New Hires? Now’s the Time to Get their Referrals

It is sometimes said that an employee’s two happiest days on their job are their first day and their last day.  As a recruiter, you can really take advantage of the honeymoon period to attract fresh new talent, and specifically the competition’s talent!  The onboarding process can be a crucial tool to get your employees starting off with a mentality of referring their friends and colleagues.

In order to use onboarding as a recruiting tool, you must first have collaboration with HR and other departments who are involved in onboarding to ensure that recruiting gets to have their fair share of time with the new hires.  Once you get your crack at the new hires here are some steps you should take to ensure that you are creating an environment where referrals  comprise at least 25% of your hires.

1. Have recruiting be in charge of the onboarding checklist.  Make sure that there is time slotted during the onboarding process for recruiting to sit down with the new hire.  Or if there are group onboarding classes, make sure that recruiting gets at least 30 minutes with the new hire class.  A secondary benefit of this is to ensure that your new hires are successfully onboarded.  If there is mass chaos the first week they will be unhappy and unlikely to refer other employees to you.
2. Obviously, make sure that any referral bonuses are clearly outlined as well as any processes required for an employee referral to count.
3. Make sure the new hires thoroughly understand the process.  If there is any complexity or ambiguity the information will go in one ear and out the other and you will lose the opportunity to build a key referral relationship.  Take a moment and review the process with someone outside your organization and get their feedback on whether it’s clear or not.
4. Give new hires some key reasons why your company is an employer of choice.  Highlight unique perks like tuition reimbursement, bringing your dog to work, subsidized parking, and other benefits.  Don’t assume that the employee remembers or knows all the great benefits of working for your company.
5. Have a fun quiz with the new hires to test their understanding of the employee referral policies and procedures.  Give out prizes to as many people as possible.  If you have branded recruiting merchandise like water bottles or mouse pads, give these items away as well.
6. Bring a copy of the key open positions you are recruiting for and stress to new hires that you really need their help to find great candidates like them for these key roles.
7. Know where the new hires are coming from, and specifically ask them who they knew at their former company that did a great job with a key role that you are recruiting for.  Ask for the referral right then.
8. Give an early incentive for new hires that refer candidates within their first 60 days of employment.  This will set the tone early especially if they get a referral bonus!
9. Follow up with new hires during their first couple of weeks to see how things are going and to continue to reinforce the message of referring their friends and former colleagues.  Don’t feel like you are being pushy with this, this is your job and one of the best ways to get great employees into the candidate pipeline.
10. Lastly give immediate feedback to new hires who have taken the time to refer their friends and former colleagues.   This will go a long way to building a lasting relationship with your employees and ensuring a steady stream of referrals for you down the road.

With a little planning, the new hire orientation process can be a rich source of candidate referrals. If done right, this is also a way to immediately invest the new employee in the company and start to build positive relationships. Furthermore, when recruiters get involved in the onboarding process, it helps inform their understanding of departmental needs and build strong relationships with new hires.