Sourcing and attracting good quality candidates has become one of the most frequently mentioned recruitment challenges of the last few years. Employers throughout the UK are having to put far more effort into talent acquisition and are continually seeking new channels and strategies to attract candidates towards their business.

A tactic that is gaining in popularity to help fill talent pools and attract strong candidates towards vacancies is a candidate referrals programme where current employees can act as the introductory third party between jobseeker and employer.

In many instances these candidate referral programmes can be hugely successful and allow an employer access into an untapped and often highly receptive pool of talent.

Other benefits can also include a significant reduction in the amount spend on external job advertising and less time spent weeding out unsuitable candidate applications when shortlisting.

Another key bonus of candidate referral programmes is that less effort needs to be spent attracting the candidate towards your company as the current employee is often more than happy to ‘champion’ your business as an excellent career choice and provide any suitable friends and family members who show an interest in any vacancies that arise with an impartial and honest review about what its really like to work for your business.

Obviously, you really do need to make sure that your current employees are happy in their roles and have positive experiences that they can share with others. Otherwise, instead of bringing good quality candidates towards your business, reviews from unhappy employers will have the exact opposite effect.

Many employers offer financial incentives to motivate their staff to work on their behalf to help engage with candidates and this works well, however you’ll need to be 100% clear with your employees exactly what type of candidates you are seeking and at what stage of the recruitment process the financial incentive will be awarded.

For more information on candidate referral programmes and talent acquisition strategies, speak to the experienced team at Appointments today on 01782 3387877