50% of your hires

Hope your weekend rocked.

Let’s start the week with 3 easy hiring questions:

1. Do you have an Employee Referral Program?
2. Do all of your employees know how it works & how to make a Referral?
3. What percentage of your hires currently come from Employee Referrals?

If you’re aiming for significant growth & innovation, you simply must prioritize sourcing top-tier talent. And Employee Referrals are a cornerstone in this pursuit.

In fact, 50% of your hires (not candidates, but actual hires) should be coming from Employee Referrals. Best-in-class companies are closer to 75%.

Why are Employee Referrals the key?

Quite simply, because they’re the holy grail. Cheaper, faster, and better (unlike most things in life, where you must settle for 2 of the 3)

1. Quality of Hire: Referrals consistently rank as one of the highest sources of quality hires. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that referrals bring in candidates who are better cultural fits and have higher job satisfaction. These employees tend to stay longer, reducing turnover rates & associated costs.
2. Speed of Hire: Referrals streamline the recruitment process & save you countless hours. When existing employees refer someone they know, the initial vetting about company culture and role expectations has often already been communicated, speeding up the hiring timeline. They’re also far more likely to accept your offer.
3. Cost of Hire: Referrals reduce the dependency on external recruiting agencies & job postings, which can be costly and less effective. The cost of acquiring a candidate through referrals is significantly lower, and the ROI is staggering.

Implementing an Effective Referral Program

Whether you have a program in place or not, the key is to design it correctly. Hint: it’s not about how much you pay. It’s about how often you remind your employees.

Want 50%+ of your hires come from internal referrals? Here’s how:

1. Incentivize your employees: Provide tangible rewards for successful hires. These can range from financial bonuses to extra vacation days or other perks that align with your company’s values and budget. Google’s internal research found that the specific amount doesn’t move the needle much. Even $500 will work.

1. Communicate clearly & frequently: Clearly articulate the roles & qualifications needed to your staff. This helps them focus on qualified candidates from their networks.

1. Recognition: Acknowledge & reward employees who participate in the Referral program, even if their Referrals do not end up being hired. This encourages ongoing participation. (And do it publicly.)

1. Make it easy: Ensure the referral process is user-friendly. If it's cumbersome, employees simply won’t participate. Consider implementing a simple submission system through your company’s intranet or a dedicated software platform.

1. Keep them posted: Keep your workforce informed about the status of their Referrals. Regular updates & transparency can reinforce their trust in the process. Ghost them about their Referrals, and they’ll stop providing them.

And a Bonus tip:

Sit down with each new hire during their first week of work, to (literally) go through their rolodex, address book, or LinkedIn network. Ask the 5 most-talented people they’ve ever worked with.?

And, go after them. It’s a far better use of your time than posting on job boards.

One more Referral idea…

No matter how hard you try, Employee Referrals will never be enough.

You’ll need to go out to market, to identify the passive candidates that are not yet on your radar. Which is why my team came up with Shortlist.

Unlike traditional recruiting firms, Shortlist costs 10x less and comes with a money back guarantee. Hire one of the 10 Shortlist candidates, or it’s Free.

And now, you can make a few extra bucks by spreading the word about Shortlist.

Each time your referral purchases a Shortlist using your Referral code, you receive $1,000

Just email me with the word “REFER” ([email protected]) I’ll reply with your own Referral code. You can give it to your contacts, your colleagues, even post it on social media.

Yep, a thousand bucks just for making an email introduction.

Not a bad start to the week :-)