Studies show that current employees can be the number one source of candidate referrals. As a bonus, candidates referred by employees often ramp up to full productivity faster than candidates from other sources.

So how are you taking advantage of this? Do you have a formal employee referral program in place? If not, you should look to develop one. If you do have a program, look for ways to improve it.

Consider your internal marketing. How are you letting employees know about the kinds of candidates you want? How are you getting them excited about making referrals? Do they know what's in it for them?

Look at your incentive structure. How can you get people to refer star performers from their previous workplace, in addition to friends? Is it clear to employees when bonuses are awarded and how much can be earned? Remember that a bonus paid for an employee referral gives you double bang for your buck. At the same time that you're getting a pre-qualified candidate, you're also providing an incentive for the current employee to stick around.

What does you employee referral program do for you? Take our poll, and see how others have voted at www.head2head.ca.

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