• Referral Recruitment definition
• The business case
• Make everyone a recruiter
• Best practice (casus)
• Training

What is referral recruitment?

A definition

Referral recruitment is recruiting through your own committed employees, and their network. It is one of the foundations of any recruitment strategy.

Think of these existing networks as potential ambassador networks. The alumni networks of employees and former employees are particularly interesting in this respect. It often happens that (former) employees of a company organize themselves on LinkedIn, and start an employee or alumni group here. In such online communities they talk about their work, about the company and about other things they have in common, such as a hobby or sport.

Referrals are the main source of excellent candidates:

• Low cost and fast payback
• Above average quality candidates
• Delivers fast results
• Reliable source
• Less staff turnover
• Strong communication and marketing (word-of-mouth)

Reach hidden talent

Studies show that referral recruitment [1] is the best source of quality staff. Therefore the focus of any recruitment strategy should include, next to creating a strong employer brand,  using your own employees and its network to hire new talent into your organisation.

... but traditional Employee Referral Programs have a limited scope and impact [2]. With refer² you have a dedicated partner that helps you to make best use of the network of your own employees, and their connections.

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[1] Referral recruitment studies and articles:

• Referral Programs Can Produce Millions in Business Impacts - John Sullivan
• Best Practice Casus: Accenture Referrals
• 2005 Watson Wyatt HCI Benchmark Study
  

[2] "Despite the reliance on referrals as a basic source of quality hires, they are too often taken for granted" [CareerXroads - Sources of Hire09 pdf]