Are you still seeking the source of the best potential employees? Now you can stop. According to John Sullivan, a recognised consultant in the field of human resources and management professor at San Francisco State University, the source lies in referrals from existing employees.
Sullivan states: "I have been developing and researching employee referral programs for over 20 years and during that time I have unfortunately found that although most firms have referral programs, the majority are poorly designed and are not data-driven."
If fewer than 40% of new recruits come via employee referrals, he recommends the following measures:
1. Select priority positions
The most successful programmes do not focus on all positions but on those with the greatest impact on your business and positions that are difficult to fill.
2. Teach employees how to make referrals
Start by asking your most successful providers of referrals to share their experience. Then create a manual for employees on where to look for referrals and how to convince potential referrals to engage.
3. Prepare stories about your company
Create an electronic archive (a web page or wiki) to share success stories about your company and its employees. Establish a standard procedure for employees to add more stories which will help them better convince their acquaintances to apply for a job.
4. Communicate with employees personally
Do not use general and impersonal ways of asking your employees for referrals. Do not send spam requesting referrals for all positions; instead, select staff who have the greatest potential to recommend someone for a particular position and ask them personally. Send mass requests only to targeted groups of employees for specific positions.
5. Emphasise teamwork
Tell your employees the main point of recommending high-quality potential colleagues is the chance to collaborate with the best people in the best possible team.
6. Create special business cards
Provide employees who are ideally placed to recommend the best potential employees with special business cards in either paper or electronic form. These may be, for example, tags stating "Ask me about a job in our company" which employees will wear at fairs or use as links in their e-mails.
7. Involve "boomerangs"
Keep in touch with former employees who excelled in your ranks. You can approach them directly with job offers or ask them to provide employee referrals. Read more about recruiting former employees here.
8. Involve "friends of the company"
These may be family members of your employees, retired employees, consultants, vendors, customers and other people who know your needs in the field of talent. Read more about the involvement of these people here.
9. Remember to provide feedback
Employee referral programmes often fail when employees recommend someone and do not receive any feedback. You should give feedback on every referral within 48-72 hours. The employee should learn whether their referrals were good or bad and possibly receive further suggestions on how to improve.
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