Article
One: Referral Schemes: Part Four: Top Tool in the War for
Talent by Jamie Barber)
So far, this series has looked at
some of the benefits and pitfalls of implementing a Referral Scheme
and has suggested opportunities to gain added value. The last part
of the series outlines how to market the scheme and align it to your
vacancy pipeline, as well as indicating how much competitive
advantage could be gained from such an initiative.
1) Build a Marketing Plan
A Referral Scheme should be
marketed in the same way as any other product or service you provide
as an Agency. Although specific vacancy needs will vary over time
the general initiative should be ongoing, with marketing being
continuous rather than a ‘one-off’.
The marketing drive should be
highly visible. Successful recent initiatives have included messages
in payslips and supplier invoices. Going a creative step further -
and with a real intention to create a ‘buzz’ - one organisation
recently ran an initiative whereby a numbered beach ball was given
out to each successful referrer to display in a prominent position
on their desk. At the end of the quarter each number was entered
into a prize draw for a holiday. Result: a highly visible incentive
at minimal extra cost.
2) Align your Referral Scheme
to strategic recruitment objectives
You may consider offering
different rewards for different types and level of referral. For
example, if your Agency is beginning to source Customer Service
Representatives for a new call centre, you may decide to offer a
higher bonus for these types of hire. And rather than just
desperately sourcing at the last minute, try to forecast and plan
ahead. Be sure to keep your pool of referrers aware of any updates.
A decent system tracking the Referral Scheme may allow you to build
in quite complex eligibility rules allowing you to tailor the
programme to your exact strategic needs.
While UK firms seem open to the
possibilities of recruiting via existing employees (87% have a
policy of advertising all positions internally), only a third
currently operate a Referral Scheme. Compare this to estimates that
between 25% and 60% of all US vacancies were filled by referrals
during the last boom. And should the economy take a turn for the
worse, you can be pretty sure that these self-same US companies will
be relying even more heavily on such a proven source of candidates.
With Referral Schemes, like so
much else in business, where the US leads the UK inevitably ends up
following. As long as you take into account the potential drawbacks
there seems no better time to take strategic advantage from such a
simple, cheap and effective recruitment supply channel.
Sources
The following sources are suggested for further reading:
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (www.cipd.co.uk)
The Future Foundation (www.futurefoundation.net)
SHL (www.shl.com)
Personnel Today (www.personneltoday.com)
Electronic Recruiting Exchange (www.erexchange.com)
HR.com (www.hr.com)
HRZone (www.hrzone.co.uk)
iLogos Research (www.ilogosresearch.com)
Jamie Barber is a senior
consultant for IntroNet, a UK based HR solutions provider,
specialising in customised resourcing solutions and consultancy
services. You can contact him directly at jamie.barber@intronet.com
or on 0207 255 2572, alternatively visit www.intronet.com
for more information.
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