6 Ways to Turn Your Staff into an HR Referral Machine

Even in a down economy, or perhaps particularly in a down economy, engaging your staff in the recruiting process is one of the most effective ways to build your team.

Organizations that get this find that it is easier to fill positions, their cost per hire goes down, and they increase the chance that candidates will fit into their corporate culture. Eventual new hires also come into the organization with a potential built-in support network.

Creating an environment where current staff members willingly participate in recruitment takes more than a mention at the quarterly all-hands meeting. It must become something that you communicate and amplify at every turn.

Here's what you need to consider when creating a team recruitment program.

1. Develop Program Rules

You must make this an important initiative, and that requires creating a formal program that gets baked into all employee training and included in the employee handbook.

You need to create rules, or at least spell out how to win, if you want people to play the game.

2. Create a Budget

Put some money into the program so that people know you are serious. With placement fees from outside firms running in the tens of thousands you can easily make a case for $1,000 - $4,000 rewards for anyone who brings in a great hire.

Help people understand that this can become a part of their compensation for helping the organization meet its recruiting objectives.

3. Post Job Descriptions

Make sure you communicate your hiring needs frequently and in such a way that every employee has the opportunity to participate fully in the referral process.

The mere fact that you communicate your growth needs can have a positive impact on morale as a whole.

4. Base Reward on the Positions Filled

Create a sliding-scale reward program so that everyone can participate and everyone is motivated across the board.

If you need a junior assistant and a VP of finance, create the kind of internal reward that would get employees to tap their networks accordingly.

You might also consider mixing up reward programs and offering quarterly travel winners, non-profit partners, and raffles to keep people interested and motivated.

5. Encourage Skill-Based Referrals

In some instances you might need to incentivize employees just to get you in front of leads that possess very specific skills.

If you're a software company that needs Ruby programmers for a hot market, for example, you may need to consider rewards that get you in the game, even if those leads don't get hired.

6. Enable Social Media Activity

Many organizations cringe at the prospect of employees participating in social media on behalf of the organization, but enabling social networks is one of the fastest ways for your employees to share your hiring needs with their connections.

Some social networks have even created recruiting platforms that make it easier for organizations to tap their staff's social networks. LinkedIn's Referral Engine program is one such program.

Getting your employees involved in building your team allows them to impact their workplace and helps build a deeper sense of ownership in the direction of the organization.

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John Jantsch is a marketing consultant and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine and the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network.