How to make the most of unused recruitment budget before EOFY

End of financial year (EOFY) is just around the corner and with it, a familiar challenge for many HR teams and hiring managers: unspent budget.  

With ongoing pressure on budgets and increased scrutiny on spend, making the most of what’s left matters more than ever. For many organisations, it’s not just about using budget before it resets. It’s about investing it in ways that genuinely support their people, strengthen capability and set their organisation up for the year ahead.

If you have budget remaining, this is a valuable opportunity to take a thoughtful, strategic approach. Used well, even a small amount of remaining budget can help address skills gaps, strengthen teams and improve retention. 

Where do you sit? 

• Budget already used 
• Planning to use it before 30 June
• Still have budget, but no needs and not sure how to use it 
• Not going to use it, prepared to risk a reduced budget next year 
• Not planning on using it, need to save costs 
• Repurpose budget to learning & development 

Why unused recruitment budget matters 

Recruitment budgets are closely reviewed at EOFY. Underspend this year can create challenges in the year ahead. It can affect future budget allocations, slow approvals for roles that are already needed, or could mean tapping straight into next year's budget in July/August when you had budget left over this year that could have been forward paid. Remaining recruitment budget can be used strategically before 30 June. 

Identify the gap  

What investment is needed most? Is it leadership development, team growth or something else entirely? 

Aligning your remaining budget to strategic priorities rather than just ticking a box will ensure the spend is meaningful and justifiable. Even modest investment can have a big impact on your people, your culture and the future of your organisation.  

Here are six impactful ways to use your remaining recruitment or L&D budgets:  

1. Bring forward recruitment you already know is coming

If you are aware of roles that need to be recruited in July or August, bring these roles forward now. Early briefing, market mapping and candidate engagement can make a real difference to time to hire and help your team start Q1 with momentum rather than vacancies. 

It also means using this years budget (whether that be forward paying a partial fee or full fee), rather than drawing on next years budget in the first month of the new financial year. 

2. Grow your teams for the year ahead with recruitment  

Identify the specific skills and experience your team will need in the year ahead. This includes looking at capability gaps, future priorities, and where the right hire can have the greatest impact. 

Partnering with a recruitment specialist can support this more targeted approach. It will help you access wider talent pools, reduce time to hire, and ensure you’re bringing in people who align with both your immediate needs and longer term direction. 

You might also consider alternative approaches such as contract or project-based hires, particularly where you need specialist skills or short-term capacity. This can offer flexibility while still making effective use of available budget. 

Taking a more strategic view now can help you avoid reactive hiring later and set your team up with the capability it needs to deliver. 

3. Use temporary recruitment to protect delivery during peak periods or annual leave  

EOFY often brings reporting pressure, project deadlines and annual leave gaps at the same time. Temporary recruitment can be a smart use of remaining budget when you need to maintain delivery, protect permanent teams from overload and access capability quickly. For many organisations, it is also a practical way to support people well during peak periods rather than expecting already stretched teams to absorb more. It could also be covering a role with a temp whilst recruiting a permanent role to ensure the team doesn’t burn out with additional workload. 

4. Support leaders and emerging leaders 

Employee retention remains a top priority with current economic conditions. Now more than ever it is critical to invest left over budget into Learning & Development for your team. 

Leaders are being asked to take on more, with less support and resources in today's environment. Leadership development is a valuable investment for all parties. It shows a commitment to the growth of your team and helps shape the leaders you’ll need tomorrow.  

Structured programs, like our LEAD Mentoring Program, can be game-changing. By combining professional development, strengths profiling and one-on-one mentoring, LEAD helps emerging leaders build capability and confidence.  Mentoring, in particular, can be a powerful way to retain talent and provide individuals with a confidant and guide outside of their usual working group.  

5. Help your employees unlock their strengths  

Strengths profiling and assessments offer a smart, impactful way to utilise L&D budgets while delivering real outcomes. Strengths profiles can be used both at an individual or team level, providing valuable insights into strengths, behaviours and talent potential. 

These tools help employees become more self-aware, allows individuals to better understand their unique strengths and what energises them and enable teams to collaborate more effectively by playing to each other’s strengths. Rather than focusing on gaps or weaknesses, strengths-based development empowers individuals to work from a place of strength, maximising their potential and improving team dynamics.  

Given its relatively low cost and high impact, strengths profiling is an excellent choice for organisations looking to get the most value from their L&D budget. It can be offered to specific individuals or entire teams, depending on the budget available.  

6. Invest in strategic support  

Sometimes, the best investment you can make is bringing in an external perspective. Whether it's workforce planning, structural changes, or shaping your culture strategy, our consulting team can help you tackle those critical projects that often get sidelined. If you've been meaning to review your team’s capabilities, redefine roles, or clarify your organisational priorities, now is the perfect time to take action and use your leftover budget to move those initiatives forward.  

Making your budget count  

If you have recruitment budget left over this year, you can prepay part or all of the recruitment fee this financial year that can be used for temporary, permanent, unbundled services, psychometric testing or learning and development. 

If you don’t use your recruitment budget this year, it is often reduced the following year. This can lead to lost momentum, capability gaps or team burnout, and may leave you relying heavily on that budget early in the new financial year for planned or unexpected hiring needs.

If you are in a position to do so, spend your remaining budget with purpose. It’s an investment in your people. Recruitment, leadership development, strengths profiling and strategic consulting offer practical ways to deliver value for your people and your organisation.  

And if you’re unsure where to start, Beaumont People is here to help.  

 
Get in touch with us  to talk through your goals and to find a solution that's right for you – and your budget.  

Written by: Debbie Davis, Beaumont People CEO