Still, it can be frustrating to manage recruitment, so managers and business owners shouldn't be afraid to think outside the box. Here's how your existing employees can help with recruitment, and why you should be tapping into your current workforce in an effort to build a new and better one.

Show off your stuff

The primary reason that companies should focus on using their existing employees to help with the recruitment process is that it enables them to show off their stuff; this is your opportunity to effectively brag about how amazing it is to come and work in your office environment. As long as you've been nurturing your workers, providing them with the benefits they deserve, and equipping them with the skills and ambition they need to succeed in a crowded marketplace, prospective candidates will see how welcoming your business is to talented individuals.

There are many reasons that using your existing workforce can bolster recruitment, but most of them revolve around the age-old mantra of "show, don't tell." You can talk to job candidates about how amazing your company is for days on end, but those words mean little to nothing; after all, who doesn't talk up their business and how lovely it is when trying to lure in talented newcomers? The perk of using your existing employees is that you're illustrating in real-time how excellent of an office environment you have, proving how happy your workers are by literally showing off their smiles.

Understanding the logic of using existing employees to recruit talented new workers is easy enough, but knowing how to actually go about doing it effectively and without breaking the bank is another matter entirely. Many businesses see recruitment as a deathly expensive and time-consuming exercise that's more of a hassle than anything else. This negative framing is unhelpful towards achieving your commercial goals, though, and you should instead be focusing on the immense opportunities opened up for your business every time a new worker crosses the threshold and becomes a member of the team.

Training your team

If you want your team to become excellent at talent acquisition using a HR management tool at your disposal, you need to train them with the proper skills. Turning your workforce into a recruiting machine entails a number of steps that can be expensive but are worth pursuing; having an employee referral plan may necessitate that you shell out some prize money whenever someone brings in a new worker, but it pays off in the form of the talented new team member who will quickly recuperate the losses entailed with bringing them onboard in the first place.

Furthermore, you'll want to stress the importance of being a mentor in the workplace. Introducing prospective candidates to potential mentors helps them feel at home in an unfamiliar office environment while demonstrating that your company is committed to their professional development. A structured workplace mentoring program will deliver wondrous results to your business and is worth considering alongside of using your existing employees to bolster your recruiting tactics. Furthermore, both mentor programs and using existing employees to recruit can bolster employee retention, which is important for businesses that want to keep recruitment costs low in the long-run.

By placing a special emphasis on the process of re-recruitment, your business will drastically improve the way that it retains employees, many of whom leave because they feel uncomfortable, friendless, and demoralized in an office environment devoid of camaraderie. This is important to remember, as using your existing workforce to lure in talented newcomers is actually a huge waste of time and money unless you have effective means by which you can retain those new workers, many of whom will be dealing with enticing offers from your competitors.

Using your existing workforce to supercharge the recruitment process is simply common sense, as it enables you to avoid professional recruitment services which will cost and arm and a leg while delivering scant results. Furthermore, exiting employees help introduce newcomers to the office and serve as perfect mentors-in-waiting for the young professionals you're about to welcome onto your team. Above all else, using your existing employees can help with recruitment because it demonstrates that your company is putting its money where its mouth is when it claims to have one of the finest offices around to work in. The next time you start a recruitment drive, enlist the help of your existing rank-and-file workers if you want to truly enjoy success.