Employee Referral Program For Modern Times

An employee referral program is one of the best things for you and for your employees. It allows you to get qualified resumes for open positions and it allows your employees to receive a bonus each time they send a referral your way that you ultimately hire. Before you build any referral program, make sure it is built for modern times.

According to the New York Times, more businesses are relying on internal referrals when it comes to hiring. Especially when it comes to key positions, employers would rather hire someone based upon a current employee's recommendation than going with a gut instinct on a stranger. 

Those who enter a business through a referral are more likely to get preferential hiring treatment, too. When companies get thousands of resumes for an open position and then one comes from a quality employee, that resume is usually placed directly on top and holds a little more weight.

This is why employees are willing to refer friends - they know their friends stand a good chance of being hired - which give them the incentive that you are offering.

So how do you notify employees that you need referrals? You cannot make it too complicated. While everyone wants the referral bonus that you are offering, no one wants to work too hard to get it. If you use modern technology in conjunction with your employee referral program, it will save you a considerable amount of money and save your employees time.

There are many ways to modernize your employee referral program. The first is to stop relying on a handwritten line on an application for "referred by" because it's nearly impossible to track. Instead, rely on a software program that will do all of the tracking for you. By doing this, you can even update employees as to where their referrals are in the system, being able to tell them whether they qualify for the referral bonus and when they can expect to see it.

Additionally, keep in mind that many of your employees are on social media. They may have hundreds of connections - and many of these connections may be within the same industry as your employee. This means that you want to be able to tap into the connections of your employees. How can you do this? Enable social media platforms within your referral program. This will allow employees to "post" job openings on their Facebook. When that link is followed, it gives credit where it's due.