Leveraging social networks & job referral programs to acquire talent globally
The way companies recruit for talent has changed dramatically over the years. No one particular channel able to satisfy a company’s talent needs. The advent of online job boards, social networking sites and job referral programs have helped to alleviate the talent crunch but companies continue to look for alternative cost-effective recruitment channels.
In this article, we explore two channels for talent recruitment – social network recruiting, which is a more recent phenomenon, and its less sexier cousin, internal job referral programs. These to methods are now being combined to open up an alternative channel for talent acquisition, the ‘external’ referral program.
Social Network Recruiting in the era of Facebook and LinkedIn
The internet has helped to transform the way companies recruit by providing additional channels through which recruiters can find candidates for their jobs. LinkedIn (23M members), Facebook (120M+), MySpace (200M+) are just a sample of the large social networking sites that have opened up their databases to recruiters and job ads.
These social networks are a boon to headhunters and recruiters who are able to tap these databases to source for candidates globally. Some recruiters have had success in connecting with qualified candidates as well as getting referrals for their search. This channel also touches the elusive ‘passive’ candidate who is typically more prized than the active job seeker. However, these sites do have their downsides. Many members don’t keep their profile up to date and recruiters have to pay a subscription fee upfront to access these candidate databases with no guarantee of return and invest in the internal recruitment team to conduct such searches.
Internal Referral Programs – Social Networking the old fashioned way
Internal referral programs are the old-style cousins of the Web2.0 social network recruiting. These programs are one of the most successful ways that companies are able to attract talent. How do these programs work? Companies offer up to thousands of dollars for employees to refer their friends to open positions and employees will receive the rewards if their referral is ultimately hired.
The success rate for a well-designed employee referral program can be as high as 30% of all new external hires by a particular company. Banks, consultancies, and technology companies are some of the biggest users of internal referral programs. Referral programs work because employees are able to filter the candidates to ensure that they fit the position and the company’s culture. Employees also want to protect their reputation at the firm by not referring unqualified candidates. Since rewards are only paid out if a candidate is successful, there is a guaranteed Return on Investment (ROI) on such programs.
Combining referrals with social networking - The ‘external’ referral program
A few companies have sought to combine these two programs by opening up their internal referral programs externally and allowing referrals from non-employees. These new Internet companies include Zubka, Xpertize, JobTonic in Europe and YelloJobs in India and Vawch in Singapore. In this new paradigm, companies can leverage on the social networks of individuals to source for candidates by offering them incentives to refer qualified people in their social networks to the position. These programs are also inherently global as a professional’s network is not restricted to where the individual lives but where he went to school, worked and visit.
An example would probably illustrate this best. For a recent posting at Vawch for an investment banking job in Singapore, we obtained referrals from our professional network from India, New York and Singapore who then applied for the job and are qualified.
This channel also promises a higher quality of candidate due to the referral mechanism and is also typically success-based. If there is match it is a win-win for everyone, the employer finds the right candidate, the referrer gets rewarded and the candidate gets a new job. Although this new form of recruiting has only started to gain traction, we believe that this will be a good addition to the existing channels and it’s a no-risk proposition for the recruiter!
Sales Manager at www.vawch.com. Vawch is an online job referral marketplace targeting premium jobs, where professionals can refer other professionals to jobs and earn thousands in rewards if a successful placement is made. Based in Singapore, vawch targets the Singapore/HK/Australia and Southeast Asia market and referrals for jobs paying more than US$60Kper year. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/leveraging-social-networks-job-referral-programs-to-acquire-talent-globally-970820.html
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