Many of us get candidates via referral in an attempt to recruit/fill-up an urgent role/vacancy in our organization. Quite a few recruiters and hiring managers use these referrals as a major strategy they use in finding suitable candidates for open roles at their organizations.
While referral-based hiring may work for some, like all recruitment strategies it also has its cons; from getting dubious referrals to abuse of the referral privilege. We’ve all had quite our share of wrong hiring via referrals. To ensure you get the best-fit candidates through referral here are 3 smart ways you should go about it.
The 3 Ways to Use Referrals
1. Maintain a database of experienced and interesting candidates
In the course of talking to candidates for several roles try to keep a database of the interesting ones, the ones that strike you as highly experienced and with reputations to protect. Even when you don’t end up hiring them, candidates you shortlisted in the past can be helpful in providing good quality referrals especially if they are good themselves. One time I needed to bring in an experienced Head of Sales in the FMCG sector we got some good referrals from candidates we had earlier interviewed for other senior roles (such as Production, Procurement, etc) in the same industry. People with years of experience in an industry are likely to have qualified persons in their networks to refer to you. Just make it very clear the minimum qualifications you are looking for.
2. Use Online Referrals (but Sparingly):
You have built some followership online on relevant social platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn? Use them wisely to send out your job vacancy and have people in your online network refer any suitable person they know to you. Easier to drop an email where they can direct any candidates they know to send their CVs.
3. Be realistic about what you want
If you are active in the real world there are a host of avenues you can use to spread word around on a role to get referred applications; church, social club, professional associations etc.
There is one fundamental thing – Be clear about the requirements and ask that unqualified candidates should never be referred. Then take measures to block/remove anyone who sends you poor quality candidates from getting future requests or updates from you. Makes your life easier
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