General Info:
Employee referral programs (ERPs) have the potential to be excellent sources for high quality new hires and according to studies, employee referrals provide the highest return on recruitment investment. Caveat Emptor. All ERPs are not created equal. In fact, the vast majority of hosted ERPs do not rely on a good old fashioned referral to serve up a candidate for an open position. Can that be right? If you are a company that has taken the time to build a workplace culture that engages employees in meaningful ways, you have the opportunity to reward your employees with a bonus for referring their friends for open career positions. You are relying on your employees’ understanding of what it takes to be a great fit and excel within your workplace. Your employee will be selective and well-reasoned in evaluating their circle of friends. Your employee will know the referral candidate, their aptitude for the position and their disposition and quirks in ways that a standard interview process cannot uncover. Your employee has vetted the candidate before they even cross your desk for consideration. Now what if you remove 95% of the employee referral process in favor of automated skills matching, social profile crawling and software based referral suggestions? That is how most of today’s ERPs function. Some programs even encourage applicants to apply for a job, and then ask someone for a referral. These programs encourage the applicant to search for someone already in their network who is a current employee, and then ask for a recommendation. Not only does this encourage employees to make bogus referrals in order to cash in, it defeats the purpose of a referral. What is lost in this process is the value of the referral itself. Referrals work only when your employee takes the time to personally evaluate who may make a great candidate for an open position at your company. They may in fact know several friends with skill sets that would qualify them for the position, but they also know things about them that make them poor hire choices. When a live person makes the referral, they are considering not only relevant skills, but also personality, work ethic, cultural fit, and career history. After all, there is more than just a referral bonus at stake. When an employee makes a personal recommendation, they are putting their own reputation on the line. This is a large part of the reason that employee referrals are so effective at delivering high quality employees. Talk about opportunity! Lingo connects employees and their friends to new career opportunities through professional referrals and endorsements. Job-seekers enjoy a leg up on the competition by harnessing the power of employee referrals and endorsements. Employees who make referrals earn unlimited cash rewards from their employer. Save Money - Referred employees are less expensive to hire and complete the applicant-to-hire process quicker. Reduce Turnover - At 26% less likely to quit, and 45% retention after 2 years, your HR team can spend less time recruiting. Increase Efficiency - Referrals are 6X more likely to be hired, and require significantly less time to complete the applicant-to-hire process.