Budget management for talent acquisition teams: 5 tips to get ahead

3 mins, 40 secs read time

With budget management and talent planning season in full swing, efficiency remains the name of the game as talent acquisition teams look at how to maximize their spend impact in 2024.

Reflecting on the learnings from 2023, recruiters are still being asked to do more with less amid reduced resources and headcounts – and a rapidly changing recruiting landscape. In this blog post we share five tips to strategically allocate your talent acquisition budget towards navigating those challenges and boosting your talent management process in 2024.

1. Make smart HR Tech investments

Whether you’re a small startup or a multinational corporation, investing in advanced hiring software is a strategic imperative, no matter the size of your budget. Choosing the right hiring software can significantly increase your team’s efficiency and ability to run lean with a great return on investment (ROI) across key areas:

• Reducing cost-per-hire by saving recruiter time with integrations and automation features such as resume parsing, application screening and interview self-scheduling
• Reducing time-to-fill for vacancies with centralized workflows, allowing recruiters, hiring managers and team members to collaborate within one platform and eliminating delays caused by communication gaps
• Improving quality of hire and diverse and inclusive hiring by providing standardized candidate evaluation criteria, as well as interview toolkits, anonymization features and candidate scorecards for better hiring decisions
• Promoting data-driven decisions with robust reporting on key recruitment metrics to identify areas for improvement and cost-reduction opportunities in the hiring process
• Enhancing GDPR compliance by allowing teams to set customized, automated triggers, thereby alleviating manual data compliance tasks for short-staffed teams and reducing the risk of costly data penalties

With all this – and more – taken into consideration, the benefits of having the right hiring software in place far outweigh the implementation costs.

Greenhouse has transformed our approach to recruitment; we have gone from predominantly agency-led recruitment to over 90% direct recruitment, saving nearly £2 million since its inception.

– David Rich, Head of Talent at Pay.UK

2. Identify cost-saving opportunities

Get clear on what’s essential and what’s ‘nice to have’, then brainstorm a list of cost-saving initiatives with long-term impact. For example, consider looking at your internal talent to maximize hiring from overstaffed areas as opposed to backfilling.

Employee referral programs are another cost-effective sourcing initiative and often lead to better cultural fits. So, you may want to consider creating one or refining your existing program to encourage employee participation.

3. Build contingency into your budget

2023 has taught us the importance of being able to pivot with changing market conditions and business expectations – and that starts with budget management.

Scenario planning is one great way to achieve that, as it helps you build contingency into your budget by preparing for a range of potential outcomes. Here’s what this exercise would look like:

Start by working closely with your Finance or Revenue Ops teams to get a better understanding of their outlook for the year and the hiring implications it may entail

From there, identify potential scenarios and plan for them. For example, if we have X amount of growth this year then we’ll go with plan A, meanwhile if we see Y amount of growth then we’ll go with plan B

Based on the estimated impact of identified scenarios, determine a reasonable contingency amount and communicate it to stakeholders, team members or relevant parties

4. Use data-backed insights to influence spending

Leverage historical data from previous years (if available) to inform your budget management planning for 2024. Analysing past metrics will help you reflect back on learnings and make more deliberate, impactful spending decisions. Think about trends you’re seeing year-over-year, potential risks to factor into your contingency planning or problem areas that require more (or fewer) dedicated resources.

5. Be strategic about your workforce planning

Finally, taking a strategic approach to budget management requires aligning your spending with your organisation’s key business objectives. Conduct a thorough analysis of your current workforce and future needs and identify critical roles and skills for achieving organizational goals. By understanding your talent needs, you can allocate your budget to areas that will have the most significant impact on your company’s success.

Interested in learning how to bring data-driven recruiting forward in 2024? Watch our webinar with leading talent experts from HiBob, Growth by Design Talent and Wrike.

Watch the webinar