Jesse is a corporate recruiter looking for the perfect candidate. He’s had trouble sourcing key applicants from job boards and the career site, so he thought it was time for a change. He turned to employee referral programs because the few new hires he did bring on have some extensively experienced connections. He knows that he is less than 4 people away from the perfect candidate for any given position, so he reaches out to a few of his new hires. After all, birds of a feather stick together (he still hopes his Purple Squirrel is out there somewhere…) The employees at Jesse’s company know people, so why would he spend the time and energy finding them himself, when all he has to do is ask?
Almost everyone has had the chance to play 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon or has heard of it by now. The game was derived from the concept “6 degrees of separation” which states that any two people on earth are connected by 6 or fewer acquaintances. This game came from movie fans challenging each other to find the shortest path between actors and Kevin Bacon. The concept still applies that you can connect anyone in Hollywood to Kevin Bacon in less than 6 steps. Kevin Bacon was horrified when he first heard that the game was a real thing. He thought it was a joke at his expense he stated in his 2014 SXSW interview. Google has made their search engine capable of searching for an actors Bacon number. For example, Channing Tatum is separated from Kevin Bacon by 2 degrees (through Jennifer Lawrence).
It may be popular now, but this concept has been around for a long time. If before social networks were around people only had 6 degrees of separation, how much closer are we now? According to ScienceDirect, the average number of acquaintances separating any 2 individuals in the world is 3.9. Think about that… the entire world. That means through about four connections you and I are linked with anyone. That is great news for recruiters!
Employee referral programs aren’t new and most companies have one set up. 88% of employers rated employee referrals above all other sources for generated quality of new hires. These recruitment jackpots, however, aren’t leveraged as much as they should be.
Here is a list of best practices if you have yet to create your employee referral program. These 3.9 degrees of separation come in handy when recruiters try to find the best candidates because 67% of employers and recruiters said it shortens the recruitment process; not to mention 51% said referrals are less costly to recruit.
Social networks, employee referral programs and automation systems help organizations find the best talent much faster and more inexpensive than before giving their recruiting strategy a boost. 20% reported it takes less time to hire when using social recruiting.
“Social networking sites now reach 82 percent of the world’s online population, representing 1.2 billion users around the world. Basically, social is a recruiting tool that would be foolish to not use. But recruiting is less about volume (mostly) and more about right fit. That’s where other networks, and specifically how candidates use the major social outlets, come in.” – Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media
Social media won’t replace the 78,352 minutes recruiters spend on the phone, on a yearly average, but it does provide a simple solution to connect and maintain relationships with candidates. Make social recruiting easy for both the employee and recruiter by simply leveraging the 3.9 degrees of separation current talent has with potential candidates.
Sorry, Kevin Bacon. Six Degrees from well…you is here to stay. Start using the power of personal connection and employee referrals to supercharge your recruiting strategy.
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