Referrals are the most effective sourcing channel. And among all referrals, those from top performers are the absolute best. After you recognize these two facts, you should first identify and then prioritize the jobs where a top performer really makes a significant difference. Then you must develop a process for proactively asking your top performers to make a handful of high-quality referrals each year.

Start By Learning These Guardrails From The Best Research On Employee Referrals

After decades of corporate, vendor, and academic research on the most impactful employee referrals, there is now a clear consensus that leads to four foundation guardrails that should guide everyone involved in hiring.

• Make it clear that you only accept qualified referrals – you must make it clear to your employees that they cannot submit a single “junk referral.” This includes cases where an employee refers a complete stranger who approached them, or when an employee refers a candidate primarily for the money or a favor. Avoid clogging your referral process by only accepting “qualified referrals” that meet these four criteria. The first qualifier is that the referring employee clearly knows the details surrounding their referral’s exceptional work. You must also require the referring employee to attest to having already thoroughly assessed these three things. A candidate’s high skill levels, their fit to the organization, and the fact that they have already been presold on accepting an initial interview.

• Make everyone aware that some referrals have greater business impacts – everyone must realize that not all referrals have an equal business impact. This means referrals from top performers need to be prioritized. As should referrals for critical jobs and referrals targeting employees currently working at your top competitor companies. It’s also important to note that the seminal study on referrals found that top performer referrals have a 90% greater profit impact than the average employee referral.

• Because referrals produce the highest-quality hire, you should focus on them – a simple Google search reveals that, of all sourcing channels, employee referrals consistently produce the highest quality of hire. They also lead to longer retention, a better cultural fit, and faster hiring. So that means that you should narrow down your overall sourcing effort. So that it focuses on the channel with the highest quality of hire (employee referrals).

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