John Sumser asks about referrals
John posted a bunch of questions about referrals yesterday and asked the companies in this area to respond.
Q: Is a product that offers a suite of tools a good idea? (I rephrased this one)
I'd have to agree with Jason Goldberg at Jobster that there's not much need for a distinction there. At the end of the day, if a single product can help a recruiter reach quality candidates then everyone's happy.
Q: Do referrals negatively or postively impact diversity programs?
That's a good question. I don't have any stats on it, and would have to give a non-response that it probably depends a lot on the type of company, the industry, the location...
Q: On a related note, do referral programs really get you "more of the same"?
I think this is more the central issue. If you take "more of the same" to mean:
Again, I don't have any stats. But, while I do believe that diversity has a highly positive impact on organizations, I think the key hiring metric is the quality of the new employee and their fit with the organization.
Q: Is there a limit to the extension of the referral network? (In other words, do you at some point, reach a set of diminishing returns?)
Yes. In practice, most referrals tend to be only one or two degrees away. On JobThread, the huge majority of referrals are just one or two degrees.
Q: What is the geographical or industrial overlap between competitor referral groups?
Hmm. I'm not quite sure what this one means... Do you mean, say, the New York Linux Users group vs the Unigroup of New York (which is a New York unix users group)? If that's the question, then I suppose it doesn't matter if there's any overlap as that just increases the chance of reaching that potential candidate.
Q: Are referral processes fundamentally geographical? Do they evolve along professional lines or other affiliations?
I'd say that referrals in practice are fundamentally geographical. Which is to say that if I know of a good job opening in New York, I wouldn't refer a friend of mine in California (unless I knew he was looking to move to NY or would consider it). I also would pass the info on to him unless I thought he was interested in a new role or thought that he might know someone in NY that is a good fit. (Not entirely sure if that was the question.)
As for how they evolve... I think who you know develops along many lines: professional, where you went to school, activities, friends, etc.
Q: Are there really "super connected" referrers?
I tend to think of "recruiter" here ;>
I'm guessing that's not what you mean though as that's part of their job and get paid for their expertise. From personal experience, I do know people that simply know a lot of people and are happy to help make referrals / introductions. It's just good karma and good business in my opinion.
Q: What are the things that supplement and/or turbocharge the referral process?
I think the key is driving awareness. This is making sure that the people you know that may be interested in a job or may know of someone to refer, know that you're looking and what you're looking for.
Pretty much every company I worked at has had an employee referral program (Merrill Lynch, HotJobs, Bernard Hodes, New York Times). And at each company, pretty much no one really knew what jobs were open or even what the referral reward was.
And for recruiters, most of the recruiters using JobThread have thousands of contacts in their contact managers (sometimes categorized into different groups). But, it's impossible to call everyone.
So, email campaigns are one very good way to keep people aware. Recruiters use JobThread to send email campaigns (as it doesn't make much sense to try to create and send an email newsletter with open jobs using Outlook to thousands of people) as well as build up their subscriber base via their JobThread site. We have seen this to be a highly effective method to help drive referrals.
Referral rewards also help. It's likely not going to be the key motivation for anyone to spread the word, but it's a nice thing to do. (Also, we have seen that jobs with a referral reward get passed on twice as often as jobs without.)
Q: Can a referral system be built on a blog (or other publication) audience?
Absolutely. This is an emerging area and a great opportunity for recruiters to reach high quality candidates via niche media and/or groups.
Q: Is there enough connections between members of an audience to consider them the foundation of a referral program?
I think it depends on the group, organization, blog/media that is the audience. For example, the Wall St Journal's audience has a very good demographic and covers a good range of industries and job types. Compare that to the New York Linux users group. I think the smaller the group, the more connected they will be to each other and the more effective it will be in generating leads/referrals.
Q: Does a purchase audience (using job ads or outright click acquisition) improve or corrupt the value of a referral system?
My guess is that it really depends on how well the ads are targetted. I think a good example is comparing the result of a job posting on Monster vs a posting to the New York Linux Users group (NYLUG) jobs page. If you're looking for a programmer in NYC, Monster will likely deliver tons of unqualified applicants and will probably deliver a few very good ones.
I think if you can purchase a targetted audience, it was probably a good purchase.
Q: What are the ten things that are most likely to improve referral program results?
Hmm. Ten is a lot, esp considering how long this post is.
How about three:
Q: Is money only useful during an employment peak (like today's environment) or should it be a component of the overall offering?
Again, I think it's good karma and good business to offer a reward.
Let me take a moment to thank John Sumser of Electronic Recruiting News for starting this discussion.
-eric
Q: Is a product that offers a suite of tools a good idea? (I rephrased this one)
I'd have to agree with Jason Goldberg at Jobster that there's not much need for a distinction there. At the end of the day, if a single product can help a recruiter reach quality candidates then everyone's happy.
