Social Referrals and Technology

The Social Referral
Referrals Powered by Social Media
Steve Boese
June 9, 2011

1: Hello
2: Sourcing
3: Context
4: Problems
5: Possibilities
6: Social
7: Goodbye

Steve Boese
HR Technology Guy
Host of the HR Happy Hour Show
Writer on Fistful of Talent
Barbecue Enthusiast

Just over half of
all hires are
filled by internal
movement
Source – CareerXroads 2011 Source of Hire Report

27.5
Percent of external hires attributed to referrals

We know employee and other referral programs work. We strive to increase the percentage of external hires filled via referral and the numbers of individuals participating.
But…
(there is always a but…)

Problem 1:
Communication
What jobs are open (especially the critical ones)
What are the profiles
(not your lazy brother-in-law)
What is the progress/status
(chances are your referrers don’t know)

Problem 2:
Alignment
Link to areas of business need
(targeted areas of pain with comms, incentives)
Not allowing everyone to play
(and not penalizing the party poopers)
Understanding the impact
(can’t I just use Monster.com?)

Problem 3:
Participation
People are busy
(especially the ‘important’ ones)
What’s In It for Me?
(I am tired of it too, but get over it)
Do I believe this IS a good place to work?
(this is kind of important)

Problem 4:
Measurement
Statistics first
(numbers, qualified leads, interviews, offers)
What is the impact?
(cost reduction, time to fill, quality of hire)
How can we improve?
(without data, hard to refine)

Approach1:
Communication
Targeted communications
(connect critical job to business objectives, hot jobs, key markets)
Not all, but who
(make it clear who we are looking for, use algorithms to help)
Report and feedback
(central admin, referral portal, ease of use, priority interviews)

Approach 2:
Alignment
Tell stories
(Joe, VP of Marketing, referred by Mary, Director of Sales)
Embrace the ecosystem
(you still try and sell to old customers, right?)
Give the stats
(chances are your referrers don’t know, tools will make this possible)

Approach 3:
Participation
Make it simple to play
(email alerts, one-click referrals, easy tracking)
Clear value play
(cash, more effective team, recognition, ease of tracking – blend and serve)
Why do you love working here?
(at the core – making us all more successful)

Approach 4:
Measurement
Tools for tracking activity
(can’t manage what you don’t measure,
sorry it’s true in this case)
Assess the impact
(baseline first, then measure and interpret)
Improve and Refine
(Data on activity and impact analysis are the guides)

What about social?

Encouragement
You can’t really have an effective social referral program if your employees are not allowed, empowered, and encouraged to participate professionally with social technology.
‘Friend us on Facebook when you get home’ is not really a winning strategy
The most effective social referral programs will be a reflection and a hallmark of the most successful ‘social’ organizations.

What’s worth sharing?
Beyond job listings, make sure you offer referral program participants other opportunities to share and create
Evolved social referral programs are like evolved social recruiting efforts – engagement, value, interaction
Use sharing tools, syndication, tutorials etc. to make it really easy to get employees to act as ambassadors.

Manage the Networks
There are lots of options, opportunities, and considerations to assess with social referrals. Have at least one person to manage, coordinate, coach, and monitor.
Consider creating and providing training and coaching to help critical employees develop their networks that can be leveraged for referrals
Stay on top of what is working and what isn’t. Barriers are low, so be willing to experiment and adapt.

Accept the inevitable
In social referral programs, and with social in general, there will be mistakes, slip-ups, embarrassments. (#weinergate, #kennethcole, #whateverhappenedtoday)
But using these as an excuse or barrier to participation is the easy way out, and a poor use of a valuable resource
Have a policy, create a central ‘go-to’ person, coach ‘em up, but don’t let fear or uncertainty lead to inaction

Let’s Review:
Sourcing is changing
(but slowly)
Referrals are critical
(and getting more complex to manage)
Tools can help manage, optimize, measure, and scale social referral programs

Don’t be a stranger….
Steve Boese - @SteveBoese
steveboese@gmail.com
www.steveboese.squarespace.com
www.hrhappyhour.net
www.FistfulofTalent.com

Social Referrals and Technology

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