More than any other strategies for Talent acquisition, employee referral programs tend to drive a lot of talent in business organizations. Despite this fact, many business houses allow their programs to languish un- processed for a long time even after it has been implemented. Other businesses again have their systems in place but do not take advantage to the full networking potential of the referral program.
A recent study indicated that around 80% of employers’ rate employee referrals as superior to other sources of recommendation for candidates. It also surpasses a number of factors including, whether they would fit the company culture, their duration in the company, the job satisfaction of the candidate with respect to the organization and job position and most significantly, whether they have the required skills to fill the job position.
There are many common obstacles when searching for the right talent, some of them that keep businesses away from getting the most out of their referral program includes the maintenance of the overall awareness of the program within the organization as well as the process of the referral program in itself.
One of the simplest measures an organization can undertake to promote the health of the referral program is to market the program on a regular basis. Most companies build a referral program, offer prize or monetary incentives and do very little to help promote the program with the ongoing communication schedules.
The other setbacks arise from the mode by which many companies utilize to execute their referral program- largely the documentation stage comprising of several spreadsheets, a complicated process when handling a multitude of referrals. There are several measures that could be incorporated by a company in order to make things work and tune your employee referral program to drive top talent.