Published on April 7th, 2023
As a recruiter, you're always looking for ways to find the best candidates for your open positions. While there are many different methods of talent sourcing available to you, one that often gets overlooked is employee referrals.
In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the benefits of employee referrals in talent sourcing and how to include them as a part of your recruitment strategy.
Employee referrals are a form of talent sourcing where current employees recommend potential candidates for open positions within the company. Referrals can come from a variety of sources, including colleagues, friends, and family members. When a current employee refers a candidate, they typically submit their resume and/or contact information to the hiring manager or recruiter. From there, the referred candidate will go through the standard hiring process, including interviews and background checks.
An immense benefit of employee referrals is that they can lead to higher retention rates. When you hire someone who has been referred by an existing employee, they already have a connection to the company and are more likely to feel a sense of loyalty and commitment. This can make them more likely to stay with the company for the long term. In fact, research has shown that employees who are referred by someone else tend to stay with the company longer than those who are hired through other methods. Around half of all referrals (45%) continue employment with the company for four years or more, whereas only a quarter of all employees sourced from job boards stay with the company for longer than two years.
Diversity and inclusion are important issues in today's workplace, and using employee referrals in talent sourcing can help you improve in these areas. When you rely solely on job postings or outside recruiting firms, you may end up with a less diverse pool of candidates. However, when you use employee referrals, you're tapping into a network of people who may have different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. This can lead to a more diverse and inclusive workforce, which can bring many benefits to your company. It also increases the talent pool available to you by letting you tap into methods of talent sourcing that are unavailable to other companies as it is directly related to your present workforce. According to a study conducted in the US on the efficacy of employee referral programs, it was revealed that companies can gain access to a talent pool that is 10 times bigger than their present one by utilizing referral programs and encouraging referrals through their employees’ networks.
One of the biggest advantages of using employee referrals is that it can save you both time and money. When you rely on job postings or outside recruiting firms, you can spend a lot of time and money on advertising, sorting through resumes, and conducting interviews. With employee referrals, however, your current employees do a lot of the legwork for you by recommending candidates they know and trust. This can significantly reduce the amount of time and money you spend on the recruitment process. According to Recruiter.com ,you can save $3,000 or more in productivity and sourcing costs per employee hired through the referral program. In terms of time spent in hiring the average employee referral reduces the time to hire by nearly two weeks!
Not only can employee referrals save you time and money in talent sourcing, but they can also lead to higher quality candidates. When your employees refer someone they know, they're vouching for that person's work ethic, skills, and personality. This means that you're more likely to get candidates who are a good fit for your company culture and who have the skills and experience you're looking for. In fact, research has shown that employee referrals tend to be more successful hires than those made through other methods. According to a study conducted by Dr. Sullivan, 88% of employers said that referrals are the #1 best source for above-average applicants.
Finally, using employee referrals in talent sourcing can have a positive impact on your existing employees. When you give them the opportunity to refer their friends and colleagues, you're showing them that you value their opinion and trust their judgment. This can boost their morale and make them feel more engaged and invested in the company. Additionally, when one of their referrals is hired, they may feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in knowing that they played a role in bringing that person on board. If the employee referral program includes incentives based on the hire then the employee gains monetary compensation as well which further boosts morale.
We at HireQuotient understand the importance and need for effective candidate sourcing. With access to over 600 million candidate profiles across the globe and a concise pre-screening procedure, HireQuotient can help you finish your candidate sourcing in days rather than weeks with the use of automation. Utilize our job description builder to quickly create the ideal job description when you decide to hire candidates and access and communicate with HireQuotient’s vast pool of candidates via our targeted mass outreach procedures. This has saved over 70,000 hours for recruiters and with our pre screening you can sort out candidates and find the ideal candidate in under 5 minutes!
HireQuotient integrates with LinkedIn through our new product EasySource, which allows you to sort between the multitude of candidates available on LinkedIn based on the categories that are important to you. Systematically filter candidates based on the job title or location of the work to quickly obtain candidates that are needed on short notice. Get a list of candidates sorted according to the relevant experience, skills or education demanded of the job or role in question. We also make it possible to filter candidates based on the industry, course and authorization for work in the US. Therefore you get access to an immense pool of candidates, boiled down to the ideal candidates for your needs.
HireQuotient also provides an entire plethora of skill assessments that you can employ in gauging the skill of your employees. Our repository is constantly updated with the latest industry relevant tests and assessments pertaining to all non-tech related positions. The questions are created by dedicated subject matter experts in the relevant industries and are categorized based on the difficulty levels so that you can effectively assess the candidate you choose to hire.
All of this is available in a few clicks of your mouse, so check out the company website to book a demo or get on a call with our experts here at HireQuotient to learn how we can help you integrate LinkedIn for talent sourcing in your hiring practices, assess and hire candidates of all roles for your company.
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