Employee referral programs have always been a great source of talent for all types of businesses. By tapping into your existing employees’ networks, you can connect with talent you might not otherwise be able to through traditional channels like job boards. Plus, referrals end up being better performers once hired and they stick around longer, ultimately improving quality-of-hire, increasing productivity, and reducing churn at your organization.
But to yield these results, you need to put real effort into planning and executing your program. You need to decide on an appropriate bonus amount, determine who is eligible to participate, and make it really easy for folks to submit referrals from their professional networks. And one key employee referral component many organizations overlook is effectively marketing your program and your open roles internally (for example, with employee referral program flyers). When you get this right, your employees are more likely to participate, thus helping you drive more quality candidates and hires.
Want more tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your employee referral program? Check out our guide on building a great referral program to learn more!
Hireology helps you do just that. With our built-in employee referral program management tool, Hireology Referrals, you can communicate the details of your program internally through multiple channels — much like you would with your external marketing campaigns. And the best part is you can execute these campaigns directly from Hireology, eliminating the need to navigate multiple systems and devices.
Here’s a closer look at the three types of employee referral campaigns you can power using Hireology:
Gather employee referrals via text message
With EmployUs technology you can send customizable text campaigns directly to your internal teams to highlight open roles and incentivize sharing. What’s more, folks won’t have to follow a link or log into an app in order to refer a candidate. They can then simply respond to the text with the name of their referral. Our technology follows-up via text to gather more information such as the referral’s contact information and a bit more about why they’d be a great fit.
Texting campaigns work best for teams that don’t sit at a desk throughout the day or use email frequently. This way you can reach your teams where they are and make it as easy as possible for them to participate in your program on the go. And even if you do use email on your team, inboxes can get cluttered, fast. Texting campaigns provide you with a more direct line of communication to your team members.
Send email campaigns to drive referrals
Our email campaign technology works similarly to our texting option. You can send one-time campaigns directly to your team’s inboxes or automate recurring campaigns on whatever cadence you prefer. With our email campaign tool you can even choose from different templates and customize the subject line, body copy, and call to action. What’s more, you can A/B test different combinations of these components, allowing you to optimize your campaigns over time in order to boost participation and drive more referrals.
Create employee referral program flyers
Physical signage campaigns are another great option for teams that do not work from a desk (think: retail employees, housekeepers, or healthcare workers). You can create employee referral program flyers that feature your open roles and bonus payout amounts directly from the Hireology platform. Your flyers can even include a QR code for easy referral submission from a smartphone. You can then post these anywhere your employees frequent.
What’s great about the Hireology employee referral technology is that no matter which channel your referrals come through, those candidates are automatically fed into your applicant tracking system — ensuring that they move through the hiring process alongside candidates from all of your other sources. Additionally, Hireology makes it easy to track the effectiveness of each channel so you can optimize your campaigns over time. For example, if you find that 80% of your referral candidates come through text, you might want to send more text campaigns and spend less time on email and physical signage.
Have 15 minutes to learn more about using Hireology Referrals to build and power a great referral program? Watch our Quick Hit webinar on the topic here.
Since the launch of Hireology Referrals, many of our customers are already seeing the results of effective employee referral campaigns. Among our customers, 38% of referrals are moved to the candidate phase compared to just 21% of non-referrals. And one out of every 10 referrals is actually hired, compared to just 2% of non-referrals.
If these numbers sound appealing to you or you’re struggling to fill your open roles amidst today’s tough hiring climate, Hireology is here to help. Don’t wait, schedule a chat with us today!
