We often associate referral marketing with sales leads and generating new business. While referral marketing is the best way to boost your sales, you’d be wise to think of how the same relationship based approach can be applied to the hiring process. Assuming you don’t have a dedicated HR department, small business owners often rely on a passing gut instinct; with varying results.
Here is just one example of how you can take a referral approach to finding good talent. Let’s say your law firm has recently taken on a number of new cases, because of the increase in volume of work, you need to find reliable clerical support. This is a good example of when it is beneficial to have similar businesses, which you may even view as competitors, in your business referral network. For a variety of reasons, the law office that your referral partner owns can probably refer you to the right people or at least, generate some word of mouth that you have an opening.
“It is necessary to add some structure to an employee-referral program, communicate the benefits to employees, track the success of referred candidates, reward successful referrals and discourage low-quality referrals.”
-David Hakala, HR World
If you’ve ever hired someone then you know that it’s a huge waste of time to take on a person who either can’t get the job done or is not fully committed to the task. You can find an endless number of prospects in the classifieds, Craigslist, or job posting sites. In this economy, you’re likely to be overwhelmed with responses. To ensure that you will end with that one-in-a-million candidate, don’t play a numbers game, use qualified referrals from people you know and trust.
Tags: David Hakala, HR World, human resources, qualified prospects, referral marketing
