When you post an open position at your company you receive plenty of applications from qualified candidates. While many seem amazing at first, you’re starting to realize your selection process isn’t working; retention rates are higher than you’d like.
Creating an employee referral program can assist with this problem because your team knows the company culture and the type of a person it takes to succeed. Feel confident they will only refer people they fully believe will be a great fit because they don’t want to damage their reputation.
Here’s some advice to help you implement a referral program that will improve your retention rates.
4 Tips to Build a Referral Program That Works
Write Thorough Job Descriptions
Your employees might have a general idea of what you’re looking for in a new hire, but you can’t expect them to know everything about the position. Just as when posting an opening to a job board, it’s important to write a detailed job description. Highlight the responsibilities associated with the position and the requirements for the new hire. This will help employees decide if the person they have in mind is a solid contender.
Offer a Cash Incentive
Even the best employees often need a little push to refer qualified candidates from their network. Offering a cash bonus for any referral hired who stay with the company for a certain period of time will inspire people to market the position to their contacts. Choose an amount your company can easily afford that’s also enough to inspire employees to take action.
Streamline the Referral Process
If your referral process is time-consuming and hard to understand, employees won’t use it. Make it easy for them to refer contacts by creating a simple process that requires as little effort as possible. If you’re already using an applicant tracking system as part of your hiring process, you can likely use it to accept referrals.
Provide Regular Feedback
Employees won’t expect you to hire every person they refer but providing feedback is helpful for the future. Explaining what you liked and disliked about candidates they recommend will allow them to better understand what you’re looking for so they can improve for next time. This is also a sign of respect as they took the time to refer a candidate and deserve to be kept in the loop.
Having trouble finding the best fit for your team? Wood Staffing is here to help you find a candidate who wants to build a future at your Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan company. Contact us today to get started!