Proven: Employee Referrals are the #1 Source for Hiring Passives

There was a time when people would spend their entire life working at one single company. Remember when loyalty was the primary driver? It is not the same anymore. Currently, 12 to 18 months are also too long to work at an organisation.

 

According to LinkedIn’s survey, 1 out of every 3 employees today is actively looking for a new job (30% of the employed population). What’s more interesting is the remaining 70% are also fine switching their jobs. They just aren’t hunting for jobs like the active job seekers. However, they are happy to consider if the right position is offered to them.

 

If everybody is ready to switch their jobs, have you considered why recruiting is tougher? Is it because you are still following the traditional ways to reach out to them which aren’t convincing enough?

 

According to LinkedIn’s research, referrals from friends or someone they know is the top place where passive candidates first hear about the new job.

 

Age is factor too. Seasoned professionals are more likely to hear about a job from their friends while younger folks get to know about positions from third party websites.

 

 

We analyzed the data and there are three main areas where adopting modern practices will help.

 

#1 - Approach

The data proves reaching out to passive candidates directly is futile. Referrals work best. A good company culture helps gain your employee’s advocacy. Then the next step is to implement an employee referral program that makes it easy for your employees to push these jobs on their social media networks or share it directly with a friend.

 

#2 - Money

The stats show that newspaper adverts don’t work anymore. Hence, it is time to stop wasting money in posting job adverts. Nobody cares about that. It would be better to invest money inside the organisation. Improve your employee referral program by increasing the referral rewards. That way you are not only spreading wealth within the organisation but also gaining a better return on investment through qualified passive candidates. We, at RippleHire, have a gamified referral solution. [Shameless plug :-)]

 

#3 - People

You are hiring a very mixed set of generations today. The young folks who are highly social will view your jobs on a career site. You just have to maintain an attractive career site for them. Seasoned professionals won’t do the same. They will only consider a job if a friend or someone they know recommends it to them. A strong employee advocacy works best to attract them.

 

Before I conclude, these are some important points that the data proves:

1. Hiring is going to be a continuous process given that more than half of your workforce is fine switching jobs.

2. It is important to use the resources you have - the current workforce to generate more candidates in your talent pipeline.

3. Referrals also make sourcing easy. A good referral recruitment software should give you and your employees the ability to share job information to the online world easily. This way, you can concentrate better on maintaining a great company culture and process the candidates faster.

4. Generations do matter. You have to approach every person differently. Your employees could be of great use to make onboarding easy for passive candidates.

 

Recruiting technology can always make it easy for your employees to share jobs and refer people. There are many candidates out there who are absolutely frustrated of their job. If they see a job that a friend has shared on their social feed and it interests them, they are likely to apply for it.

 

Talent branding is the strongest component to attract passive candidates. Having your employee share jobs elevates your company branding. After all, employees who love working with you will only recommend their friends to join. This is oddly reassuring for a candidate.

 

The possibilities of getting referrals today is great. So, when do you plan to start?

 

(Blog image credits: LinkedIn and Shutterstock)