Can A Referral Program Run Without The Power Of Social Media?

The great promise of social media recruiting lies in leveraging the extensive professional and personal and relationships that people build over the years. Social media coupled with employee referral programs have emerged as the most efficient and cost effective means of hiring, mainly because most social networks are free which is also why almost everyone worth their salt is active on social platforms. 

Statistics from a survey by Survey.com revealed that respondents found that better quality of candidates was the most significant benefit of hiring through social media referrals. As the war for quality talent further intensifies, it is the organizations who seek to make themselves visible in social media that are likely to draw the best candidates replacing traditional sourcing methods that are no longer able to attract the best and brightest of the talent pool.

The basic principle that governs most referral programs is that good people know similar good people and job opportunities that come via a trusted connection are the greatest motivators for even non job seekers to act upon the opportunity. With social media the reach is further expanded with the possibility of trusted connections to pass along the job opportunity to their trusted connections and so on and so forth. The reach of an employee referral program coupled with social media is endless with no outer limit to the number of people who might possibly end up seeing and sharing your job opening with their connections.

It is not that employee referral programs cannot run without social media, there are in fact a great many referral programs that exist without being connected with social media in any way. It is just that without social media, the reach and scope of referral programs is limited to a very narrow group of people known personally to employees.

Apart from extending the scope and reach of the referral program, social media also makes the whole process of referring much easier and faster. With the power of social media, employees can share job postings with all their connections with just one simple click.  Social media combined with referral program also makes it possible to upload social profiles of prospective employees directly onto the referral platform eliminating the need for asking candidates to submit resumes.

The biggest benefit of social media however is the fact that it brings the organization in direct contact with the candidate; something which was hitherto not possible till the candidate was actually called in for an interview.

It would in no way be an exaggeration to say that social media empowers and enhances the speed and performance of employee referral programs to an extent that in today's recruiting scenario having one without the other is almost like handing over critical talent to your competition on a platter.