Do Staffing Firm Referral Programs Work?

Today’s blog is going to be interactive. Would you agree that finding quality candidates is about as hard as possible, right now? We think you will want to continue reading.

Raise your hand if you have a staffing firm referral program? Raise your hand if you regularly get referrals? Raise your hand if your referral program is on your website? Raise your hand if you periodically do referral campaigns? Raise your hand if you believe that referrals work well?

Today, I reviewed 25 staffing firm websites from across the country. Of them, 23 sites did not have any mention of their referral program and one (1) made mention of it with no way to contact them about it or to get details. Only one (1) of them had the program easily find-able on their website with a form to make a referral.

When speaking with staffing firm owners, we commonly hear that referrals are great, but that they do not get much from it. When we dig in further, we discover that there is no information about the referral program, their recruiters do not talk about it, it is not on their website and they do not send any campaigns out about it. To quote one of the Mythbusters, “Well, there’s your problem.”

Advice for Referrals
Staffing firm referral programs require a little bit of care and feeding, but they are well worth it.

First, develop a documented referral program. What do you pay referrals for, how much do you give and when is it paid to the referrer?

Second, add the referral program to your website and make the navigation to it easy to get to for website visitors.

Third, add a form on the referral page of the website to allow visitors to submit referrals to you. NOTE: be sure you know where the contact form goes to in order to ensure that you document, track and respond.

Fourth, add language to every recruiters Outlook signature with a link back to the website page.

Fifth, have all recruiters commonly discuss the staffing firm referral program with candidates and consultants.

Sixth, create a referral email and social media campaign.

Seventh, look forward too many valuable referrals.

For more information on how to build a truly successful referral campaign, give us a call at 978.664.1221. We look forward to hearing about your success.

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.