We often get this question, should we really run a referral program for roles that require no experience. Employee referral is a very solid channel when it comes to driving productivity, attracting high quality hires. It's a great channel for retention. Given the benefits on offer, it makes absolutely no sense to exclude any kind of positions from the employee referral program. Rather, deploy some best practices like the ones listed below to manage the employee referral program for junior positions.
In junior positions, the candidate does not have a high degree of skill or experience. They tend to apply for every open role, junking the database and making it difficult rather practically impossible for the recruiter to process.
So, what is the best practice for managing inexperienced candidates through an employee referral program? Here are three things you should do
1. Always have a bucket for employees to tap inexperienced candidates
2. Do not necessarily have referral bonus for such recruits
3. Make sure to set expectations with employees on the high volume of profiles you receive
Let’s delve into details to understand this much better.
Always have a bucket for employees to tap inexperienced candidates
Many organisations do not hire inexperienced candidates. Regardless of if you hire Freshers or not, you should always have a job opened up for referrals for them. You can pick up titles like internship or campus hiring for Freshers with no experience, etc. Doing this allows your employees to park the resumes they receive, which is otherwise sent to the recruiter. The idea behind creating such buckets is that it gives recruiters the flexibility to deal with the candidates enmasse or consider them for off campus roles when the need arises. It also helps that these candidates don't end up in every other job.
Do not necessarily have referral bonus for such recruits
Do not necessarily offer referral bonus for employees who refer candidates with less than a year of experience. However, thank and recognise them well as they are helping a friend start their career or find a goal in life.
One of our customers, NESS Technologies ran a very creative campaign which said ‘help somebody start their career have them owe you for life’. It’s a very powerful program and in three days they received a deluge of applications from across the employees in the organization. The program helped them alter their campus hiring strategy.
Set expectations with employees on the high volume of profiles you receive
While opening up such roles, it is important to let your employees know about the deluge of applications you will receive. It's important for employees to know that it is practically impossible to process every candidate. By setting the right expectations, you are removing any entitlement and angst from the referral program. Employees also recognize the humongous task involved in processing and appreciate the transparency in communication, given the volume of profiles.
Let me know how you have handled inexperienced candidates in your referral program. Happy to answer any questions.