We have an employee referral program in our company but it’s not bringing us the results we want. We talk about it all the time. People are aware of it. What are we missing? ~ Jayne, HR Manager

Dear Jayne,

First, I want to congratulate you on having the program in place. So many companies miss this aspect of recruiting candidates.

Second, I want to ask if you have made it easy for your employees to give you referrals? One of the best examples of this I’ve heard of comes from Amy Rees Anderson, during her time as CEO of MediConnect Global, Inc. leading a worldwide workforce of over 1,000 employees. This is what she shared:

“We had special business size cards printed for every employee in the company. These cards had the company name, phone number and website printed on them with the words ‘Now Hiring’ stamped across the front in red letters. We then had a place on the back that read ‘Tell them _______ said you are awesome!’

We asked every employee in the company to keep these cards with them wherever they went. We told them that whenever they came across someone who was doing a great job at whatever job they were doing, to give that person a hiring card and to write their own name in the blank line on the back. We wanted to hire anyone who went out of their way to provide good service and who really made an impression. You would be amazed at the type of great employees we were able to find from very diverse backgrounds using this program.” (Source: forbes.com)

~ Nancy Roberts
The DISC Wizard