There are many ways to reduce cost of hire but most effective are:

Change hiring cycle

Majority of the hiring is done in first quarter . This is not aligned with incremental cycle which is in second quarter and Educational term either . Direct Applicants are easily available in third quarter

Shake Hands with Institutes

To hire less than 2yrs exp or fresher – contact professional colleges . They even take care of overhead costs like interview venue and line up candidates.

To hire less than 5 yrs exp – 1) Contact Management colleges , they have applicants who took break in career to do management studies . These are always better of the crowds and available free of cost.

Regularize subcontract employees

Subcontract employees are available at a mere fee of 3% to 5% that is lesser than vendor fee . And can be convert to regular if found suitable. There is a cost saving since it saves ( payroll and support ) overheads for first 3to 4 months and assures tested quality of employee.

Meghna Iyer is GM HR & Operations at TTI. You can follow her on Twitter @meghnaiyir