7 WAYS TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE REFERRAL PROGRAM

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7 WAYS TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE REFERRAL PROGRAM

• Employee referral is one of the effective
  ways of carrying recruitment process where
  current employees of an organisation are asked to
  refer people from their network to appear for a
  job interview in the company. Recruiting
  candidates by this method is cost effective and
  efficient. The best part, employees could be more
  productive or comfortable to work among the
  people they know better. If a company
  already gives importance to a diversified
  workplace, referral programs can increase the
  strength of it further. Lets see some of the
  referral programs which are commonly used.
• Ask employees to share on social networks
• One cannot have a well-performing referral
  program without having a strong social media
  effort. Strong networking is generated because
  most of the connections and the
  relationships built among the professionals
  via social platforms. Ask employees to post
  about job openings on their social network.
• Conduct networking events
• When companies focus more on conducting frequent
  events to gather audience and promote their
  product/service they can dedicate some time for
  networking sessions as well. Employees present in
  the event can be communicated about how they
  should network with people and get to know if
  they would be interested to work in such a
  company.
• Always accept referrals
• Never say no to a reference given by the
  employee, even when there are no current open
  positions in the company. Recruiters must always
  be full with relevant profiles and also gives a
  notion to the employees that their words are
  valued.

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• Speak out loud
• Recruiters or the management should not be shy
  about telling people on the floor that company
  accepts referrals too. Small gatherings, team
  meetings, events, celebrations wherever there
  is a gathering announce clearly to the
  employees about the possibilities of references.
• Regular feedback
• For a much effective referral program, a regular
  feedback about the referrals to the employees is
  a must. To keep everyone on same page,
  recruiters should always share what made
  them reject a referred candidate or what
  parameters made them to select one. This
  transparency will help employees to modify their
  search accordingly.
• Recognise and reward
• To keep the motivation and enthusiasm of
  employees towards more and more referrals, it is
  always recommended to recognise their efforts and
  reward them. Most preferably when a reference is
  converted as a new joinee. It could be monetary
  reward or some other perks. Similarly, team with
  highest referrals as new joinees can be rewarded
  on the floor.
• Implement an online Referral Portal
• Having an online referral portal being spread
  across the organisation is the best way to get
  instant references from employees, no matter at
  whatever location they are. It also helps keep a
  track of all the references coming in and who is
  referring them.
• Applicant Tracking System is a web based top
  recruiting software meant to automate the hiring
  process and bring quick closures in the
  organisation. It also comes with a free referral
  portal (with a pre-generated link) that can be
  advertised within the organisation. This portal
  captures the details about the employee who
  referred, as well.