As seen above, employee referrals are one of the most powerful tools in hiring potential candidates. They work because people trust each other!
Trusting others is something we all have in common. We’re willing to rely on their judgment and experience for things like whether someone is trustworthy or not. We often look to those who seem successful for lessons on how to be successful ourselves.
By asking your colleagues if they know of anyone that could use our services, you’re tapping into this trusting instinct. It also doesn’t hurt that you’re offering them money either!
Employee referral bonuses can be tricky because you want to make sure that whatever person you send out no longer benefits from the bonus by sending you a bad referral. That would take away from your chances of being hired!
Fortunately, there are ways to handle this situation gracefully so that it doesn’t hurt your business. In this article, you’ll learn some simple steps to help ensure that your bonuses go unused.
Employee referral program helps identify good job candidates
Finding new employees is not easy, which is why having an employee referral program is so powerful. Employees already have a history of working at your company, and they know other people in the organization well. They may even trust these individuals enough to refer you to their colleagues or friends as potential hires.
By asking about referrals during interviews, you can find out if there are any hidden talents or resources available at your workplace. People often feel more comfortable referring their peers than going up to a stranger, so don’t hesitate to ask for their comments and suggestions.
By adding some extra content to your website or bulletin board, you can create an internal employment opportunity posting event. By doing this, eligible applicants will be able to browse through the post and see who referred them.
Employees are more invested
A well-connected employee is much like having a close friend that can tell you everything about them. They have painted themselves as an asset to your company by promoting their performance and showing off their talents.
By asking employees if they know of anyone who could be a good candidate for a position, you create a friendly conversation where both parties feel comfortable.
This removes one of the major reasons why people avoid hiring or leaving their current job — fear of being judged.
Since employees already trust the organization and believe in its mission, they are less likely to worry about repercussions from staying loyal to the company.
Furthermore, most professionals develop relationships with others in their field, so they will not hesitate to refer someone they think would be successful working at your company.
Interpersonal skills are a valuable skill that everyone should possess, which makes referring potential hires even more important!
Planning a meeting with current employees to ask about referrals can easily be done over the phone or via chat. This way, there is no need to recruit additional resources to do the work for you.
Employee referrals get more credit
As discussed earlier, employee referrals are one of the best ways to identify potential candidates for a position. Employers don’t always acknowledge this, but it’s true – employees like other people and they talk about their coworkers.
By asking around and getting input from others in your organization, you can learn a lot about someone without going through an expensive process of interviewing them. And while interviews are great, talking to colleagues is sometimes the better option.
It also doesn’t hurt that most people want to be appreciated and recognized for what they do, so conversations with co-workers often come with praise.
Interviews are necessary steps in hiring, but they’re not the only way to evaluate applicants. If you value teamwork, take a look at past performance reviews or chat with friends outside of work to see if anyone knows anything about the candidate.
Employees get more opportunities to recommend
As discussed earlier, employee referrals are one of the best ways to find new job candidates. A lot of employers don’t realize this, but most employees have access to at least one other person within their organization.
If you listen carefully during conversations, you will probably hear stories about how certain people in the company suffer from poor communication skills or lack of motivation.
These individuals make up what we call “the invisible workforce.” They keep busy by going into stealth mode, working silently without anyone even knowing they’re there.
When they do show themselves, it can be because they feel that no one is listening to them or giving them credit for all of their hard work. Or maybe they just want someone to say thank you for all of the efforts they put into things.
In any case, these individuals need to be found. If you don’t, they could end up taking their talents elsewhere.
Employee referrals get more pay
As mentioned before, employers are paying a lot of money for employee referrals. Employers actively look for people with whom they can work and gain trust. This person may be allowed to earn extra compensation by recommending your business to their colleagues or even leaving their job voluntarily to come work for you. The moral of the story is that if you want to win this battle, you have to put the effort into developing relationships at your workplace.
By creating supportive environments and engaging in activities with your coworkers, you will start building rapport. When your colleague’s career is going well, they will tell other people about it! By being aware of this, you can use it as leverage to bring in new hires. It’s not only ethical but also profitable.
Employees enjoy coming to work here. They feel respected and valued which makes them happy. Happy employees = productive employees so if you want to keep your staff, you should do everything you can to promote a positive working environment.
Employee referrals get more benefits
As mentioned earlier, employee referrals are one of the best ways to find new job candidates. Not only do they help your company recruit potential employees, but also for those recruits that already work at your organization, they bring up other professionals in their network.
This is particularly important if you want to stay ahead of the competition by finding out about possible opportunities beyond your department or area of responsibility. If someone you know talks highly of an opportunity, investigate it!
By asking around and staying informed, you’ll be sure to learn some great information. Or, even better, you’ll meet many people who are willing to share their knowledge with others and grow close colleagues.
Employees get recognition
As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest reasons why employee referrals work so well in hiring is because they reward those who put others before themselves. Employers look for these qualities in people and want to promote them as an asset to the company.
When you refer someone else for their job, you are telling everyone that this person is worthy of such high praise. By doing this, you are telling the world how good this person is and what great things they can do. This sets up a nice perception of the referred individual.
Their colleagues believe they are talented and hard-working, which only adds to their reputation. All of this attention is very motivating for them and may even inspire them to keep going beyond the call of duty for the sake of the organization.
This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it rewards those who care about the team just like any other worker would be appreciated.
Employees get more responsibility
As mentioned before, one of the biggest reasons why employee referrals work so well is because they incentivize your current employees. Your colleagues are giving their time and effort to promote your business and grow your company.
By offering them a chance to earn extra money or even be rewarded for recruiting new team members, they will always have the incentive to do everything in their power to help you succeed.
This also creates internal motivation for your current employees as they feel like they’re working hard enough but need someone to take credit for all the success. They want to know that others believe in them and what they bring to the table.
In addition to this, studies show that when people refer others for employment, it boosts their self-confidence.
It makes them feel better about themselves and their job search skills. This can sometimes outweigh the benefits that could be received by applying directly through employers.