Being Responsive In An Employee Referral Program Is Important

By Author: Savio Vadakkan
Total Articles: 58
Comment this article

The success or failure of an employee referral program is often been attributed to the HR function since conceptualizing and implementing the referral program lies within the purview of HR. However, the real onus lies on the recruiter, who is the single point of contact between the employee and the hiring manager. It is the recruiter and his or her actions, which ultimately determine the overall experience of the employee with the employee referral process right from referring a candidate for an open position to receiving the referral incentive.

A recruiter’s role in the hiring process can be broadly summarized into the below 3 main buckets

• Consult with hiring managers on the job description, compensation package, interview process as well as candidate assessment

• Determine the overall hiring strategy for a particular position, including where to source from

• Facilitate the employee referral process by acting as the SPOC for all referrals

As per Dr. John Sullivan, the one common factor across all successful employee referral programs is the fact that they are highly responsive, ...
... providing feedback to both the referring employees and the referred candidates within 24-72 hours of referral. The role of timely feedback cannot be over emphasized as it is one of the most important determinants for an employee about how serious the company is about the employee referral process and whether it is worth his time and effort to scout his network for candidates who can fit the job requirement

Technology has greatly simplified communication making it extremely easy to communicate with people irrespective of time and distance. If anything, in today’s times we suffer from a distinct danger of over communication. Recruiters have a host of technology tools available at their disposal to reach out, respond and communicate with candidates and employees regarding the status of their application. This renders any inordinate delay in responding or communicating feedback even more unforgivable, leading to a loss of interest on the part of employees in referring further candidates. Simple and easy as it may seem, slow or no response to employee referrals is one of the most potent causes for the failure of an employee referral program.

On the other hand companies who have established a strong culture of promoting employee referrals have taken care to ensure that recruiters respond to employee referrals promptly and effectively. This is partly due to the fact that recruiters accord preferential treatment to referred candidates by ensuring their interviews and offers are closed promptly and without any delay.

In fact organizations with successful employee referral programs have tied in recruiter incentives to their effective management and promotion of employee referral program. Recruiters are also encouraged to motivate employees to refer candidates by conducting regular sessions on how to match the required skill sets of an open position with the competencies of their network to determine if the person is a good fit.

The mantra for successful recruitment through employee referrals as with most other aspects of business, therefore is clearly communicate, communicate, communicate!

You can read more on latest trends and technologies in recruitment on http://www.zalp.com/theemployeereferralblog/

Author Bio :

Savio Vadakkan is the Marketing Professional at ZALP, a unique employee referrals booster. ZALP helps organizations tap the full potential of their employee referral program using advanced employee referrals and interesting features like gamification.