Boost Your Employee Referral Program

How does your company promote and incentivize employee referrals? Did you know that in many industries, the #1 source for acquiring new hires is via employee referrals? That is powerful information, especially when harnessed appropriately. Using social media tools to promote your organization’s referral system will also help produce quality applicants, show that you stay current with market trends and boost company culture, as well! Here are some reasons for you to soup up your referral engine!

Why have an employee referral program

• Produces quality applicants – First, make sure that you have a formal referral program set in place and that all employees have access to the details. All too often organizations may have a policy or program available, but employees don’t know much about it. When employees are given incentives for bringing in quality applicants, it’s a win-win! The employee may receive some type of reward, the applicant will already know more about the company and the company is able to build its applicant database with quality people (quality in the sense that someone trusted can already vouch for them in some respects).
• Promotes company culture and employment brand – This is very important! When hiring, you want to make sure your company is seen in a positive light. By using referrals, the applicant likely already knows at least a little positive information about your company from the person that referred them. This is your opportunity to hone your employment brand and to promote your company culture. Soon people will hear about what a great organization it is (especialy because it rewards employees for referrals), and there will be increasingly more applicants for all your job openings.
• Creates a positive experience for the candidate – All applicants want to have a positive experience. Let’s face it; job hunting is not a fun thing for most people to do. If candidates are referred by existing employees, they probably already feel positive about the experience (after all, they wouldn’t take the advice of an enemy would they?). Keep that momentum going by following up with each applicant – either way. Even if they are not hired, make it a positive experience by keeping them in mind for future jobs; or, informed of company news through an email campaign or newsletter. While they may not be a fit for one role, they could be just the person for a future opportunity.

How to use social media with your referral program

• Employees can spread the word of job openings – This is a super easy and yet very effective way to bring candidates to your company. Most employees today have a Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account – some have all of these and more! The employee can post a specific job to their network of friends or link directly to the company’s career page. HireCentric applicant tracking system then allows applicants to name the referring employee during the application process.
• Create social media pages for your company – If you haven’t already done this – please don’t delay! Companies across all industries can benefit from having well-maintained social media pages. LinkedIn is optimal for corporate social presence because you can present your company history, post jobs and blog links, and give updates that allow applicants to find out more about your company culture. By encouraging your employees to follow your social media pages, they can easily repost your notices about new job openings or other company events to their own networks. Plus, with social recruiting tools now available in hiring software, automating the process of posting to your social media properties is seamless.
• Incentivize sharing behavior – If you are prepared to have a little skin in the game, then offer employees a monetary incentive for referrals that result in new hires. And, with the tracking and analytical tools available to you in an ATS, managing this type of program can be a cinch and pay for itself. Social media can have an exponential impact on the exposure for your organization’s positions – don’t miss out on that opportunity.

Image credit: Moar Boost by Josh Sniffen (contact)