One of ToTalent’s first partners, Real Links, is certain that referral recruitment is a great help if your company is affected by the pandemic. Real Links is an employee referral and internal mobility technology platform from the UK. They support Talent Acquisition, HR and Recruitment professionals with modernizing and automating the process in an easy way.
Best strategy
We are still unsure about the impact from Covid-19 on local economies and the global landscape. But what we do know is that businesses are relying heavily on technology now, and recruitment is set on hold. Of course, referral recruitment is not the first thing you think about when your company is in an unstable position at the moment. But employee referrals have always been a cost effective and impactful tactic for recruiting high quality candidates with high engagement.
Employee referrals are the best talent acquisition strategy during economic uncertainty.
A study conducted during the 2008 financial crisis even pointed out that employee referrals are the best talent acquisition strategy during economic uncertainty. Real Links will share 5 reasons why referrals are so critical in supporting business recovery after Covid-19.
#1. Reducing the cost of recruitment
Employee referral is one of the most cost-effective recruitment methods. Especially when a lot of businesses find that large rewards aren’t as motivating for employees as smaller, less expensive rewards. We’ve seen much higher engagement with referral through £50-£250 Amazon vouchers distributed at different stages, than a £5000 reward at the end of the process.
#2. Keeping employees engaged and connected
Employee engagement has been a significant challenge for most organizations during COVID-19. Therefore it’s important to keep employees connected with eachother. And at the same time keeping talent acquisition teams connected to the business. This can be enabled through the use of automated employee referral systems; internal competitions and social sharing.
#3. Fundamental shift to online
Businesses who didn’t implement flexible and remote working practices yet, have now been forced to stimulate working from home. Relying on technology to communicate and get things done has rapidly become the new norm.
Relying on technology to communicate and get things done has rapidly become the new norm.
Reliance on digital technology is now far more widespread and accepted by employers and employees. It’s likely that investing in new technology like automated employee referral will be a lot more effective than pre-COVID.
#4. Talent overflow
There’s no two ways about it. There’s going to be a significant spike in unemployment as life begins to return to normal. This will mean a huge amount of talent come into the market all at once. A higher volume of applicants for every role advertised, is far more time consuming for TA teams. Using employee referral may reduce the volume and increase the quality of applications.
#5. High levels of competition
Some organizations are fortunate enough to operate in one of the few sectors that will either thrive or be relatively unaffected by Coronavirus. Then the competition for great talent remains high. Sometimes it will even increase as demand for the product or service continues to grow.
Adding employee referral to your recruitment can set you apart from the competition.
Within your market place, it’s likely you’ve always faced a competitive hiring environment. But if demand for those skills spikes, adding employee referral to your recruitment can set you apart from the competition.
