Your team is already full of great people and as it turns out, great people know more great people! Candidates hired through employee referrals result in higher quality hires, faster hires, and employees that stay with companies longer. If you don’t have an employee referral system in place, you’re missing out on a potential gold mine of talent. Want to tap into this? Keep reading for some tips to start getting more referrals.

Leverage Social Media

You probably already know that with Jobcast, you can connect your company’s Facebook page, Twitter account, and LinkedIn company profile. This is a great way to get the word out about the opportunities at your company, but you can take this one step further by combining social recruiting with employee referrals - did you know that your employees can connect their personal social media profiles too? With so many users using (and actively engaged on) these networks, you instantly expand your network whenever one of your team members gets involved.

Make it easy to share

Try to eliminate any barriers that could prevent employees from sharing your posts on their own social media accounts. Offer employees sample posts (it’s a lot easier to copy and paste a status update) and give them the flexibility to edit and adapt messages as they see fit (while staying appropriate). Creating and providing your team an Employer Brand or Employee Advocacy Guide can help posts stay on message.

Make sure employees want to share

Let’s face it - some parts of the job will be more fun than others. While you may be excited about finding a great candidate with years and years of technical experience, your employees might be excited by the fun culture at your company or the awesome benefits you offer. Think about what working at your company actually looks like and what makes you stand out from the competition. Ask your employees what aspects of their jobs they want to share - you’ll probably be surprised that it goes beyond the fun perks.

What’s in it for them?

Who doesn’t like a little bit of competition? To encourage your employees to go that extra step in sharing out opportunities with your company, find ways to make sharing fun. This could take the form of something as simple as a small gift card or some branded company swag. You could even turn sharing into a game, where teams with the most (or the best) referrals win a prize.

The rise of employee referral programs is expected to be a lasting trend, so you should get on the bandwagon. Do you have more tips or personal experiences with referrals to share? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!