighter budgets, bringing on the talent you need to grow without breaking the bank is crucial for long-term success.

Average Cost-Per-Hire By Business Size

Lastly, 84% of the survey respondents were using job boards to promote their openings. As job board spending increased, so did the average cost-per-hire. Companies should evaluate the placement of openings on job boards to see which are bringing in the most candidates and which are resulting in new hires. Focusing on the high performing job boards will help lower the average cost-per-hire.

Most Frequently Used Advertising Channels

Read the full article in Software Advice’s “Early Results Find Companies Spend $173 on Advertising Per Hire“