It goes without saying that every company wants the brightest and best working for them. The concept of using an internal employment pool or referrals to recruit for a company isn’t a new idea, but the reach and resources absolutely have changed since the maturity of social media. Not to mention that the brightest and best are usually aware of the social media trends and are readily available at your finger tips, literally!
After taking into account the recruitment cycle and the expenditure to on-board and train, a hire can cost around $100,000. Great ways to lower the price tag are to reduce the time it takes to source for candidates and to make use of employees that are invested in both your company and their friend’s success, hence, referrals.
In smaller offices, word spreads fast about open roles, but for companies with fifty or more employees, there may be candidates that slip through the cracks simply due to lack of awareness. Here’re some tips to engage, inform, and educate for referrals through social media.
3 Tips for Employee Referrals
1) Follow and Link with Coworkers- Spreading the word through an internal team is much easier if everyone is linked and connected. It’ll allow the opportunity for information to unfold internally and for others to reach out through their friends/your colleagues. On the flip side, it’ll allow you to see the professionals that engage with coworkers as well.
2) Look for 2nd Degree Connections- On Linkedin, you can use 2nd degree connections to connect with prospects. You can view credentials and ask your team about the candidates you find through their connections prior to engaging with them.
3) Brand the Company Culture and Show it Off- This is perhaps the best way to persuade your current talent to recruit for you. Make your place of employment fun and show others how enjoyable it is to work for you. Your employees will be advocates for you, and their friends will see how exciting it can be to go into work every day!
Of course there’re other great incentive programs to develop such as referral bonuses, but the true motivator for people is happiness. If you can encourage and engage current employees to campaign for happiness, they’ll attract a great pool of potential new employees.
Image:webtreats/Flickr
Author: Kristen Diane McDonald
Kristen Diane is an experienced Creative and Technical Recruiter who’s worked with some of the most prestigious ad agencies and video game studios in North America. As an avid traveler, experiencing different cultures, customs and ways of thinking has greatly influenced her career. She has recruitment roots planted in human resources, both in the US and Canada, and has extensive experience as a newsletter writer. The transition to career blog writing only seemed like a natural progression. Follow her on Twitter.
Excellent post, Kristen Diane! Thanks for sharing.
Assaf Eisenstein
Founder & CEO of GooodJob (gooodjob.com)
Thanks Assaf! Much appreciated.
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[...] 28% and Jobvite has it at 40%. Part of the reason for the popularity of employee referrals is the enabling effect of social media and the fact that referred employees have a shorter time to hire and are proving to be a better fit [...]