Q: Do referrals negatively or postively impact diversity programs?
That's a good question. I don't have any stats on it, and would have to give a non-response that it probably depends a lot on the type of company, the industry, the location...
Q: On a related note, do referral programs really get you "more of the same"?
I think this is more the central issue. If you take "more of the same" to mean:
- If the referrer is a high quality, A-player type person, will referrals from that person deliver more high quality candidates?
Here, the answer is a resounding yes. Referrals have been shown to deliver better employees (more productive, fired less often, remain employed longer). - (Relating back to the question about diversity) If the referrer is of a certain demographic (age, ethnicity, etc.), will referrals from that person deliver candidates with the same demographic?
Again, I don't have any stats. But, while I do believe that diversity has a highly positive impact on organizations, I think the key hiring metric is the quality of the new employee and their fit with the organization.
Q: Is there a limit to the extension of the referral network? (In other words, do you at some point, reach a set of diminishing returns?)
Yes. In practice, most referrals tend to be only one or two degrees away. On JobThread, the huge majority of referrals are just one or two degrees.
Q: What is the geographical or industrial overlap between competitor referral groups?
Hmm. I'm not quite sure what this one means... Do you mean, say, the New York Linux Users group vs the Unigroup of New York (which is a New York unix users group)? If that's the question, then I suppose it doesn't matter if there's any overlap as that just increases the chance of reaching that potential candidate.
Q: Are referral processes fundamentally geographical? Do they evolve along professional lines or other affiliations?
I'd say that referrals in practice are fundamentally geographical. Which is to say that if I know of a good job opening in New York, I wouldn't refer a friend of mine in California (unless I knew he was looking to move to NY or would consider it). I also would pass the info on to him unless I thought he was interested in a new role or thought that he might know someone in NY that is a good fit. (Not entirely sure if that was the question.)
As for how they evolve... I think who you know develops along many lines: professional, where you went to school, activities, friends, etc.
Q: Are there really "super connected" referrers?
I tend to think of "recruiter" here ;>
I'm guessing that's not what you mean though as that's part of their job and get paid for their expertise. From personal experience, I do know people that simply know a lot of people and are happy to help make referrals / introductions. It's just good karma and good business in my opinion.
Q: What are the things that supplement and/or turbocharge the referral process?
I think the key is driving awareness. This is making sure that the people you know that may be interested in a job or may know of someone to refer, know that you're looking and what you're looking for.
Pretty much every company I worked at has had an employee referral program (Merrill Lynch, HotJobs, Bernard Hodes, New York Times). And at each company, pretty much no one really knew what jobs were open or even what the referral reward was.
And for recruiters, most of the recruiters using JobThread have thousands of contacts in their contact managers (sometimes categorized into different groups). But, it's impossible to call everyone.
So, email campaigns are one very good way to keep people aware. Recruiters use JobThread to send email campaigns (as it doesn't make much sense to try to create and send an email newsletter with open jobs using Outlook to thousands of people) as well as build up their subscriber base via their JobThread site. We have seen this to be a highly effective method to help drive referrals.
Referral rewards also help. It's likely not going to be the key motivation for anyone to spread the word, but it's a nice thing to do. (Also, we have seen that jobs with a referral reward get passed on twice as often as jobs without.)
Q: Can a referral system be built on a blog (or other publication) audience?
Absolutely. This is an emerging area and a great opportunity for recruiters to reach high quality candidates via niche media and/or groups.
Q: Is there enough connections between members of an audience to consider them the foundation of a referral program?
I think it depends on the group, organization, blog/media that is the audience. For example, the Wall St Journal's audience has a very good demographic and covers a good range of industries and job types. Compare that to the New York Linux users group. I think the smaller the group, the more connected they will be to each other and the more effective it will be in generating leads/referrals.
Q: Does a purchase audience (using job ads or outright click acquisition) improve or corrupt the value of a referral system?
My guess is that it really depends on how well the ads are targetted. I think a good example is comparing the result of a job posting on Monster vs a posting to the New York Linux Users group (NYLUG) jobs page. If you're looking for a programmer in NYC, Monster will likely deliver tons of unqualified applicants and will probably deliver a few very good ones.
I think if you can purchase a targetted audience, it was probably a good purchase.
Q: What are the ten things that are most likely to improve referral program results?
Hmm. Ten is a lot, esp considering how long this post is.
How about three:
- Increase awareness through email campaigns
- Get your own web destination where you can build your own network of subscribers to your jobs
- Offer a referral reward (it's just good karma and good business)
Q: Is money only useful during an employment peak (like today's environment) or should it be a component of the overall offering?
Again, I think it's good karma and good business to offer a reward.
Let me take a moment to thank John Sumser of Electronic Recruiting News for starting this discussion.
-eric
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