Employees are the backbone of any organisation - without them, a company can’t achieve its goals.

But employees aren’t just the most valuable asset in the day-to-day running of a company, they have a hidden superpower – helping with your recruitment!

When your employees are happy, they can become talent magnets for your company, helping to attract and retain the best candidates.

Here’s how your team can transform your recruitment strategiesfrom merely acceptable to thoroughly sensational:

Ask employees to refer candidates

Employee recruitment is all about incentivizing current employees to refer qualified (emphasis on qualified!) candidates for the job.

Benefits to your bottom line

This kind ofemployee referral makes a lot of sense. Some experts estimate that taking advantage of your current employees’ networks reduces hiring time by almost 50%.

And because we all know that time means money, employee referral has a positive impact on your ROI. This impact is boosted by reducing the level of productivity lost if an employee isn’t there when you need them. As for your existing employees, they’ll be a lot happier if they’re not overloaded with tasks meant for that unfilled position.

Extra benefits from employee referrals

Employee referral also helps you find candidates that are a good cultural fit for the company, as people tend to network with those who have a similar mindset.

And involving your employees in your recruitment strategies increases employee retention rates too. As existing employees share the company culture and approach, new hires are immediately plunged into the beating heart of your enterprise. This means they get involved quicker, and stay for longer.

Recent data shows that a significant 46% of referred employees stay on the job for at least a year, compared to hires from career sites.

Get future colleagues to join the hiring process

Who better to involve in the hiring process than the potential colleagues of your candidates? Around 66% of candidates want to hear from current employees, so involve people your candidates will work alongside in the interview process. They are perfectly positioned to fill the candidate in on the details of the job, and let future employees know what to expect from the company culture.

The benefits go both ways. First, employees feel more engaged when they are involved in selecting candidates to join the organisation. After all, existing employees are the ones the candidates have to work with.

Secondly, the candidates appreciate that management values the opinions and ideas of all employees when it comes to recruitment.

Encourage employee advocacy

In a new era of employment transparency, candidates value authenticity and straight-talking from their future companies. And that means hearing from the horse’s mouth – the employees themselves. In fact, today’s candidates see employees as twice as trustworthy as a company CEO.

Social recruiting - sharing job info on social media – is an excellent method of employee advocacy. A potential job shared by an employee rather than an HR manager is far more attractive to a candidate. It’s common sense – the company is seen as being such a great place to work that employees are inspired to talk it up on social media.

So how can you encourage employee advocacy? Get employees to leave reviews on career sites, like Glass Door, or share their experiences on social media. Why not bring your employees together to brainstorm an employer brand hashtag? One that captures the spirit of your company and shows it’s a great place to work can help current employees use social networks to attract and retain top talent.

How to boost employee happiness

It’s no secret that when employees are happy, they become your loudest cheerleaders. Here are just 3 ideas on how to boost employee morale:

Benchmark your salaries. Everyone wants to be paid what they’re worth, and pay variations could make the difference between attracting or losing a valuable candidate.
Show you care about the planet. Employees want to work somewhere ethical: a global survey found that 65% of candidates and existing employees want to work for a company with a social and environmental conscience.
Offer tailored benefits packages. The right benefits that match how people live now will increase employee satisfaction, making them powerful advocates in your recruitment efforts.

Want to know more about how to attract and retain top talent? We recently released a survey about how transport benefits can make you a talent magnet.

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