tactical steps to transform your employee referral program

RAISING YOUR EMPLOYEE

REFERRAL PROGRAM RESULTS

TO 50% OF ALL HIRES

“50% is the new ERP target”

© Dr John Sullivan

1 www.drjohnsullivan.com

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Tactical Action Steps that can

dramatically improve results of an ERP

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Action steps

Tips for improving referral volume

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Best practices for increasing referral volume Hold referral events – hold physical referral

events and “virtual meetups” in order to garner

attention, to educate, and to get "spot" referrals

(Monster.com)

Alerts – send targeted alerts to the most relevant

employees with a successful referral track record

in order to make them aware of your current need.

(CACI International and Quicken Loans)

Competition – friendly internal contests between

teams can dramatically improve results (Deloitte)

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Best practices for increasing referral volume

Harness social networks – closely integrate referrals with your firm’s social media effort

Recognize managers – set targets, make it a promotion criteria and then… track, report, recognize and reward individual managers for high referral rates within their team

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Increase volume by requiring less upfront

Accept profiles – at least initially, allow LinkedIn

profiles in lieu of resumes

Accept just names – instead of requiring the full

resume, accept names only (Children’s hospital in

Dallas pay $100… just for name in key jobs…

even if they are not hired… and 25% of the names

result in a hire)

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Action steps

Educate your employees

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Education and help

Provide them with hands on help

Provide virtual “referral coaches”

Offer sample social media profiles and provide

templates that can guide employees on how to develop contacts and relationships online

Offer to critique their profile or their blog

Provide them with stories – develop "story inventories" that employees can access and then use to "sell" the firm to potential referees

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Google has a story inventory

A story Inventory for recruiters and employees

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Action steps

Set referral expectations

in order to minimize “junk referrals”

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Setting clear expectations can limit junk referrals

Expectations before an employee refers (guidelines)

1.We are exclusively seeking superior individuals

that will make our firm significantly better

2.Because we only want the very best… we expect

no more than 3 referrals per employee a month

3.Throughout the referral process… we expect you

to put the firm’s best interests first

4.Except in extraordinary cases, we do not want

referrals from relatives or individuals that

approached you and asked to be referred

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We need the following information

Provide the following 6 pieces of information

1. The job title or req # you are referring them for

2. How you know or have assessed their work

3. Assess and then tell us about their skills and

knowledge… and how they are superior

4. Assess and then tell us about their cultural fit…

so we do not dilute our culture

5. Assure us that you have sold them to the point

where they will accept an interview, if asked

6. Honestly rate them with a A+, A, or B+

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Action steps

Referral cards can have a high impact

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Referral cards can be powerful

Your customer service just now was exceptional. I work for the Apple store and you’re exactly the

kind of person we’d like to talk to. If you’re happy where you are, I’d never ask you to leave. But if you’re thinking about a change, give me a call. This could be the start of something great.

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Electronic versions of referral cards

Electronic referral cards

An alternative is to provide employees with

electronic referral cards to send to their social

media contacts (the cards can have a tracking code

to ensure that the employee gets credit for the

referral)

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Action steps

Utilize high-impact

but low-cost rewards

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Rewards

Action steps for improving rewards

Realize that the average bonus amount generally

falls between $500 and $1,500…amounts above

$1,500 have proven to have little impact

The best ERP’s never pay "equal" bonuses and

most vary it by job, location and competitor $

"Grossing up" bonuses (so that they are in effect

tax-free) really WOW’s employees

Pay off quickly and consider a “prize patrol”

approach to add excitement (Quicken)

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Rewards

Inexpensive rewards to consider

A referral dinner/luncheon held once/ twice a

year with the CEO to celebrate referrers

A $25 gift / Starbucks card for your 1st referral

A handful of free movie tickets for the family

First choice at vacation, schedule or other

desirable work items

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An example… rewarding frequent referrers

Expedia’s frequent hire club

$1000 plus a travel coupon for each additional hire

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Action steps

Technology features to consider

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Referral technology features Impactful technology features

1. Referrals are tagged and prioritized in the ATS

2. The referring employee gets an e-mail “thank you” within 24 hours

3. The referred candidate gets a “thank you” phone call within 24 hours

4. The employee is notified via e-mail when a referral is scheduled for an interview

5. Interviews can be scheduled by the candidate on a web site (Alaska Airlines)

6. Relevant job openings are “pushed” to the right employees (With their permission)

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Technology features

Technology features (continued)

6. Employee referrals can be made directly from their mobile phone

7. Referring employees have a referral scorecard

8. Employees and candidates can track progress during the process (Accenture & Aricent)

9. A+ and A “rejects are told what they must do to

improve their chances

10.An e-newsletter is sent quarterly to A+ and A rated referrals that were not hired… in order to build a relationship

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Action steps

Administrative actions

for improving program results

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Administrative actions to consider

Improve responsiveness – responsive is the #1

critical success factor so… prioritize the handling

of referrals and develop service level timelines

Dedicated recruiters – a dedicated ERP

recruiter can improve candidate relationship

management (CRM) and much more effectively

sort and expedite top referrals (CACI)

Expedited interviewing – make a commitment

to interview all A+ and A quality referral

candidates for key jobs within a certain number of

days (Owens Corning)

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Administrative actions to consider Measure quality of hire – measure the on-the-job

performance and the retention rates of new hires from referrals… and then use the information to improve the ERP

Conduct a follow up interview – after a successful referral, send a recruiter to interview the employee in order to identify best practices and to ask for additional referrals (Amazon)

Develop a referral program SLA – increase the responsiveness of both line managers and HR by instituting service-level agreements that spell out expectations. (Aricent)

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Action steps

Avoid these 4 high impact

ERP program killers

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The 4 most impactful program killers

Do not allow executives to win the argument that…

you don’t need a formal ERP program and

marketing effort… because “it’s part of their job”

Do not withhold rewards during the new hires

probationary period

Avoid “referral spam” where a high volume of

messaging causes your targeted employees to

eventually ignore all referral messages

Avoid sending employee referrals to apply on

the standard corporate careers website