Smart, cost-effective ways to hire employees for any role

The article was paid for by ZipRecruiter

Building a strong team starts with bringing on the right people, but the hiring process can be time-consuming: In 2025, the average time to fill an open position ranged from about 31 to 45 days, according to career services company The Resource, with executive roles taking up to 120 days.

It's also expensive: The average cost to fill a non-executive role in 2025 was $5,475, according to the Society for Human Resources Management's Benchmarking Reports. For executive roles, the cost-per-hire was nearly $36,000.

Longer hiring timelines can exhaust resources, reduce productivity and increase burnout among existing teams. That's why a strategic, cost-effective approach is essential to stay competitive — and why many employers turn to platforms like ZipRecruiter to connect with qualified candidates faster.

Here are five tips for hiring employees with limited time and resources.

The right platform should save you time and money on screening unqualified applicants by optimizing your job posting, increasing your reach and screening and improving your candidate quality.

More than 4.5 million employers have come to ZipRecruiter for their hiring needs, according to internal data, including 90% of Fortune 500 companies. The platform connects hirers with more than 21 million job seekers each month and 80% of companies that post on ZipRecruiter report receiving a quality candidate within one day.

Traditional job boards require recruiters to sift through volumes of applications, many of which may not meet basic qualifications. ZipRecruiter's AI-driven matching technology "helps reduce the number of junk applications employers have to sort through," said ZipRecruiter labor analyst Nicole Bachaud. "You aren't just paying for a listing — you're paying for a curated shortlist of candidates."

A clear and thorough job description is essential for attracting the right candidate, but drafting a job posting from scratch takes precious time and can lead to inconsistent results.

ZipRecruiter has more than 500 job posting templates, with screening questions that help employers move quickly to an offer and avoid time spent on mismatched resumes and unqualified applicants.

One key to a compelling job listing is including salary information. According to ZipRecruiter, listings on the platform that include compensation are 2.7 times more likely to deliver quality candidates.

Reaching enough qualified candidates is one of the hardest — and most expensive — aspects of the recruiting process, but ZipRecruiter distributes postings to more than 100 job boards with a single click. Its TrafficBoost® tool can dramatically increase visibility by placing a job ad in top search results, daily job alert emails and partner sites.

According to ZipRecruiter, TrafficBoost job posts receive 12 times more applicants than organic listings.

You don't have to wait for candidates to reach out to you with ZipRecruiter's Invite to Apply feature, which uses AI-powered matching technology to enable employers to contact qualified applicants before they even apply. It's especially cost-effective, according to Bachaud, "because it targets passive candidates — people who aren't actively scrolling job boards but may be a perfect fit for your role."

In the current slow-moving market, she added, 51.2% of workers are 'job-hugging' or staying in their current roles longer than they would otherwise.

"Proactively reaching out to these candidates can be the act that sets up businesses to win," Bachaud said.

ZipApply, an integration between ZipRecruiter and Workday, streamlines hiring by allowing candidates to upload their resume and complete screening questions without being redirected to another platform.

For candidates, that increases efficiency. For employers, it reduces applicant drop-off: According to ZipRecruiter, hiring managers who use ZipApply typically receive three times as many applicants.

Job hunters can apply quickly, Bachaud said, and employers are expected to move quickly, too.

"Job seekers are ready to move fast," she said. "Nearly half expect to hear back from employers within three days of applying."

They also expect continuous communication throughout the hiring process, Bachaud said. Engaging with candidates quickly and consistently can be the difference between securing top talent and losing them to another opportunity.

Not everyone has a budget for a big candidate search or to tap an outside recruiter to find the perfect hire. 

"If funds are limited, focus on visibility and speed," Bachaud said. "Targeted intensity beats passive longevity. It's often more effective to invest in a premium job post for a short period to generate a strong pool of qualified candidates quickly, rather than leaving a standard post up for weeks with little traction."

ZipRecruiter Premium is a mid-tier subscription plan that helps find high-quality candidates for hard-to-fill positions. According to the company, jobs posted with Premium receive six times as many quality matches.

With the right tools and strategies, your business can find quality candidates without straining resources.

In a competitive labor market, a cost-effective platform like ZipRecruiter helps employers filter through the noise of millions of job seekers and focus on improving hiring outcomes.

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