Use of technology to drive employee referrals - Pros and Cons

  • Added:
    Jul 25, 2014
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Use of technology to drive employee referrals - Pros and Cons Photo by Savio Vadakkan

Technology has changed the way we look and interact with the world around us. It has brought us all closer to each other but also taken us further apart in that all of us now live dual lives, one in the real physical world we inhabit and the other in the virtual online world. Technology has been a game changer for many industries. The same holds true for the recruitment industry where technology has made it possible to conduct interviews via video conferencing saving time and money for both the candidate and the organization.


Another area that technology is impacting and has the potential to impact even more are employee referrals. That employee referral programs are highly effective as a source of hiring high quality talent is no longer debatable. The greater endeavor has been as to how it can be leveraged for maximum returns. Technology has a big role to play here as newer applications make it infinitely easier for employees to match skill sets and refer people from their social connections.


As per ComScore’s It’s a Social World Report, “social networking ranked as the most popular content category in worldwide engagement, accounting for 19 percent of all time spent online”. It is this very network of employees that technological interventions can help referral programs exploit if used correctly. Using technology to integrate social media features into your referral program will allow employees to share job openings with their social networks helping build your employer brand while helping you reach out to potential candidates. Infact technology has helped take this a step further. Employees are not likely to remember all the contacts in their various social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn etc and are therefore unlikely to be able to make an off the cuff judgment on who among their connections could be a potential fit for a particular job role.  Social matching technology makes it possible to scan employee connections to find the best fit, removing all the legwork and making referring someone a simple and easy exercise. ZALP’sSmart Match feature eliminates this problem by showing employees their most relevant matches for a particular job out of their own social network connections automatically.

Also another area that technology has helped boost the referral program immensely is through the optimization of the program for mobile devices making it possible for employees to refer anyone from anywhere.

The only downside to the use of technology in an employee referral program is the investment required to keep abreast of current technology and ensuring it is implemented to meet your unique needs. If implemented well, there is no better way to jump start your employee referral program than by driving it through technology. The returns from an effectively run program are immense.

Zalp helps organization to create, launch and boost their employee referral program with ease by seamlessly integrating social media into the program. Visit zalp.com to know more.

Author's Profile

Savio Vadakkan is the Marketing Professional at ZALP, a leading employee referral tool. Zalp guides organizations about how the mobile technology can boost your employee referral program to get quality hires.


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