Hire better candidates faster

For businesses, the fastest way to get highly qualified candidates is through employee referrals.

Having a co-worker telling a business owner that they highly recommend a candidate for a particular job makes the candidate more likely to have their resume read, land an interview and get the job.

In a paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and MIT studied data from a financial services company, they found out that referrals only made up about 6% of total applications. At the same time they resulted in more than 25% of all hires.

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Hires through referrals make up better employees

Studies have repeatedly shown that hires through referrals are more likely to be more productive and stay longer at the business. Highly skilled co-workers are more likely to know qualified candidates with the required skill set. They often also become a mentor for the new candidate with regards to culture, systems and getting things done the most effective way at the new work place.

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50% of hires come from informal networks

Some businesses try to encourage employees to look through their network and source candidates for open jobs — (and when they do it’s highly effective). Around 50% of US jobs are found through informal networks and yet most businesses that have a referral program — are using old systems that don’t integrate with modern social networks.

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Referrals in the age of technology and Social Networks — and what to do about it.

The world has never been more connected. Some even claim that we are almost all no more than 6-degrees of separation apart. By leveraging todays connectivity, recruiting through referrals can be improved drastically with few simple steps:

Firstly, recruiters should have a system that helps them see and know when candidates who apply through traditional methods (e.g. Job-boards or firm-website) are connected on social media with co-workers at a company. If they are connected, a simple system that allows recruiters to request a referral can give value feedback if the candidate is the right cultural fit and or with the right skill set.

Secondly, recruiters need to put a system in place that incentivizes employees to source candidates. This should both be by sharing job openings within their networks, but primarily by reaching out to their peers who they feel are the right candidate for the job. Tracking who sourced which candidate needs to be easy, with valuable insight into which channels are most effective.

Thirdly — and most important, recruiters need to change hiring into a collaborative team effort, that affects everyone at the company. Employees that are up to date with the companies recruiting process will transform into front-line recruiters that initiate conversations in informal settings that leads to more, improved sourced candidates.

At 50skills.com we offer a solution that helps businesses transform their recruiting processes and make recruiting a collaborative effort. Sign up for a demo today.

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