Recruiting and hiring new employees involves so many different components that it can sometimes feel overwhelming to determine who is best for the role and who can have the biggest positive impact on the company. Smart hiring involves streamlining the processes and utilizing strategies that will prevent, or at least alleviate, any feelings of a rushed or uncertain hire. In the long-run, bad hires end up costing the company a lot more in terms of time, money and missed opportunities. Therefore, it’s advisable to create a system that mitigates the potential of hiring an employee who won’t be a good fit or will not be able to perform up to certain standards. One such smart hiring tactic is to create an employee referral program through an effective implementation of a recruiting software platform and applicant tracking system.
Here are a few of the many advantages of an employee referral program:
By enabling your employees to participate in the employee referral program, you are able to virally tap a vast network of pre-selected talent that is part of your employee networks including social media platforms. An incentive based employee referral system keeps the employees engaged in the process as they can visually track and monitor the progress of their referrals in the recruiting workflow. Rewards and incentives further motivates current employees to share jobs with their networks and take the time to refer the best candidates to be considered for the open positions in the company.
There is nobody more active in supporting your company’s culture and progress than your own employees. For the good of the company and for their own inherent self-interest, existing employees want a new hire that will easily jive with the rest of the team, complement their capabilities where needed, bring a fresh perspective and share company values. Because employees embody the culture of a company they can recognize characteristics in themselves that thrive in the organization’s environment, and thus intuitively know what key traits to look for in prospective candidates.
By seeking feedback through an employee referral program, you are essentially conducting your own smart hiring due diligence. Perhaps there was something you missed on a resume or during an interview that suddenly becomes blindingly clear when brought to the attention of your employees. Oftentimes, prospective employees will let down their guard when in the presence of their perceived equals, thus allowing further insight into how a potential candidate acts outside of a formal interview.
Asking your employees to take part in an employee referral program insinuates a significant measure of trust in their decision-making skills as well as approval in their perspective. In turn, this will inevitably make employees feel valuable and important within the organization. When employees feel that the work they do is recognized and worthwhile, they’re not only likely to continue performing at high levels but also, enjoy greater job satisfaction. A win-win for everyone.
Recruiting top talent and following smart hiring practices is time-consuming enough. Creating an employee referral program shouldn’t be an additional chore for you to have to specifically focus on and overly manage. To assist in the creation of an employee referral program, Simplicant’s social recruiting platform and applicant tracking system allow companies to easily maintain important communications to hire the best possible candidate for the job.
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