Certainly, unemployment rates continue to rise. Many recruiters admit to having difficulty finding the ideal candidate. Identifying candidates whose interests may coincide with those of the company becomes a real challenge. Consequently, recruiters are obliged to adopt strategies such as employee referral to optimize their recruitment system.
What is Employee Referral?
Employee referral involves recruiting employees through their own staff and colleagues by using their networks and contacts. To ensure the success of this system, it is necessary to choose honest employees who represent excellent advocates for finding new recruits capable of contributing to the company’s development. This practice remains the ideal solution to guarantee quality recruitment and limit the associated budget.
Establishing the Difference Between Employee Referral and Nepotism
It is important not to confuse employee referral with nepotism. In the case of employee referral, an interview evaluates the candidate’s skills and soft skills after the recommendation. The referred candidate is only hired if they are suitable for the position. Conversely, in the case of nepotism, the candidate is hired regardless of their actual skills. This type of recruitment is always poorly received within a company because it implies favoritism. However, if an employee presents a candidate who turns out to be incompetent, they will have to face the consequences…
How Does Employee Referral Work?
The principle is to reward or compensate employees who manage to find the ideal candidate for the job vacancy. This practice is similar to the sponsorship system. The employee plays the role of the sponsor. If the candidate meets the company’s needs, it may grant a bonus or gift voucher to the sponsor as a token of appreciation. Although the candidate is recommended by an honest employee within the company, they must go through all the recruitment stages, including the hiring test and interview.
Advantages of Employee Referral
Employee referral allows the recruitment information to be transmitted to employees and their contacts before it becomes public. Thus, they can discover the offer before it is accessible to the general public. This allows the company to avoid receiving ordinary CVs that do not meet its expectations. In principle, employees only propose candidates who are best suited to assume the responsibility assigned to the job vacancy. This implies that the company benefits from candidates with better qualifications not only in terms of skills but also personality. Besides, this system provides a huge time-saving for the company due to the rapid transmission of information.
Employee Referral: A Highly Effective Recruitment System
The success rate increases with the referred candidate. Thus, many companies admit that newly recruited employees through referral effortlessly and responsibly carry out their tasks. This undoubtedly contributes to the company’s development. Furthermore, the new recruit has a moral debt to the employee who recommended them to the company. To show appreciation, they must commit to their tasks with integrity.
Exploitation of the Employee Referral System
Currently, employee referral is not limited to within the company. Professional websites provide online tools to companies to find the best candidates to meet their needs. In some cases, companies post their offers on these sites in exchange for paying a certain amount. In other cases, websites receive a fee for each concluded application. However, unlike employee referral practiced within the company, online referral can still pose risks in terms of quality compared to individuals applying for the job vacancy.
