12 Points
to consider for a successful Employee Referral Program
The good news for you is that with just a little effort and re-tooling, you can awaken the most powerful
weapon in your recruiting arsenal, and soon your Employee Referral Program will be your most effective source of great hires.
Here are 12 simple things you might want to consider to improve the results of your program. Although by no means is this a complete list, if implemented you will begin to see results and reap a high ROI.
1.
Keep it Simple! A good Employee Referral Program is clear and precise about the rules (who is eligible, who isn’t, the terms of the program, bonus
payouts
for different positions,
minimum
qualifications needed for a referral to be considered “qualified,”etc.)
Remember that simplicity and clarity encourage more qualified referrals
2.
Set expectations An Employee Referral Program is a company based initiative and not an HR project and hence expectations from the program should be communicated to the employees. The organization should make sure that the employees understand the benefits, track the result of referred candidates, reward successful referrals and discourage referrals spams.
The employees need to realize that these referral programs not only help hire good talent but will help play a key role in building a great team
3.
Name Your Referral Program
“ ”
A name gives your program exclusive identity and is a significant step in branding it. We would suggest taking this
to the next level by creating a logo. This instant recognition is an essential part of getting employees into the “referral” mindset.
Give the employee referral program a good catchy name with a tagline and a logo
4.
Identify prioritized jobs Don’t waste employee time and burden your program’s
administration with “junk referrals” and referrals for jobs that can be adequately filled through normal sources. The best programs do not cover all jobs and instead prioritize high-impact and hard-to-fill jobs Prioritized jobs when filled with a great hire, have the highest business impact
5.
Use Social Media
to boost your referral program results Social recruiting is an efficient and cost-effective
way to find qualified candidates Social networks are free, practically everyone uses them already, and they’re a good means to showcase your brand. Employees can now take open jobs in front of a large pool of qualified candidates using social media integrated tools available today
6.
Make it easy for them Referral Program-specific emails can be sent to employees or creating a landing page/microsite where they can learn more about ERP can help. An automated referral portal which will handle the entire process from posting jobs for recruiters to making referrals for employees can drastically help increase output.
Educate your employees on “Best Practices� to find and identify top talent
7.
Give them tools Everyone knows referrals through resume sharing. Why not use social media for referrals?
Provide more touch points to your employees to inturn get in touch with prospective candidates
Give your employees multiple, easy and convenient ways to refer candidates
8.
Thank them Reward your ERP’s early participants and champions right away.
You’d be amazed how something as simple as movie tickets or a $10 gift card can boost a referral program. Don’t forget, many referrals are made because your employees
are anxious to help a friend get a job.
Try to focus on what would appeal to your employees
9.
Respond to them If your employees are working hard to give solid referrals, those referrals should be processed in a timely manner since it speaks volumes to employees about how serious you are. It is important to acknowledge every referral received and is more important to keep the employees’ updated on the status of their referrals.
There are many employee referral tools available today like ZALP that come with a real time referral tracking mechanism
10.
Remind them Frequent reminders like company emails and status notifications are great. If the terms of the program change, communicate it to your
employees and keep them updated.
Make sure the referral program stays fresh in the minds of your employees
11.
Don’t ignore Analytics With analytics, you can keep track of your open positions, see how many candidates have applied, and
even see how long it takes your company on an average to complete each step of the referral process
An employee referral program is never complete without the metrics
12.
No referral is waste!
Every ERP is bound to receive referrals that may not be relevant to current vacancies. However every referral is valuable and must be systematically stored
for future use as and when corresponding openings come up .
A mechanism should be in place to store unused referral resumes in a centralized database with tags which would be accessible to all recruiters
With these simple steps you are sure to see improved results in your referral program. And if you need a tool that will help you seamlessly achieve all of this,
ZALP is just a click away You may also opt for a free consultation on improving your referral program results. Our employee referral specialists would be glad to help.
For more information, visit
www.zalp.com
To book a consultation appointment, drop a mail to
info@zalp.com
You may also call us for any other assistance
1-866-217- 1267