Creating Awareness — First Step to Solve Referral Problems

Employee referrals are one of the best sources of hiring. It helps you attract talent that is excited to join and stay. As a recruiter, you would have tried all means to improve quality, achieve quantity and create a meaningful experience for your candidates.

 

How would you upsurge the employee referral program, educate your employees about the referral process and tools, and develop fresh and innovative ideas to drive higher referrals?

 

A referral program can go for a toss mainly due to a lack of awareness.

 

Let’s find out ways to create awareness about referrals amongst employees.

 

Promotional campaigns

 

Running promotional campaigns for your referral programs across locations will reach employees and in turn, they will refer their friends for suitable job positions. These promotional campaigns can also highlight the referral processes and procedures and their best practices, so employees are well informed about the referral problem. The HR team can send reminders constantly and consistently about the referral program, without spamming the employees’ inboxes. The recruiters can also use stickers, flyers, posters, or slides flashing in the employees’ desktops and laptops to promote the referral programs.

 

 

Find out how Dream 11 tripled their workforce with a game-changing employee referral program. They had a Royal Enfield parked near their lift lobby, accessed by everyone. Whomsoever crossed the zone was inspired by the thought of owning and riding a bullet. 

 

Advertise your referral programs

 

Don’t settle after announcing the job openings in your organization. Keep your employees thinking about the job postings, only then you will receive maximum employee referrals. So, how do you keep your employees actively thinking about the referrals?

 

Leverage your referral platform and make it easy for your employees to advertise the job openings on different social media platforms. When employees see suitable job openings for their friends just a click away, it makes it convenient for the employees to refer. Thereby, employees have easier access to referrals and contribute largely to finding the best talents for the organization.

 

Solicit support through emails and newsletters

 

Send weekly emails to all employees about the latest job openings and request their referrals. These emails will act as reminders to the referral programs. Direct emails from the recruitment team add more scope to the referrals. Another way to involve employees in the referral programs is through referral newsletters. The recruiting team can send monthly updates with information about the job openings and referral incentives employees are entitled to receive after referring suitable candidates. The newsletter can have click buttons at the end of the referral column where employees can refer their friends right away for the job.

 

Onboarding games

 

Talk in detail about your referral programs to new hires. Introduce them to your referring tools and the ways to refer a friend. Make it more interactive by showing them a few open roles. Encourage them to refer and earn credits. Have simple and efficient names to your referral program that will help in recall. if you

 

Candid communication

 

When employees refer their friends, ensure they have open communication where they can receive or view updates about referrals. In the referral portal, the employees should be able to check the current status of their friend’s profile. If the organization uses ATS, the recruitment team should communicate openly and regularly through this system and provide updates to the employees on the actual status of the hiring process. Lack of communication will lead to confusion and employees may lose interest in referring their friends even if they plan to.

 

Acknowledge referrers

 

After successful onboarding, you can include snippets about the top referrer of the month and how much employees contributed towards quality hiring. When this information is fed on a regular basis in your employee referral portal, it will keep the employees well informed, encouraging them to contribute more towards the referral programs and they’ll enjoy being in the limelight as top referrers.

 

If you know other ways to create or increase awareness about referral programs, please share them with us.